Friday's Vom-Worthy Slate Article

[AleWife]

Kids' birthday parties keep getting more extravagant...

[chilibeansm0m]

I heard about this. Dh was like oh i would just have you pay so we didn't make a big deal about it. I was like the hell we would!! Wtf is wrong with people?

[AleWife]

It's also interesting how they demonstrate people's willingness to incrementally pay more and more for certain things, like the stroller example:

You can blame it on what Cornell University economics professor Robert H. Frank calls an “expenditure cascade.” In short, as people at the top of the income pile spend more on an item, it causes everyone to upgrade their expectations and expenditures.

The birthday-party blitz seems to have really picked up in the 2000s, roughly in tandem with the debut of infant luxury strollers costing four figures. We all know what happened with strollers. Essentially, once upon a time, way back when my older son was born in 1999, a luxury stroller was something that cost about $400. Then the infamous four-figure Bugaboo debuted, and a lot of upper-income families bought the pricy and flashy perambulator. The result? Within a few years, strollers costing $500 or less came to seem like a reasonable, cost-conscious choice.

[chilibeansm0m]

This reminds me Of when we were kids we played in a church league basketball group. My mom's bff's son never wanted to play. But the mom thought it was good for him. So she would brag him. It would start with a toy. But then he got older and wanted something more. So then video games. And he got older. So then a new psp. And he got older. I'm pretty sure the Last time he played he got a friggin laptop dude. Ridic.

[ruemorgan]

I found out today that one of the girls in our four year olds classroom is having a bday party (cant remember which company, its a cooking class for kids) but its $38 per person and the parent also has to participate. So one set of child and parent is roughly 80 bucks. And about 15 kids rsvped yes.

:shudder:

I cant imagine what theyll do when she turns 16.

[skrittens]

ruemorgan - that is so sad. When I was a kid I would never have been able to participate - my parents couldn't have afforded it - and with other kids and activities wouldn't have had the time.

I can't, in any mind frame, ever imagine asking someone to pay for party. It's my pleasure to pay because it's my pleasure to be around my friends and loved ones. And they don't care what I am spending or not.

[bluebell0315]

Jan 24, 2015 4:53:04 GMT -5 ruemorgan said:

I found out today that one of the girls in our four year olds classroom is having a bday party (cant remember which company, its a cooking class for kids) but its $38 per person and the parent also has to participate. So one set of child and parent is roughly 80 bucks. And about 15 kids rsvped yes.

:shudder:

I cant imagine what theyll do when she turns 16.

So you have to pay $80 to go to this kids party?! Plus I'm guessing they expect a gift, too? Um..... no. That's nuts!

We're doing DD's birthday party at AirU this year, and we're paying for everything. I thought that's what normal people are supposed to do.

[jcar]

I can't imagine asking someone to pay to come to a birthday party. That's ridiculous. If you as a parent can't pay for everyone yourself, than you should rethink the party. I can't imagine how it would feel to be the kid who couldn't afford it and being left out.

[missycee]

It's ridiculous what people do for children's birthday parties now. For DD's first birthday last summer we did a cook out at our house and for the kids we had a few balls to kick around and a bounce house, but we didn't even pay $ for the bounce house because it's a friend of ours that owns it.

All this money people blow on stupid stuff, which often isn't even age appropriate it seems, could be much better used for their college fund.

[bnizzlebizzle]

DD's birthday coincides with Memorial Day so we've just done a bbq and cake. I went to a party where there was a huge bouncy house jungle gym for a three year old. The kids had fun but I was trying to figure out how expensive that would be. My nephews had a birthday at a fancy steakhouse in NYC when they were like 10 and 12 with 10 of their closest friends. Young kids don't care about extravagance. They learn that crap from their parents.