So…I know ideally Naomi is going to want a birthday cake from the local grocery store with some licensed character theme on it. I asked the store we normally buy from and they said they don’t have the carb information to provide as they don’t measure the frosting on the cakes and that the ingrediants are not weighed when they make the cake itself. So…just looking for any advice. I know she’ll be bummed if I make the cake myself, my cake decorating skills are really lacking. Any suggestions?
If you have the calorie king book, just find the flavor cake with frosting that you are buying and base it off there. My son was invited to a birthday party and this is what we did. He took his scale and weighed it out to the weight we had figured and it worked out fine. Unfortunately sometimes we have to wing carbs and there is some room for error thankfully.
Get her whatever cake she wants – it’s just one day. Do your best at estimating the carbs and let her enjoy. If you do MDI or a pump, try to pre-bolus for the cake (about 15 minutes before eating for a fast-acting insulin) to minimize the spike. (Not sure what you need to do if you’re on 2 shots a day – if that’s the case, check with her endo or CDE.) You can also make sure the rest of the party isn’t too carb-heavy. Maybe grilled chicken pieces with low-carb dipping sauces, instead of pizza or pasta? Most kids don’t care too much about the “real” food. But, remember, we all have to try to balance good diabetes management with letting our kids LIVE 
Hope you all have a great b’day!
MDI, NPH & Humalog in the AM and Humalog and Levemir in the PM. The party is going to be very active, an hour prior to eating lunch and cake they will be climbing in a huge “jungle” play structure.
Let that girl eat her cake! Sometimes we need to wing it! We know as parents how to correct the highs and lows, just dont make a habit of it. lol WE love our calorie king book to, sometimes you just guess by looking up something similar in the book. Happy B-Day
Let her eat cake! 
Our experience is that our son tends to go low at birthday parties because of the excitement and running around. So, I always under dose for parties and the correct later if needed. I really do not want him dropping out of the fun because of a bad low. This plan of attack has worked well for us.
Do you have a scale? We often just weigh birthday cake and use a carb factor - cake is usually somewhere around 60% I think. I agree that this is just one day - so we don’t worry too much about being exact. We just make sure to check about 2 hours later to see how close we are, and make the adjustments we need. Diabetes gets to interfere enough in my son’s life. It doesn’t get to ruin his birthday. : )
Happy Birthday Naomi! My daughter has had 2 birthday parties with T1 (she is now 9). Get whatever cake she wants. I figure that a piece of birthday cake from anywhere with sugary frosting is about 44g per piece (1/12 of a cake). This is based on Calorie King and experienced guessing. Dose conservatively, as the party running around will also burn off lots of that sugar. We were also on NPH and Humalog for the first 1.5 years. I did the normal dosing, then gave a little extra shot before she blew out candles. By the time you cut and serve, the short-acting is in her blood and she can enjoy every crumb!
I agree with what everyone has posted. birthdays only come 1 time a year, and they should get to enjoy their day! on cake and cupcakes we estimate from 40 to 60 carbs, depending on thickness and frosting. So far we have been pretty spot on! You too will get good with your WAG’s ( wild a** guess). A lot of treatment is trial and error, and if you don’t try, you won’t learn. Besides, this is one time when you may actually KNOW why she went high, rather than all the other baffling, pull your hair out moments!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAOMI!!!
Our experience has been the same - though my daughter is only 4…
We usually have a problem getting her to eat enough carbs at a party.
Celeste
Eat the cake! You can get a decent carb estimate from the Calorie King web site or from the Daily Plate website. With my son, we just make sure to test 2 hours after so we can make corrections if needed before his BG gets too out of control.
Ask the store if they would make and decorate the cake with ingredients you provide or find a private cake maker who will do it. If you talk with the store manager first, explaining the situarion, you may have better cooperation. If they won’t do it, make the cake yourself, make or buy the frostig and pay the store’s cake decorator a few bucks to decorate it for you.
We just celebrated Jake’s 3rd B-day and I went with a DQ ice cream cake. We were able to get Disney Cars on it an the best part is that Calorie King has it broken out by the ounce! We were able to weigh it out and know exactly (well pretty close) how much he was getting. Plus since it’s not really ice cream, it’s ice milk, it is much lower in fat than regular cake. It really didn’t throw his bg off at all.
Happy Birthday Naomi!!!
As long as you plan for it, cake can be a non factor. As a matter of fact the fat in the cake can slow the absorption of the sugar down. I agree, give her what she wants, these kids sacrifice enough. I would definitely make sure to give the insulin a 20-30 minute head start to prevent the huge spike in BG’s
Good 2 know! We just had a nightmare of an experience yesterday. My dad, Naomi’s Grandpa, made a homemade cake for her for last night and my carb estimates were waaay off. Naomi’s BG went through the roof last night and she felt horrible. Thankfully she was back on track this morning, I’m not sure how but she was right where she normally is right before breakfast. We have one more day where we will be doing the “cake” thing for her birthday and I might just have to go to DQ for this next one.
Thanks for the info. I’ll have your wisdom for next time! Last night was a nightmare, I was totally overwhelmed with the chaos and she ended up shooting through the roof.
I once saw an estimate that said a 2" square piece of frosted cake was about 40g. Not sure if that helps for Grandpa’s cake, but thought I would pass it along.
We just had ice cream… but seem to be in the minority.
Willow has had 3 birthdays since dx. Her last being March 6 and she turned 10. We get a homemade baker in town and I do not ask for carb info. Her birthdays - even with cake and goodies - she is almost always low. This year we had a sleep over at a local hotel and swimming - and the cake came in handy when she was swimming and needing something to bring her up. Like other posters have said - we just check frequently - 2 hours post big meals or eating and do the best we can . . .it’s just one day! Happy Birthday! I hope it was wonderful!