Don’t Want A Birthday Cake? Here Are 25 Tristate Alternatives For Your Next Celebration

Typically, celebrating a birthday means decorations, gifts, candles, and a birthday cake. But, not everybody likes cake. If that is the case, you have to find something else to help you celebrate. Something that the person, with the birthday, really likes and would wish for on their special day.

Two of my children don't like sweets at all. I know, I've failed as a mom. LOL, that just meant more sweets for me. But, it did make it difficult to figure out what to serve at their birthday parties. It sure wasn't what everyone who was coming to the party was looking forward to, eating.

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When my grown daughter was in Kindergarten, I was so excited to be able to take cupcakes and other treats to school to help her celebrate her birthday with all of her friends. She didn't want that, though. She wanted me to take fresh, cut-up cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots with ranch dressing, and Goldfish crackers, instead of cupcakes. So, I did. But, I gave each of the kids a snack-size bag of M&M's so she would still have a few friends. ;-)

As for my youngest son, he just wanted a pie. A pepperoni pizza pie. So, I would order pizza from a local pizza place and serve it with Capri Suns, and little bags of M&M's. Again, just to help him keep some friends.

Some people just start other traditions within their family. Like our Administrative Assistant, Megan. She sent me this email about a recipe she thought I might want to share.

My mom’s a 7-year stage 4 kidney cancer survivor who has outlived her prognosis twice. It makes each birthday extra special. I baked her what her mom used to bake for each of her 6 kids on their birthdays – banana pudding. It made me wonder if anyone else’s families have unique traditions instead of cake. Of course, Grandma was from Tennessee and taught me how to cook. 

Well, that started the wheels turning in my head. Yes, I plan on making her grandma's banana pudding and share the recipe with you. But, first, it struck me that her family never had a traditional birthday cake. I wondered if you didn't, or couldn't have a birthday cake, what would you have instead.

So, I asked you. Here are 25 of my favorite answers from Facebook.