<p>This may be silly, but I cannot decide how I send son cupcakes or cake next week for his birthday. He’s starting grad school at a school far from friends. He’s living in a dorm, and I noticed that the house master is having a dinner the night of son’s birthday. I could contact the master and pay for him to have a cake, but would that prove too embarrassing for a reserved young man?</p>
<p>Let me be clearer–I will definitely send cake of some kind. Question is, since there is a dinner in his dorm, would it better to arrange with house master to provide the cake?</p>
<p>This may sound trite, but son is truly eager to find a few friends. A birthday cake at a public event could be a help or embarrass him no end.</p>
<p>If you don’t mind spending a little extra, a company called Divine Delights has wonderful petit fours and other cakes and goodies. Just Google the name. I’m sending them to my daughter this week. They might be too girly. Some other on-line catalogs sell cakes–perhaps Williams Sonoma?</p>
<p>First, for D2, throughout her college years, I baked a cake and mailed it to her and she loved it and was never embarrassed and celebrated with it with friends. </p>
<p>Now, just about a week ago, D1 turned 24. Up until now, she was always home for her birthday as it fell in between summer jobs away from home and starting college or grad school in the fall. Alas, this year she is working in Europe all year. She was working in Zurich, Switzerland for her birthday (in fact, her last day of work and her final weekend there) and is now working in France. I grappled with what to do. We had already bought her birthday present and gave it to her before she left in June. But my kids have always had a home made birthday cake on their birthdays and I could not bear that she would not have that and nothing to open and all that. I thought of how could I order a cake so far away. Have no clue. I know that my baking a cake and mailing it was too chancy to Europe (had only mailed these to NYC in the past). </p>
<p>So, I baked 24 cupcakes for age 24. I left off the icing and decorations. I packed up the cupcakes in a tupperware type container so none could move around, using bubble wrap to fill in empty space in the container. I put that in a carton along with a container of store bought icing and lots of different decorative toppings (sprinkle type) and a package of 24 candles and matches. I shipped it. She got it and loved it. She iced some cupcakes and brought them to work (which was at a graduate school, though she wasn’t a student herself). Then, she had a celebration night planned in the city and had new friends come to her place first and served the cupcakes. She decorated them with a friend. </p>
<p>My kid is not your kid…but she loved this. Could you mail them to your son directly and not to the house master? Then, it is up to your son whether to share these with new friends and you don’t risk embarrassment if he doesn’t wish to do that. But your love will be shown. :D</p>
<p>PS, your son can invite people at the dinner back to his room or a common room to share the cake or cupcakes.</p>
<p>There is a cupcake store in Harvard Sq, and I’m a great baker (but would be mailing across country). I suspect there could be 50 people at this dinner, so would switch to cakes. Should I co-ordinate with house master, or just have delivered to his room?</p>
<p>Soozievt, my son at same grad school as your D1. I was going to order the cupcakes, but then saw the dorm dinner for grad freshman.</p>
<p>^^^we cross posted…deliver to his room…then he can opt to share them at the dinner or invite some people from the dinner back to his room or to a common room.</p>
<p>Send a cake in some way but don’t involve the house master–I think that is a bit embarrassing for a grad student and may also interfere in some way with the function of the dinner itself. More fun and more personal to get the cake delivered to your son on his own for sharing as he wishes, when and with whom. (L.A. Burdick makes and ships a nice but smallish chocolate cake for birthdays.)</p>
<p>Since my mother’s baked goods alway arrived stale when I was at school, I send stuff back with him whenenver he comes home, but order from a local bakery when I can’t do that. A bakery near his school advertises cookie boxes and various bakery treats on lione and delivers–they call ahead and son meets the delivery person at the mailboxes. Definitely send it to him so he can use it to break the ice with nearby friends of his choice.</p>
<p>OK–cake or cupcakes delivered to dorm, from local bakery. The cupcake store in Harvard Sq charges $16 for delivery!!! UGH</p>
<p>Any suggestions from those familiar with Cambridge bakeries? Besides the cupcake store, I do recall a wonderful chocolate bakery shop near H Sq. Also seems that a bakery opened near MIT</p>
<p>bookworm, you don’t wanna know what it cost me to ship my homemade cupcakes recently to Zurich!!!</p>
<p>Sorry to not be able to help ya on the Cambridge bakeries. D went to grad school at MIT and I moved her in around her birthday and I baked her a cake and decorated it with the MIT logo and drove it to Boston (we are on the East Coast) and we had it in our hotel room in Cambridge!</p>
<p>When my husband turned 40 he was a law student. I arranged with his professor to surprise him with donuts in his first morning class (donuts for the entire lecture class). I don’t think he was thrilled with me, but the other students in his class certainly appreciated it!</p>
<p>My D is in school in the Boston area, and on her school food service website you can order cakes and fruit tarts. Would his school have any such services?</p>
<p>Try Rosie’s Bakery. There is one in Inman Square (not exactly sure where that square is, but it is in Cambridge) and one in Porter Square. I have not tried anything from there, but it gets rave reviews.</p>
<p>Is he at Harvard? It might be possible to order something through HUDS. While the regular food is pretty mediocre, they do a nice job for special events and it would probably be less complicated than ordering from somewhere off campus.</p>
<p>Burdick has a cafe in Cambridge (as well as in NYC and Walpole, NH). They also ship via online and phone orders. Primarily/originally a chocolate place but they do also have excellent cakes and pastries, including the little birthday cake I referred to in earlier post.</p>
<p>S is a 3rd year grad student at MIT, but we haven’t had to do anything long distance for his birthday yet. He’s got a summer birthday…his 1st year he came home for the weekend, his 2nd year he was out of town on his birthday (gf baked him a cake when he got back). If you search on CC, I think there was a thread in the past month or two about bakeries that deliver in Boston/Cambridge.</p>
<p>OK, here’s the real problem. We always do a “Happy First Day of XX Grade” cake from a very particular bakery. We’d love to do that next year when mine go off to school, but it has to be from this bakery. How can that possibly be sent? Not just any cake will do!</p>