Birthday Party Excess
What's the most stressful day of the year?
Did you guess your kid's birthday party? If you did, then we are on the same page.
A five-year-old has no sense of proportion: they want to invite their whole class, have a crazy theme and get tons of presents. Then they base their mood on the outcome for at least two days following the party. Parents go to extreme lengths and cost to make sure that it lives up to a five-year-old's imagination.
We get all bent out of shape over the napkins, the invitations and the loot bags. I guarantee that more money gets poured into kids' birthday parties than the parents "big" days every year.
The first foray into the crazy birthday party scene can be harsh. A friend of mine is telling me that she and her husband are fighting over the cost of their son's birthday party. He thinks she is going over-the-top in cost, thought and aggravation. I had to agree with him when she told me she was making her son's cake and then freezing it and taking it to a professional cake decorator. She also planned to make party sandwiches for all the kids. I set her right and told her to order pizza, ice the cake and put some toy cars on it and call it a day. But I don't think she listened.
The birthday party industry is crazy. There are professional loot bag creators, cake makers and of course, the party palaces. It is incredible to me that entire buildings can be supported by the birthday party business. But what else do you do with 25 screaming kids? You definitely don't want them running wild in your home. It's worth the money to pay some teenagers to sullenly serve them pizza and fish them out of the ball pit.
And it is big money. There are books and websites that will help you start your own birthday party business. Three days a year is enough for me, I can't imagine it being my job.
A Toronto-based advertising agency took on the birthday party "movement" and created this video, with tongue firmly planted in cheek.
What’s the craziest, most over-the-top party you’ve heard about? What are your child's birthday parties like?
Want more? Last year I was writing about how to keep your kids safe online.
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