Birthday cake EMERGENCY D': please help ;(?

alright so im 15. And tomorrow is my dads 50th birthday . I decidd to make a cake cause he loves my home made cakes. I make them a lot really good . And ok so i was gonna make a 2 layer thing so i was gonna use 2 boxes. The first box i put everything iin as instructed. Then when i took it out . It didnt rise at all it was horrible i couldnt even geti tout of the pan . So then i just said oh well ill make just 1 box so i made another , its in the oven right now and i looked at it i dont think its turning out . and the other cake i threw away it was al in crumbs and it was gross. . Any recipe from scratch that has been good and worked for you? Its urgeent .. ;( cause im trying to do something nice for his 50th bday .