no more birthday candles (in Australia)

[Tree City]

Did you read the story about Australia schools banning birthday candles in cakes? They are worried about spreading germs. (TBH, I've got the same worry, but DD's school doesn't do candles lol so I don't have to worry).
What do you guys think? Are they overreacting or finally getting with the times??? I'm OK with it because they're right: it is really bad to blow your air and snot and spit all over the cake. My grandpa used to shield a corner piece of the cake whenever we had a bday celebration. I thought he was claiming his piece of the cake but my mom finally told me that he didn't care about the cake--he was trying to keep the bday kid's spit off a slice so he could eat some without freaking out! lol

[emscraps]

WOW!! But you're right, I totally get it. I get grossed out, too at birthday parties and esp with little kids..lol...

[nutsaboutgabe]

That's one of those things that I think is absolutely disgusting! Blech! I think every person should get a cupcake with a candle to blow out and that is their piece of cake and leave the untainted cake for the rest of the bystanders!

[sladd79054]

To be honest, I never even thought about it but you are right that is nasty.

[ScrapinMama]

We always do a birthday cupcake for that very reason! And then everyone else can have the beautiful, germ and spit free cake without worrying! Yuck!

[missdamsel]

I have never thought about taking candles to school as it would be a fire hazzard.

[Nickala27]

You will find that most schools and day cares here in Australia (well at least Queensland not sure about other states) have already banned candles as a fire and safety risk. So it would be rare to find somewhere that would allow it to happen anyway. Most schools encourage parents to send cupcakes or goodies bags if they wish for the class to celebrate the child's birthday. So I believe this article is just hyping up a new law that has been voluntarily happening anyway.

But yes it's gross that children blow spit over a cake and others eat it!

[Ambelleina]

I seriously don't care. Then again, I think some people are WAAAY more sensitive about "germs" than others. I call my boyfriend a priss because IMO, he's weird about germs. However, I think he's on par with most people. I'm just like, yeah, I've eaten from probably a hundred birthday cakes in my life between school, home and work and I've never caught ebola or anything from eatching a slice of cake. Agian, IMO, people are freaking out over the wrong thing. I'm more worried about the high sugar, HFCS and fat content of the cake! How about NO CAKE and give the kids an alternative that DOESN'T destroy their blood sugar and not have to worry about any of it!

[Tree City]

Nicky, thanks for an opinion from an Aussie! ;) And I completely agree with all of those like you who've mentioned that candles have been banned as a fire hazard. Like, duh! Who allows matches around elementary-aged kids? Aren't we supposed to keep fire away from kids?!
And Christina, my DD's preschool only allowed store-bought, packaged treats. (Her Kindy teachers buy a big "cookie cake" for the class. That's definitely sugary lol!) I bought sugar free cookies, but some parents bought these really sugary cookies from a local bakery. I mean, these things have more frosting than actual cookie! Anyway, ITA that we should just eliminate the "bad" treats at school but still let kids enjoy their special day. My elementary school never celebrated bdays. There isn't time in the day at most elem. schools to do that. (Plus, what about the summer bdays? It always annoyed me when kids came to school and the teacher said "It's Susie's birthday today! Let's sing Happy Birthday!'" What about me? Mine is in the summer--it's not like the last week of school each of us with a summer bday got "Happy EARLY Birthday" sung to them rotfl. My point is, you're excluding kids, however innocently, from being able to share in that "it's your special day!" feeling at school. So I say ban all bday celebrations at schools. That's right: I'm a big Scrooge.