What’s up with kids’ birthday parties these days? Have you noticed the growing number of lavish events? When I was a kid, my mom used to throw me lovely parties at our home. Some were day time parties and everyone would leave happily with a goodie bag. Sometimes me or one of my classmates would have a party at McDonalds and jump in the ball pit; this was considered a super special party at the time. As a tween and teen, I began to have sleepovers which were awesome. I have the greatest memories to this day of staying up all night with my friends and playing silly games.
These days, it seems like a kid’s party has to have chocolate fountains, a pony and belly dancers to be considered cool. We see the super-rich throwing their children all sorts of expensive parties on reality shows, but this craze even extends into middle class America. Many parents are running up credit card debt or using up their savings just so their kids can have a birthday party that keeps up with the Joneses.
When the MTV show My Super Sweet 16 first aired in 2005, it started a trend of teenage girls wanting to have fabulous birthday parties. Since the 16th birthday has always been a special birthday for young women, many parents began to agree to let their daughters run the show when it came to planning the party. But the trend soon exploded out of control as more and more regular, middle class girls all over America started wanting to compete with their friends to see who could have the biggest and most outrageous bash.
Today, the trend of luxury children’s parties has even extended to the little kids’ market. Some children are having birthday parties with giant bouncy castles, three tier cakes, professional performers and catered food. No matter how much or how little money the parents of these children have, giving a child a super expensive party at a young age can spoil the boy or girl. If a kid expects parties like this at age 6, what will he or she want to do for his or her wedding?
So what do you think? Do you think it is a good idea for kids to have lavish parties? Or were things better the way we used to live?