Susan DeWeese can't really predict the future, but she has fun pretending. For a New Year's party one year, the Plano, Texas, mother of two slipped a collection of homemade "fortune" cards with ribbons attached into a layer cake. Before the cake was served, each guest was invited to choose one of the ribbons curling out of the cake and give it a tug. "They thought it was great," says DeWeese.

Along with standard fortunes like "You will have a prosperous New Year," Susan and husband Michael threw in a few especially suited to their guests. "We had some friends who were going to have a baby, and we made sure they got the one that said 'You will be blessed with triplets,'" she says.

MATERIALS

Layer cake and frosting (make with mix or from scratch)
Index cards
Aluminum foil
Curling ribbon

Bake and frost layer cake. Cut index cards into 1-by-2-inch pieces. Punch a hole in one end and write a fortune on each. Wrap the cards in foil, poke a pencil through the hole and tie on a piece of ribbon, curling the ends. Slip the cards horizontally into the cake around the sides.