This is the second book in this growing series by Ms. Becker & Ms. MacDonald Denton. The same two characters, (Grumpy) Bear and (Happy-Go-Lucky) Mouse return in their respective roles. This time, Mouse is trying to throw a party for Bear. As expected, Bear doesn’t like birthday parties, especially his own. The story unfolds with Bear doing everything in his power to thwart Mouse’s attempts to throw a party for Bear. Mouse is, as usual, ignoring Bear’s protests, and does his usual bits to bring us a birthday party for Bear.

The story is cute. Maybe not as perfect as A Visitor for Bear, but still very good. Our 4.5 year old goes from loving these stories to not wanting to have anything to do with them. Maybe that’s because he demanded I read these books to him every night for weeks and weeks when we first got each story.

What’s nice is that despite being read over and over, the jokes still bring out laughs from both of us, and the illustrations are once again superb.

Highly recommend.

We got 3 dozens different rubber ducks from Amazon and this group is the worst dozen. The paint feels like it is not completely dried and it rubbed off on the bodies of the ducks. Also, these ducks do not quack/squeak because the blow hole is not on the bottom, it is where the mouth is; these ducks are more like water squirters.

My daughter received this as a gift for her 2nd birthday. I think that is the perfect age for this toy, although my older kids (3, 5, and have all had some fun with it, too! My two-year old does need some help blowing out the candles sometimes, but she absolutely loves this little cake! She is at the age where she just loves singing the birthday song, so this present was a great choice for her!

What I like:

1. You press the button and each time you do, a candle lights up. So, you can light just one candle, or two, or all five…it’s up to you. When you have the number of candles lit that you want, just wait a second and if you don’t press the button again, the bday song will start. My two year old likes to press it until all 5 candles are lit (even though she is 2!), and she counts out loud along with the little voice coming from the cake.

2. It’s cool that while the song is playing, you can press the buttons to hear cool sounds and fun melodic variations thrown in. I love that if my daughter starts pushing buttons during the song, it just adds to the fun of the song, but finishes! I get so tired of toys where a push of a button stops something right in the middle to go on to something else! Little kids love pushing buttons over and over, so I think whoever designed this, did it RIGHT! Thank you!

3. The best thing about the cake is that you can actually “blow out” the candles (via a little grouping of holes in the middle of the cake). And the cake says “Yay!!” after you do, which my kids love and join in on.

4. It has a volume adjustment. (Parents always LOVE to be able to control the volume a bit!)

5. It is little! I love that it is little, which means my 2-year old can pack it around easily and it doesn’t take up much room on a shelf.

What I’d like better:

1. The birthday song is instrumental and it is just plain too fast for its target audience (approx. 1-4 yr. olds) to keep up with as they try to sing along. When we sing for birthdays at our house, we always slow down/pause slightly after saying the name, before singing the final “Happy birthday to you.” (Most people I know do the same thing.) In the instrumental melody the cake plays, not only is it too fast all the way through, but it doesn’t slow down or pause at all at that point in the song. I wish it did and I think it’d be better if the whole song was slowed down a bit. The little ones would be able to sing along with it better.

2. I actually like that there is an instrumental version of the bday song, but I think the toy would be better if there was also an option to have the bday song with KIDS singing. Of course, they wouldn’t be able to sing a name, but they could hum in that spot, then finish the song. I say KIDS, because my children (and I think most are the same) much prefer their music and musical toys that have kids voices singing over the ones that have grown-ups voices doing the singing. Plus, I think with kids singing, the song would’ve been recorded at a more appropriate speed for little ones to sing along with.

3. To me it’s a little odd that the “cake” is blue. (I know, it could be blue frosting!) This is not really important and I know kids couldn’t care less, but just to me personally, I’d have liked it better if the cake was yellow.

Overall though, I think this is a very cool, fun little toy.

my 5 yrs old sheltie love this toy. Fast shipping. Ordered on 26 & received on 28. I will get 2-3 more again for my friend’s dog b-day.

My Jack Russell Terrier, Buster, just LOVES his birthday cake toy!! We bought his first one for his first birthday (see customer pictures) and has received another for every birthday since. Now, he does “kill” the music box after a bit, but still loves his toy. We still have most of them and he still plays with them – minus the music!! Birthday #8 is coming up and I’m ordering another!!

An excellent little book for reading and re-reading with your kids.

Haven’t had this much fun with 30 square pages since I was 8!

The Mr. Men and Little Miss series has been such an inspiration to my

professional life that it was a joy to relive the fun with my young cousins.

-Zac Stanley

Saw these in a Hallmark store, but selection was limited. Found them on Amazon for a good price, ordered two as gifts. They arrived in timely fashion in excellent condition. Easy, no hassle shopping!

When I saw this hat online, it was just too cute to resist!! I had to have it for baby girl’s first birthday. When I received it, however, I was disappointed to find a stain on the front of the hat. I emailed Riley & Bella and told them of the situation. They responded immediately, and overnighted a new hat to me, just in time for the party! The hat was perfect, and looked adorable on my little birthday girl. Thank you Riley & Bella!! Your customer service is unbeatable!

The children at my son’s birthday party loved the ducks. The only drawback is that they do not float upright in more than a 1/2 inch of water. But they do squirt water…a big hit with the kids!

Our granddaughter’s eyes lit up when she saw this gift. She has continued to go back to it over nd over and is delighted with her cake.