The 1st shot wasn't too bad but I am so upset the 2nd shot didn't turn out much better.

The lights were turned down, no time to re-meter my shot.
My shutter was fairly slow, and Danielle is obviously moving in the 2nd shot, so it isn't very clear :(
ISO was high so it's pretty grainy too.
I was frightened of setting my aperture to wide open for fear of the dof being paper thin and not getting enough in focus.
Didn't wanna use my flash for fear of the whole ambient lighting being ruined.

I see a no-win situation here. A total flop IMO!

Any CC on how to perfect this technique would be much appreciated, for future reference. TIA

Info:
50mm 1.8 MKII lens
F/2.50
SS 1/80
ISO 800

Don't be so hard on yourself. I think both images are very good. You just need to shoot under low light and experiment with different settings. We used to call this bracketing. A tri-pod works wonders under low light too. Your first image looks like the birthday girl is the focus and in the second the cake is. I have trouble with focus in low light myself.

Cheers,

Jim B.