My mother always made sure we had really great birthday parties. I don't ever remember having a single birthday that was a disappointment in any way, but things were ALOT different back then. My grandmother made our cakes. Yes, that's right! We did not go to an overpriced bakery and spend $45.00 on a cake who's colors had been custom tinted to match the paper the invitations had been printed upon. She actually got in her kitchen and MADE the cake. You had two choices- chocolate or vanilla. She was actually very good at cake decorating and it would be a fun surprise to see what she had done to "fancy" it up. Beyond her time, the ingredients in the cake probably didn't cost $5.00.
At my childhood parties, we usually just ran around in the yard. Maybe we played kickball or scavenger hunt or just PLAYED. We didn't have a $150.00 blow-up jumper or a pony or a creepy man who displayed his unusually large collection of reptiles. We were just happy to be together outside of school where we could have fun! If you tried to throw a party in this day and age without an official "theme", you be tarred and feathered! What will the children DO for two whole hours without ENTERTAINMENT people would cry!!!
When I opened gifts as a child, my friends brought me $3.00 trinkets from Fred's Dollar Store. My parents didn't feel that they or my grandparents had to spend more than $20.00 on a Cabbage Patch Doll or roller skates. Now, if your kid doesn't rack up an I-pod or PSP, CDs, DVDs, and at least $150.00 cash, it's a bad haul! No child over the age of 6 brings gifts anymore, by the way. Their parents just stick $20.00 in a card and send it to the party. My ten year old received a total of $275.00 for his birthday in August! That's more than I get on MY birthday as an adult! It's CRAZY!!!
Now, don't think I'm being too self-righteous. As we speak, I'm putting the final touches on an extravaganza for 7 little girls this weekend. It's my daughter's first sleep-over birthday party. We're taking them out to our family's farm for a bonfire, hayride, campout, pumpkin painting, manicure (with a real manicurist attending) spend the night pizza party! I'm soon on the way to pay for my monogrammed, round, 3 layer strawberry cake with cream cheese icing tinted the exact same shade of yellow as the tablecloth. My car is loaded with presents, among them Hannah Montanna tickets. Other mother's of young girls will be able to imagine what these cost! The show is sold out and I payed more for these tickets than I did for The Rolling Stones!
When did all of this happen? When did party favors go from being a brown paper sack of candy to being a personalized necklace? Where will the madness end?!? Mother's of infants, start saving your pennies now! You thought college was going to be expensive? You've got at least 12 birthday party's ahead of you! And, after that, you'll just be expected to GIVE them the money you would've spent on the party that they're too old for now! A word of advice, people may think you a fool (or a pauper), but if you're wise... DON'T START! Call Nanny and ask her to break out the cake pan! Just stick some balloons on the picnic table and open some Ruffles and onion dip! Let the "theme" be, oh I don't know, playing in the backyard!!! To most kids these days, that's new and exotic anyway! Good luck!
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10 comments:
i agree with ya, and i'm sorry i gave troy a card and $20... :(
oh, thanks for the eye drops! i really appreciate it!
back to the bed...call ya later.
well, I think we either have more money than our parents did, or are just not smart enough to save like our parents did.
I am guilty too. But, I'm not sure that it doesn't set a bad precedent of entitlement in kid's views. I know as a kid, I didn't get half the stuff I wanted, but I had everything I needed. I think kids need to be taught this so that when they get out on their own 1 day, they don't expect life to be rosy right off the bat. This leads to exorbetent credit card debt and financial ruin at an early age.
Just my opinion...
I agree... it's just that on top of everything else, I suffer from guilty-divorced-parent syndrome! (but that's another blog) :)
with a dad like seth, i think that jude will be into "just playing in the backyard"...i think it is important for creative play! hopefully, i won't have to spend a billion dollars on a party!
Hopefully being the operative word!!!
guilty
but the party planning is usually more for me...well it IS for me...
I love throwing parties. I have always wanted to be an event planner.
sigh.
That's what I had to admit ot myself, too! It's more for the moms than the kids!
Hee, hee!
We're all guilty of wanting more for our kids than we had, even if we had plenty. I'm not sure that it's neccessarily better and I know it's not cheaper to have them at home....even with a free cake. AHHH!!
As an outside observer with no kids (and no I am not "out there" enough to throw the pups a party), are these outlandish parties not more for the impressing of the other children's mothers, than the enjoyment of the children themselves?
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