aging children and toddlers
I used to know how to age toddlers and children just by having a birthday, but in Sims 4 I am not sure how to do it. I know how age up from baby to toddler, but after that I forgot.
Forum Discussion
@JCPeteIf you want to age them up before their birthday, make a cake, add birthday candles, and blow them out. You can age up any sim this way. Sims will automatically age up on their birthday without having to do this.
To add to the above: Sometimes the cake might not be cooperative. If you can't put birthday candles on a cake for whatever reason, try moving it to another surface. I read somewhere that you must have the cake in the middle of a dining room table, but last night I was speed-aging kids with two cakes on each end of a table, so your mileage may vary. Also, you cannot put candles on a cake that has had any pieces cut from it. It seems like other Sims tend not to disturb a fresh cake that you've put down, at least not for a short time, so you don't have to worry too much about a piece getting yoinked unless someone nearby is really hungry.
Toddlers require the help of an adult to blow out the candles. Make sure an adult is nearby and idling. You can do it one of two ways: click the cake as the toddler and select 'blow out candles help', then select an adult. Or, you can click the cake as the adult and choose the toddler you want to help.
As with a lot of things that require this kind of cooperation, I find it's best to turn off autonomy to expedite this process so neither participant gets all confused by trying to go do something else before the request gets through.
Once a child is older than a toddler, they can blow out candles on their own. I think they may even be able to put their own candles on the cake.
You can re-use the same cake multiple times for birthdays; just re-apply candles to it.
If you choose to have a birthday party, the party success has nothing to do with aging up. You can fail it hard and still be fine (though the kid might get a sad moodlet). As long as the kid blows the candles out at some point, even after the party, they'll age up. I found this out because I am a bad parent and also didn't know how cakes worked.
In my experience, just about anything that says 'cake' in the name when you cook it will accept candles. Chocolate cake is of course a traditional favorite, but my kids are required to perform their rite of passage with hamburger cake.
