Last updated on October 15th, 2023 at 02:38 pm
So you’re going to do it? A cake smash. You’ve seen your friend’s photos. Their beautiful babysitting like an angel with a radiant smile in front of an elegant cake ripped from a magazine. You took one look at their pictures and you wanted this. You thought to yourself “My twins will look amazing, sitting together in front of two cakes smashing away in photographic bliss.” Well, blissful not so much but you’ll get great pictures. You just need to put in work and planning, nothing a twin parent can’t handle.
1. Find a photographer
A photographer who has experience with a cake smash is a must. Someone who will come to your house, someone with extreme patience. Create a relationship with whomever you hire. You will need to discuss props, location, backgrounds, lighting, the list is literally endless. A good photographer will have a good game plan that they will share with you so on the big day you can focus your attention on your two little bundles. cake smash boy
Twiniversity Tip: Talk to your photographer about using a paper roll backdrop that the kids can sit on during the smashing for an “easy” clean up.
2. Deciding on the cakes to smash (yes, plural)
You want it to be beautiful. You’ve spent hours on Pinterest looking for the perfect cake for the cake smash. You’ve decided on color, design, and that butter cream frosting. You find your local bakery and you get ready to place your order a few days out.
Stop reading and think what’s about to go down. Your kids are about to eat cake and a lot of it. Think about all that fluffy, buttery, bad for you goodness going “mostly” in your kids mouths. They will be sitting in front of their cake eating and smashing their way through it the entire time your photographer is getting the shots.
Just be ready for the amount of cake they are about to eat and keep that in mind when you decide on the cakes. Have your kids had cake, chocolate, dairy, or sugar? If they don’t have any known allergies try giving them a small cupcake a few days prior and see how they do. There wasn’t much cake left over here, our kids meticulously began eating the cake, making sure no smashing was occurring and as much yumminess was going in their mouths. cake smash boy
3. Outfits and decorations
Every parent is going to have their own opinion on how to dress their kids for the cake smash photo shoot and what decorations they want. Just decide it ahead of time, especially for anything custom. Plus your photographer will want to know what clothes you chose to pick backdrops and suggest any decorations you will need to purchase. Our photographer asked us to get blown up balloons and we stuck our daughter in a tutu for the individuals. cake smash boy
4. Timing is literally everything
Make sure you take into account nap time and feeding time for the cake smash photo shoot. The photo shoot takes time (like over 3 hours) and your kids will be cranky from sitting still during the individual pictures. So make sure the kids had their nap, this is a must or you will get more tears than smiles.
Our photographer was super understanding and supportive during our whole shoot. She allowed many breaks and even a snack break so we could keep them on their feeding schedule, which to twin parents is equal to the Earth spinning. cake smash boy
5. Just sit still and smile
“What keeps your kids sitting still and will make them smile?” As soon as we heard that question we knew we were in trouble. There is no sitting still and now you want them to smile on command, as if. You will be crawling around the floor, clapping, snapping and singing. You will be bruised and exhausted while your kids get to eat cake.
Twiniversity Tip: Grab some of their favorite toys and have their favorite music at the ready. Just tell the photographer to hold the shutter down and hope they smile a few times. The Lion Guard theme song worked for us.
6. Hose ’em down
There will be so much cake, EVERYWHERE, you will need to hose your kids down in their clothes. This part will make you believe that this was a complete waste of time. Bathing two babies at the same time is a job in itself, and now you covered them in cake!
This is a two person job, maybe three or four if you have the numbers. Make sure the tub is filled with water and just start scrubbing. The tub will begin to look like a melted ice cream cake. Do your best to limit the cake drunk kids from attempting to drink the water.
Take the kids out and have one person strip the clothes and diapers off the kids (good luck wrangling the sugar intoxicated animals) while the other parent drains and rinses out the tub. Refill and bathe children as per usual. Now go clean up the cake smash area. cake smash boy
You will be exhausted, your kids will be exhausted and everything will smell like cake. Friends and family will be in love with every photo from your cake smash. You on the other hand will look at them and know how hard you worked for every smile and always be reminded how this train wreck was totally worth it. cake smash boy
Michael Ackerman is married to a loving, hard working momma bear and has 1 year old twin boy/girl cubs. He works full time as a Gas Leak/ Boiler Technician in NYC schools. He has a love for sports, video games, and chimichanga’s. He spends most of his time now chasing around his two maniac children and his two dogs Link and Sabre.
