BigSqwert Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Not sure where else to put this but I figured we might get a heated debate on both sides of this issue. The article reminded me of a friend of mine that had a gigantic party for his son's 1 year birthday. My girlfriend and I were shocked when we arrived. It seemed like they spent more than we will be spending on our wedding this summer. FULL ARTICLE Two years ago, Stephanie Kaster of Manhattan set out to plan the birthday party of a lifetime for her daughter. Granted, little Sophie didn't have many parties under her belt with which to compare it: She was not yet 3. "I just thought, 'If I go to another paint-a-ceramic-bowl or stuff-a-bear party, I'll shoot myself,'" says Kaster. So she booked a fondue restaurant, hired a musical troupe to perform as the Wiggles (her daughter's favorite group) and ordered a four-layer cake. Each guest took home a Fisher-Price guitar and custom CD. The price tag? $5,000. "I couldn't believe that I'd ended up spending that much," Kaster says. Some birthday parties now rival weddings in scale and price -- with some costing tens of thousands of dollars. Maybe it's the ever-growing number of millionaires; maybe it's the conspicuous consumption celebrated on reality shows like MTV's "My Super Sweet 16." Whatever the reason, it's keeping Corinne Dinsfriend in business. She owns Over the Top Productions in Orange County, California, a full-service children's birthday-party planning company. "We really promote a healthy balance of living year round," Dinsfriend says, "but it's OK to indulge your child once a year, because it's about making a memory." Each Over the Top party has a theme and is run by a team trained in child development, says Dinsfriend. Her events -- from tea parties with fine china to military-themed parties led by former Marines -- usually take six weeks to plan and cost as much as $10,000. That's small potatoes compared with some celebrations. FAO Schwarz, the New York City toy retailer, rents out its store several nights a week for parties. The base cost is $25,000. Even more extreme is the $10 million that former defense contractor David H. Brooks of Long Island reportedly spent in 2005 on his daughter's bat mitzvah. That soiree, at the storied Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center, featured 50 Cent, Don Henley and Aerosmith, among others. Other trends: lavishly sculpted confections like those by Elisa Strauss, the designer at Confetti Cakes in Manhattan, who charges at least $1,000 per cake. Invitations are custom-made. And the activities? "You can get cotton-candy machines, jumping castles, you can rent a gym or movie theater, or have a real astronaut come, do it at Yankee Stadium ... you can do anything," says Lyss Stern of DivalyssciousMoms.com. She recently organized a fair where 40 high-end birthday-party purveyors pitched their services to parents at the private Park East Day School in New York City. Wrong message? Some parents, however, worry that expensive parties for children result in mixed-up values -- and leave many feeling obliged to overspend. Last year, a group of five parents in St. Paul, Minnesota, started BirthdaysWithoutPressure.org, which promotes simpler celebrations. "We are trying to raise awareness that lots of parents are feeling pressured to throw bigger parties than they are comfortable with," says co-founder Julie Printz. "I have friends who've spent $1,000 on a party and then (felt) remorseful. For me, it was more about the insanity in my head. I'd go crazy trying to figure out the perfect craft, special foods, gift bags ... I'd get caught up in this birthday anxiety." Two years ago when her daughter Emily turned 6, St. Paul stay-at-home mom Laura Forstrom threw her a birthday party for the first time. Emily invited sixteen friends to celebrate at a Color Me Mine ceramics painting center. "I didn't think all 16 would come, but they did, and it was $15 a person," she said. Add in the cake, favors, pizza and soda, and Forstrom spent over $1,000. "After we got the bill I was like, 'Oh my God!' It was more expensive than fixing the dog's broken leg. It just got out of control so quickly," she said. "There are so many other things we could've done with the money. ... We haven't had a birthday party for any of our kids since." This year, Kaster decided to try a slightly simpler approach. For Sophie's party, she booked a small theater that does plays for children, hand-decorated a sheet cake from the supermarket, and got inexpensive favors from a discount store. The whole event cost less than $500, "and everyone said it was the best party they'd ever been to," Kaster says. "I want to give my children all I can, but it's not a monetary thing," Kaster says. "A $500 party doesn't mean I love them any less than if they had a $5,000 party, as long as they have a good time. And that's what it's all about." