Host a French Bakery-Themed Cake Decorating Party for Kids

We were first inspired by the “Nailed It” parties. Have you seen those? They are so funny! “Nailed It” is a show that pokes fun at how bad we are at decorating cakes and copying things we see on Pinterest. We were going to go with that theme but then decided to change it to strictly cake decorating. We went with the French Bakery/Cafe feel for our cake decorating party and it turned out so much better than imagined!

Actually, we are very happy we didn’t choose the “Nailed It” theme and went with cake decorating. The girls were ecstatic with how each of their cakes turned out.

We threw this party with a group of girls between the ages of 6-8 and it was fabulous! Any age would do, although kids any younger than 6 might have trouble decorating cakes on their own. This party could also make a great “mommy and me” party for younger kids.

The girls had such a blast at this party. It was pretty simple to put together, especially because we had a baker come in and do the class! You could do this without the baker, but you will have some more prep time added to your party prep.

Let’s walk through how to host the perfect cake decorating party!

We made some of the sweetest invitations for this party. There are two versions of this party invite. One is a digital layout created for sending over text messages or email. The other option is for printing. Then you can choose whether to hand deliver or mail invites to your guests. However you choose to invite, your guests will be so excited for this invite to find them.

Your next step is party preparation. We've included this section to detail exactly what we've ordered for our party, ensuring you don't overlook anything.

It's important to order everything ahead of party week. That way, you won't be scrambling at the last minute if something doesn't show up. We've been there, and it's no fun on party day! Having everything ready to go makes the day smooth and keeps the stress away!

If you are planning to throw a cake decorating party without having someone come in, you may need a few more supplies for your party. You will be making cakes (or cupcakes) beforehand. So you will need basic baking supplies for sure. We will walk you through how to host this party on your own below, but here are some supplies you may need.

For this party, we chose a French Cafe as our decoration inspiration. It all came together pretty quickly too. We created a few printables for this party. Some of them are really great decorations! You can grab them in the birthday party bundle in our Etsy shop. Here are the decorations we used and made to create the perfect atmosphere for this party.

If you have been here a while, you know we love a good balloon arch. For this party, we went with pink, white, and aqua. Simple, yet elegant.

We bought this backdrop and placed it behind the balloon arch. It made a great place to take pictures.

These were a very nice touch to the decorations of the room. These canopies made the area feel like a completely different place, for sure! Add in the cafe windows that we created and your party venue will transform into a fancy French Cafe.

We also created these windows showing off some delicious pastries. There are 4 different window designs. They fit perfectly under the canopies. We printed our windows as 20X30 inch posters. This was the best addition to our French Cafe decor.

Just to add to the mood of the party, we bought these French Street Signs and Lamp Post cut outs. These were perfect for helping to transform our area into a French Cafe where we decorated cakes. They were fun to have around the venue for pictures.

For table covers, we used white tablecloths. Then we added over the white tablecloths. It dressed the tables up.

We hung up the baking hats and aprons that we provided for each girl. It doubled as a decoration and a party favor! We bought plain white aprons and added this logo, which comes in the birthday party bundle.

For this party, we had one big activity —cake decorating! Then we had one small relay race for the girls before we had more cake.

To keep the ambiance of a French Cafe throughout the party, we found a playlist on Spotify called French Cafe. It had lovely music that we played in the background of the entire party.

We decided to hire a local professional who holds cake decorating classes. She was happy to make cakes to hold a private class for the girls. She brought cakes that were already crumb-coated for each girl to decorate.

The cakes came as white personal cakes. All of the frosting was in piping bags and the sprinkle options were in a cupcake tin. She gave each girl a spoonful of their sprinkle option, which was a great idea! This helped the girls be more thoughtful about their sprinkle placement and use of them on their cakes.

Before letting the girls decorate their own cakes, our cake decorating teacher gave the girls a demo of different ways to pipe frosting. It was great for the girls to learn some different techniques.

The girls went crazy decorating their cakes! This activity took about an hour. We love how the cakes each turned out so unique and fun.

The first thing you need to do to pull this party off yourself is to bake the cakes. There are a couple of options for doing this.

The fastest way would be to bake some sheet cakes and circle cut cakes out of them. Then, you can stack and crumb coat each cake.

Another option would be to bake each cake in a small cake pan, then stack and frost. We would use 3-6 inch cakes but wouldn't go any bigger than 6 inches. The cakes we used were about 3-inch cakes and they were perfect for personal decorating.

After baking and crumb coating the cakes, the process would be about the same. You would need to pre-make the frosting. We used American buttercream that was colored to match the colors of the decorations.

Then, you will want to put sprinkles into a cupcake tin for the girls to get a spoonful at a time. This helped the girls be more aware of where to put the sprinkles instead of using too many sprinkles. They were very mindful of where to put them, making their cakes beautiful!

We set up this relay race to test each girl's baking skills. We timed each girl doing the relay. The top two fastest times got a prize. The relay was a great way to get the girls moving after their cake decorating.

We demonstrated each activity for them before they started. This helped the activities go smoothly and gave them the perfect idea of what they were to do at each station.

Each girl had to crack an egg without getting shells in the bowl. We also had a bowl to drop the shells into. Then, we had a paper towel nearby so they could wipe their fingers off if they wanted to before moving on.

Then they ran to the next station.

We had some Pyrex measuring cups of water on the station table. The girls had to pour 1 cup of water into another measuring cup. We had the girls pour their water back into the larger measuring cup when they were complete before moving on. This helped reset the game for the next player.

Next, they ran to the third station.

The girls had to put oven mitts on and carry a ping pong ball across the room on a cookie sheet. We used a flat-sided cookie sheet like this but you could use any cookie sheet. The sides just make this challenge a bit easier.

If they dropped the ping pong ball, we had them stop where they were until we could return the ball. Then they could keep moving. We didn’t make them restart, but that is an option too.

After, they ran to the fourth and final station.

Without using their hands, the girls had to scoop up a cookie off of the cookie sheet (without using their hands to touch the tray or cookie) and transfer it to a cooling rack.

This relay took about 1 minute per girl. Some girls took about 2 minutes while other girls completed the stations in just over 30 seconds. Overall, the relay didn’t add too much time, and was fun to let each girl participate in each challenge.

The relay race was a great addition to the party before we indulged in cake and ice cream! We wrapped up the party with opening presents and singing, “Happy Birthday!”

With this whole party being about treats, we didn’t provide other treats. We simply had cake and ice cream to celebrate the birthday girl! The girls each got to take their own decorated cake home too! They were so excited to take it home and show off their work of art!

This cake decorating birthday party was a blast! It was so fun to watch each girl use their creativity to decorate a cake of their own!

The best part of this party is that we created a great bundle. This bundle has invitations, bakery window posters, and an SVG file for the apron design.

If you are looking for other fun birthday party ideas, check out our Camping Birthday Party, Bee Birthday Party, or Science Birthday Party. We would love to see how you celebrate! Leave a comment about your favorite birthday party theme or which one we should do next!