Cake smash portrait sessions are such a beautiful, fun way to celebrate your little one’s 1st birthday. Last week I wrote a couple of blog posts about choosing the decorations for your little boy’s or little girl’s cake smash session. Today I am writing about choosing the outfit, or outfits for this milestone portrait session.
Cake smash sessions are split into 3 parts:
- The Birthday Portraits
- The Cake Smash
- The Bubble Bath
I recommend choosing one or two outfits for the session – one for the birthday portraits and one for the cake smash.
The Birthday Portraits
This part of the session is when we capture some traditional portraits of your little baby. I recommend babies wear a little party outfit, perhaps a little party dress for little girls or a collared shirt for boys.
For Boys
There are so many sweet options for little boys when choosing an outfit for the birthday portraits. Collared shirts, bow ties, and suspenders are all adorable. Cute overalls, knitted rompers and even teddy bear onesies are perfect and you don’t need to look too far in the shops these days to find something special that matches the colour scheme and decorations you have chosen for this special day. Even Best & Less and Big W have adorable little outfits.
If you are still unsure, don’t worry, I have a growing wardrobe of little boy clothes perfect for birthday portraits, including handsome onesies, overalls and rompers. My preference is always for outfits that are both very cute, but don’t overwhelm your adorable baby. The clothes should never be the star, your baby is what we want to focus on.
For Girls
And for girls, the choices are just as gorgeous. Party dresses and gorgeous little rompers, sweet little onesies and simple little skirts are all ideal, and there are so many options to match with your colour scheme and decorations. Special party dresses are definitely the favourite outfits for these portraits, but a sweet little romper or onesie can be just as stunning, simple and beautiful. Again we don’t want to overwhelm your baby, we want them to be the star.
Accessories for little girls are so sweet as well, and I have many different little headbands and tiebacks here in the studio which we can use during the session to help tame that wild hair. Once again, if you just aren’t sure if you have anything for your little one to wear, don’t worry, I have that growing wardrobe of little girl party dresses and rompers which are perfect for these birthday portraits.
I love how the lace of little Colette’s dress below adds so much texture to the beautiful detail photos that I love to capture during a session. Lace is one of my favourite fabric choices as it adds textures without taking away from, or overwhelming, your little baby.
The Cake Smash
Now for the fun part! Getting messy with the cake smash. For these portraits, I recommend to my clients that baby shows a little more skin. After all, they are going to be covered in icing by the end of this part. For some clients that is as simple as removing the little shirt or top that went with the cute little pants or skirt they were wearing for the Birthday Portraits. For other’s it is a whole different outfit. And for other clients they choose that their little one will stay in the same outfit for the whole session and that is gorgeous as well.
For Boys
Knitted shorts with suspenders are a definite favourite outfit of mine for little boys and the cake smash portraits! And they are just everywhere in the shops at the moment. I love how these add some beautiful knitted textures, but still give us that adorable baby belly, show off those baby thighs and allow baby to get really messy and covered in icing!
Of course, there are lots of options for little boys, including a cute pair of shorts and even overalls, all make for adorable little outfits for a cake smash. And accessories should never be overlooked either, a sweet little beanie or a bow tie can add just the smallest little colour pop, or texture without overwhelming your baby boy.
For Girls
Once again the choices for girls are never ending! My biggest tip for choosing an outfit for little girls is trying not to get anything that is too big it overwhelms your little one. That giant fluffy tutu is super cute, but if your baby can’t walk or crawl in it they will soon get frustrated and upset. Less is more when it comes to 1 year olds and outfits.
A sweet little romper, perhaps with a soft floral pattern or lace details is perfect. Maybe just a lace tutu skirt or a simple party dress. Accessories again are adorable at this age and can help to add a little detail, but many babies of this age will only tolerate so much on their heads, and large party hats are often only tolerated for a few seconds. A soft headband or tie back might be all you need, and I have plenty for you to try on if you aren’t sure what to get.
Rest assured if you just aren’t sure what you want your little one to wear for their cake smash I have lots of options available for you to choose from. Little rompers, overalls, onesies and simple skirts are all here ready for you to use if you wish. And that saves your clean up afterwards as well! So it is a win-win.
The Bubble Bath
No clothes required.
For more cake smash inspiration, you can see my Pinterest Boards and my Cake Smash Gallery. Are you ready to book your cake smash session in? Contact me here.