Birthday Gifts: Cake!

I don't know about you but I love cake. I also love cupcakes, ice cream and cookies. There is really not too many desserts I don't love. But I don't frequently make cakes. I just enjoy eating them. 

However, in the last year or so Pinterest has inspired me to make a different kind of cake: the teacher supply cake! 

I made my first one in April of this year for my classroom special education aide who was hoping for her own classroom (and got one, wahoo!). 

In order to make a teacher supply cake, you need to gather lots of teaching supplies first. Obviously the best time of year to do this would be at back to school time when there are lots of sales. If you plan to keep your cake circular, you have to put some thought into that when purchasing supplies. For the cake above, I used a paper towel roll in the middle. Then, I used elastic bands to wrap mechanical and regular pencils, post it notes, kids birthday crowns, erasers, binder clips, and cute cupcake stationary pad. I used a giant post it pad as the base of the whole cake. The elastic bands hold things together pretty well, but I did just some tape between the layers. Then, I covered the elastics with ribbon and some scrapbooking stickers! 

I just made another one for my classroom assistant who's birthday is this coming Thursday. I'm telling you, teachers love school supplies, we have problems :) 

I decided to make this one a bit more stable by using a toilet paper roll as the base. I wrapped the top of a shoe box to put it on. Then I used markers, pencils, index cards, tags, glitter pens, post it notes and again the fun cupcake stationary :) I really should have got some thicker ribbon so you can see the elastics, oh well! 

If you like the cake idea but don't know anyone obsessed with office supplies, don't worry- you can still make these fun cakes with other items. How about a 30th birthday "cake?"

This cake was made using two recipe card packs attached together as a base, and then the center is one of those tumbler cups I got at Old Navy- it's silver and sparkly! Then, I attached some items using elastics again- this time goldfish crackers, gum, candy, and lollipops. Since I'm no stranger to the 30th birthday celebration, I had the "celebrate 30" in my house already, ha. 

Clearly, you can make these cakes with basically anything! They can range a bit cost-wise depending on what you want to include, but they can be a pretty inexpensive gift if you plan well :) 

What is your favorite go-to birthday gift? Have you ever made a unique cake?