Tie in the cow theme of your child's birthday party through the use of invitations, decorations, favors and, especially, the cake. Present a cow-shaped cake and watch your little birthday boy or girl's eyes light up with delight. Not only will your child enjoy his or her special cake, but the other kids and parents will be pleasantly surprised, and you'll save quite a bit of money over ordering a specialty cake from your local bakery.

Mix two batches of your favorite cake mix according to the recipe. Bake one 8- or 9-inch round cake. Pour the other batch of mix into three cupcakes and a 6-inch round bowl or cake pan. Let the cakes cool.

Cover your cake board or a piece of cardboard with aluminum foil. You can do this while the cake is baking or beforehand, as long as it's bigger than the cake.

Remove the larger cake from it's pan and put it on the board. Center it unless you're going to use some of the open space to write out "happy birthday" or something similar.

Use a thin layer of icing like glue to secure the smaller cake to the top center of the cake. This will create the cow's head.

Set two cupcakes just beneath the cake to represent the cow's legs and hooves. Cut the final cupcake in half and place them on either side of the "head" as ears.

Frost the cake with white frosting (or another base color). Use brown frosting to make spots to your liking and to cover the nose.

Outline the ears, nose, mouth and hooves with the black tube of icing. Fill in the inside of the ears, nose and tongue with the pink or red tube of icing.

Insert two chocolate candies, such as Junior Mints, into the head to represent the cow's eyes. Use the other two candies, such as Hershey's Kisses, upside down for the nostrils. Draw eyelashes on the cow with leftover black frosting from the tube if you wish.