The one year cake smash session. It's one of my favorite types of sessions to do. Once the setup is done, the baby usually doesn't move too much, and all I have to do capture all the fun. But there have been a few occasions when the session wasn't exactly what I'd call a success. I'd say there are two primary causes for a cake smash session to not go so well:

1. The baby doesn't like to get messy. If your child isn't one for different textures, and doesn't appreciate food on his hands or on his body, you might want to reconsider having this type of session done. This session is supposed to be fun and happy, not one that causes anxiety and crying.

2. The baby doesn't like cake. Believe it or not, some babies just really aren't interested in eating it. This makes for a difficult session because if they don't want to eat the cake, they really have no reason to sit there. And even if they do sit there, a bunch of images of them not touching their cake, can get pretty boring.

Recently I've seen a few sessions bypass problem #2 by skipping the cake completely, and giving the baby something they actually like instead. The spaghetti smash. The taco smash. (Go google it, if you haven't seen it already.) It is awesome. And ever since, I've been waiting and waiting for someone to ask me to do a smash session without the cake. Don't get me wrong, I love the standard cake smash. But I get bored too after a while.

So I was SO EXCITED when CJ's mom asked me to do a burger smash session with In-n-Out. I had my friend Heather from Always Give a Craft make a palm tree banner, I added in some balloons and tissue puffs, and Cassie, CJ's mom, picked up a boatload of In-n-Out food: burgers, fries, and a milkshake of course. And CJ loved it. I could barely narrow down his gallery to a reasonable number of images. Here is just a small handful of the awesomeness from his session:

When a regular cake smash session is over, my five-year-old will often help me by "cleaning up" any leftover cake. I may or may not have "cleaned up" some of these fries on my own. ;-)

So if your child is turning one soon and you are planning to book a cake smash session, I'd suggest letting them try it first. If they don't like it, then what is something they do like? Get creative! My first birthday sessions are no longer restricted to cake only.

Happy birthday, CJ!