I’m sad to say that my family was never big on the whole “themed birthday party” thing. We used to get those party favor catalogs in the mail, and I’d flip through them, dreaming big dreams about how cool it would be to have a Barbie/Batman combo party, but it never happened. And then one birthday, I got a race car cake.
Now, I want to preface this all by saying that my family threw me wonderful parties — they just weren’t themed. I highly doubt my parents had the time or mental energy to plan something as elaborate as one of my classmate’s moms, who had a lot of free time on her hands and organized a Great Race-themed party that required adults to truck groups of kids around town. All I remember about that was that she sent us to the meat market, and one of our tasks was to eat an uncooked hot dog.
But I digress. The race car cake. It was for my 18th birthday, many a year after I stopped having parties and instead spent my birthdays having one of my parents tell me how much they regretted my being born. So imagine my surprise when I drove over to a friend’s house for a game night and instead found a François Cevert cake waiting for me.
This cake was not historically accurate. It was not Tyrrell blue. The car was more 1960s Formula 2 than it was 1970s Formula One. And it was the greatest thing to ever happen to me. I’ve spent all my subsequent birthdays chasing that elusive themed birthday high.
I’m sure some of you other folks have either had or thrown extremely cool car-themed birthday parties. I don’t care if it’s something you saw at your kid’s most hated peer’s party. I don’t care if it was the party you threw yourself when you turned 50. Show me the best birthday parties with car themes. I must know.