Splayd tradition

These are our own Splayds.

Family traditions? They've become a popular topic for discussion amongst some in recent years. We haven't deliberately set up many traditions as such, but of course when you do things the same way a few times, it becomes a habit or tradition, especially with children. But because our family has been brought up across two different countries, perhaps we haven't as many traditions as some back home because we have to be flexible.

We do have a number of simple traditions surrounding birthdays. Generally speaking we open birthday presents at breakfast time and have a family party in the evening, including cake. The cakes for the boys are generally themed and often from the Australian Women's Weekly famous birthday cake cookbook. We usually eat the cake with special cutlery called "splayd" that David and I received for our wedding. 

At present we're working our way through two birthday cakes, as we've had two birthdays in the last 10 days. Our splayds are getting a good workout. 

It's interesting to Google splayd. They create a bit of cross cultural controversy (for example here). They aren't the same as the American spork, including a straighter edge that is suitable for cutting soft foods like cake and they are always metal. Splayd is actually a registered trade name and they were invented in Australia in the late 1940s. According to the official Splayd website:

SPLAYD® utensils (after the verb to splay - to slant, slope or spread outwards) were invented in Australia by Bill McAurthur of Potts Point, New South Wales in the late 1940's.

This blogpost gives us a nice tongue-in-cheek description: http://theracket.com/2012/06/splayd-a-utensil-perfected-a-nation-unified/

It is lovely, in the midst of a fairly practical and careful-spending family-of-boys lifestyle, to have the luxury of eating cake with these.

Do you have an unusual tradition in your family?