Birthday parties can be a lot of work—especially when the party is for a young child.
This was the issue TikToker Katelynn Ross—@katelanterman—was addressing when she decided to let Costco take care of the cake.
Unfortunately, things didn't quite go to plan.
You can see Ross' video of their predicament here:
@katelanterman #Costcofail Without explanation, Costco didnt decorate my son’s birthday cake so I had to do it at 9pm the night before his party. #nailedit BUT SERIOUSLY, you thought leaving it blank was a good idea??? Do the best you can offer and thats my problem after, but them leaving it blank was a horribly petty plan. I normally LOVE Costco, we still spent bought all of our party food there tonight because that was my plan and I didnt need the added stress of changing plans over this. I’ll still shop there, but i will NEVER order a custom cake again #cakefail And i hate my writing on it but at least its something
People congratulated her on managing to make a pretty cake all on her own.


Others were outraged on her behalf.


But then the plot thickened.
It turns out, it's a fairly widely known fact among Costco members that their cakes only come in pre-designed options and will be given as blank if one of these options isn't checked on the order sheet.




Then a decorator chimed in with the usual policy, which is to call the customer.

It turned out the TikToker had received a phone call earlier that day.

Someone summed up the general sentiment in the comments.

The finished cake looks great.
The 2-year-old probably couldn't tell whether it was professionally decorated or not.







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