Sharing the Joy: You Can Help Us Reach Our Goal of Donating 5,000 Birthday Cake Kits

As part of our 100th birthday celebration, we’re inviting the community to help us help others. That’s right—YOU! Throughout the year, we’re collecting donations of shelf-stable birthday cake ingredients to distribute to our community via local food pantries.

It’s a small movement with a big payoff—spreading joy to all kids on their birthdays!

The Need

Did you know that more than 57,000 children in Marion County alone face food insecurity?

This can affect their physical and emotional health. We believe that all children deserve to experience joy—especially on their birthdays. That, of course, includes enjoying a delicious slice of cake! With your help, we can make this possible!

The Goal

We hope to distribute 5,000 cake kits to local food pantries in celebration of our 100th birthday on Dec. 6, 2025.

That’s a lot of cakes. It’s also a lot of happy children. We can only reach this big goal with your help.

How You Can Help

The next time you’re at the grocery store, grab some of these items:

Boxes of any flavor of cake mix
Birthday candles
16 o.z containers of any flavor icing

Then you can bring your donations to The Children’s Museum. We have a large collection box that’s accessible to the public. It’s located under the Welcome Center under the ramp to the Skywalk.

Just drop your donations in the box and we’ll take care of the rest.

Can’t make it to the museum by Dec. 6? Visit our Amazon Birthday Cake Kit Supplies gift registry and purchase items online. Again, we’ll take care of the rest!

Purchase Items Online

It’s really that easy.

When we gather each month to assemble and deliver the cake kits; we place your donation in an aluminum cake pan and sealed in baggies (generously supplied by Acorn Distributors) and a can of Starry to provide everything our neighbors need for a memorable birthday treat.

The Carbonated Elephant in the Room

We know what you’re asking. Yes, we said Starry. You can use a can of soda to bake a cake.

Here’s why:

Regular cake ingredients—like eggs, water, and oil—react with baking powder in the cake mix to create bubbles of carbon dioxide. When placed in the oven, those bubbles start to expand, giving the cake a nice fluffy texture. That’s where the can of Starry comes in! It adds bubbles to the mix so your cake will be nice and fluffy.