The next time the siren song of Costco's half-sheet cake with the to-die-for (and drool-over) mousse filling calls out to you, remember: The wholesale club's bakery does not do special designs, and you might want to respect that boundary. Take it from a TikToker who recently ordered a cake from Costco for her son's second birthday party, requesting a Sesame Street-inspired design — and instead wound up with a blank cake to take home.
@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 ♬ original sound - Katelynn Ross
In her viral video, the Costco shopper said that while she knew the decorators couldn't do "licensed things," she requested a street sign in green with a yellow trim border, "Sesame Street-style," with the words, "Happy Birthday Teddy." She continued the request on her order form asking decorators to "maybe fill in blank spaces" with "123," "ABC," or even crayons, among other details.
Totally reasonable requests from someone who understands the bakery's limitations, right? Wrong. Instead of adorning the bargain cake the way a bakery charging much more would, Costco workers tried to call the mom to discuss design options. When she missed the call, they left the cake blank.
In her video, she explained that while she understood they couldn't appease all of her requests, she felt they could have at least written "Happy Birthday Teddy" and included borders. However, a commenter on the video shared that shoppers can only choose from already-approved designs. The policy apparently exists so that customers cannot say, "I don't like how that looks" and refuse to pay for it.
If shoppers deviate from the offered options and ask for something special, they will receive a call from the bakery. And if you don't answer? Blank cake it is!
Somewhat hilariously (at least to us), this is not the only recent example of Costco's cake decorators doing, err, not exactly what the customer ordered.
As for the desired "Sesame Street"-inspired cake, though there were no decorators on duty at the time the mom picked her cake up, one of the bakery employees did send her home with some colored frosting and she was able to execute an A-OK cake for her kiddo at home.
So, let one woman's lack of knowledge regarding Costco's cake-decorating rules be your lesson today, and remember that you can have your Costco cake and eat it, too ... you just can't zhuzh it up outside of acceptable standards.
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