Birthday Parties …Cry if you want to
I just got home from a birthday extravaganza at Sea World. We saw the Shamuu Show, fed Sting Rays, fed Harbor Seals, touched a Penguin, rode a rollercoaster, went on a simulated helicopter ride through the artic, met a giant stuffed Shamuu and ate pizza & cake. Did I mention the extravaganza was a birthday party for a 6 year old? Ah yes, birthday parties: the new frontier of consumerism. I want to make it perfectly clear that I had a blast at this party. It was amazing and I am thrilled that someone else paid for me and my kid to have an unforgettable day at Sea World. But are birthday parties getting out of control???
Do you remember birthdays of old when some friends came over, played musical chairs and pin the tail on the donkey, ate a piece of cake and went home. We thought it was awesome but my daughter would think that that party was a joke. She’d ask, “Where is the bouncy castle, face painting, where is Chuck E. Cheese, an animal farm or pony rides…where is the live musical act dressed in loud colors or Care Bears or Dora the Explorer??” Without these there is no party!
I also remember party favors. This was a piece of gum or candy or one small item you took home. There were no “bags of goodies”. Goody bags make me crazy. First of all, why should guests of parties get presents? This makes no sense. Your present is that you got to come to a party. And the contents of said bags also drive me crazy: stickers, tiny stuffed toys, plastic necklaces & rings, plastic figures. This is the crap that piles up in your kid’s room or finds its way to the floor where you can step on it in the middle of the night.
In NYC very few people have birthday parties at their homes. I thought it was ridiculous, but I understood it. Most people’s apartments were either too small or filled with too many antiques to host a bunch of screaming kids. I honestly thought this was a psycho New York City thing. But no, birthday excess is alive and well all over the country. Since we moved to Orlando, we have been to birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese, the Bounce House (giant room with tons of inflatable houses), Sea World (twice), and a fabric store called Joanne’s where they do craft parties.
I used to believe the excessive party was a status thing, but I am starting to realize it is really about convenience. The parents can just sit back, enjoy the party, watch the delight in their child’s eyes and then go home to their perfectly clean house. I know that everyone reading this is picturing me having a party at my home with old time games, cake and no goody bags. The truth is I talk a good game. Let me describe my five year olds’ last two parties. One was at a craft shop in NYC. My friend, Ceci, had a coupon and her son’s birthday is a week before my daughter’s. We combined forces and sat and watched our kids and their friends make stuffed animals, dance, and eat pizza and cake. The next one was a Princess Party. It was at home, but I rented a bouncy castle and had my makeup artist, Vandygayle, paint all the little princess’ faces. Were they out of control? Possibly. But in my defense, NOBODY GOT A GOODY BAG.
Comments
What? Molly, I grew up in South Florida and maybe I'm old too (24?) because I definitely had the b-day parties at home. There were goody bags, but there were also making hair clips, making fuse bead projects and other sorts of "craftiness"...at home. OK, fine, so I did have a few parties at Pizza Hut or McDonalds, but I'm in shock that someone paid for a bunch of kids to go to SEA WORLD! That had to have cost as much as a mortgage payment!
My son turns 2 in July. We're having cupcakes and pizza in the backyard.
My son's preschool teacher seems to think birthday parties at school are a must. Anthony turns 5 on Aug 22 but today we had to make special snack for his school party. When he turns 5 for real he will argue no I'm not I turned 5 at school now I'm 6!