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NUKE_CLEVELAND Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 21, 2008 -> 09:52 AM) Not sure where else to put this but I figured we might get a heated debate on both sides of this issue. The article reminded me of a friend of mine that had a gigantic party for his son's 1 year birthday. My girlfriend and I were shocked when we arrived. It seemed like they spent more than we will be spending on our wedding this summer. FULL ARTICLE I see that kid is being well trained on how to be responsible with money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBAHO Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Imagine if they actually hired "The Wiggles" though. You can add an extra 0 or 2 right there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soxy Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 I love that the article acted like $500 was nothing to spend on a birthday party. My birthday parties consisted of an ice-cream cake from Baskin Robbins and playing twister. And they were awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostfan Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 QUOTE (Soxy @ Apr 21, 2008 -> 10:07 AM) I love that the article acted like $500 was nothing to spend on a birthday party. My birthday parties consisted of an ice-cream cake from Baskin Robbins and playing twister. And they were awesome. For my son's 1st birthday I took him to the ice cream shop around the corner from me, spent about 100 for them to have a party, and invited a bunch of friends and family. And he had a great time. No reason for me to spend any more than that... he's 1. He completely forgot about it all by the time he went to bed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mreye Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 "I didn't think all 16 would come, but they did, and it was $15 a person," she said. Add in the cake, favors, pizza and soda, and Forstrom spent over $1,000. 16 X $15 = $240 Cake, favors, pizza and soda for over $750!! Did she get each kid an Ipod? Our kids' parties are in the heated garage or in the yard. We get a cake at the supermarket and favors and goodie bags at the dollar store. I'll bet we spend less than $150 for everything and that includes a 12 pack of beer for me to be able to put up with a bunch of screaming girls! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 People really worry too much about what other people think... that is the only reason you would spend $10k on a kids birthday party. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSqwert Posted April 21, 2008 Author Share Posted April 21, 2008 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 21, 2008 -> 01:27 PM) People really worry too much about what other people think... that is the only reason you would spend $10k on a kids birthday party. No kidding. What do you do for the kids birthday next year once you already spent $10K on this one? You can't have a cheaper birthday next year so you try going even more overboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 21, 2008 -> 12:27 PM) People really worry too much about what other people think... that is the only reason you would spend $10k on a kids birthday party. If you had that kind of money where you could just drop $10 grand on a kid's birthday party and not have to give it a 2nd thought, what's wrong with it? If people are going to have a problem with this, my response will be that the problem is not how the people are choosing to spend their money, it's that income distributions in this country have just gotten so out of whack in the last decade or so that there are more and more people able to throw around this kind of cash while at the same time median incomes in this country haven't increased in a decade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleepyWhiteSox Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 QUOTE (mreye @ Apr 21, 2008 -> 01:54 PM) Our kids' parties are in the heated garage or in the yard. We get a cake at the supermarket and favors and goodie bags at the dollar store. I'll bet we spend less than $150 for everything and that includes a 12 pack of beer for me to be able to put up with a bunch of screaming girls! This is exactly how birthday parties at my house have always been too. Well, except maybe a couple more cases of beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilMonkey Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 When my oldest son was 6 we had hired 2 guys dressed in Power Rangers suits to come to the party and entertain. It was like $350 for 90 minutes, and I thought THAT was alot. It was worth it, as for years him and his friends talked about it, until they grew out of that stage. But $10,000? No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamshack Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Sort of a thread hijack here, but what about looking at this from a slightly different perspective....like when people have an engagement party, and they register at fricking Williams-Sonoma, and then there are the showers, sometimes even for men (I had to go to a "man shower" last year because my friend's bride to be scheduled it as a surprise), then there is the rehearsal dinner, then the wedding, then the housewarming party, then the baby shower....Sometimes I think I am going to throw a "Give me free stuff for no particular reason" shower, because I need things too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 21, 2008 -> 03:38 PM) If you had that kind of money where you could just drop $10 grand on a kid's birthday party and not have to give it a 2nd thought, what's wrong with it? If people are going to have a problem with this, my response will be that the problem is not how the people are choosing to spend their money, it's that income distributions in this country have just gotten so out of whack in the last decade or so that there are more and more people able to throw around this kind of cash while at the same time median incomes in this country haven't increased in a decade. There have been classes of people doing this since the beginning of time. It is nothing new... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 22, 2008 -> 04:27 AM) There have been classes of people doing this since the beginning of time. It is nothing new... Then if there's no problem at all with it, why is this even a thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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