Character cakes from Whole Foods

Yes, you can order custom birthday cakes from Whole Foods.

We've always eaten mostly only Whole Foods cakes because they're so much less sugary (v. important!) and are always made without artificial colors, flavorings, or preservatives.

Best of all, their prices are comparable to conventional supermarket bakeries' and definitely much more affordable than bake shops that specialize in fine custom cakes!

Here are Collin's birthday cakes over the years:

I only have one tip for birthday cakes:

Do not assume that everyone will eat cake...never, ever listen to anyone who tells you that for a party of 25 people, you need a cake that can feed up to 30 people.

Just FYI... After the full-sheet-size Skylanders cake party above, which by the way was attended by some 60+ kids and adults total, this is what we had to deal with the rest of the week:

...and this actually was AFTER we had given away huge chunks (note: not slices) of it to the party venue staff, sent guests home with multiple slices, and had given some away to FIVE of our neighbors.

Um... Did I mention the cake barely fit in the back of our SUV???

(Let's just say that a good parenting lesson was learned that day. ;^)