Have you heard yet about these birthday party and present extravagances?
- Suri Cruise and her kid pals noshing on a $5000 birthday cake.
- Jay-Z and Beyonce spent US$200,000 on the first birthday party of their daughter, Blue Ivy.
- David and Victoria Beckham once had a playhouse custom-built for son Brooklyn’s birthday. They spent US$187,000 on a gift for a six year old!
- P-Diddy’s $3 Million birthday apparently included $28K in orchids.
Other examples include:
- Hiring a yacht for a 10-year-old’s party
- Hosting 50 youngsters at Disneyland
- Tiffany gift bags (for little girls!)
In “Confessions of a Party Pauper,” Kylie Knott interviewed a child psychologist about these kind of excesses. Lora Lee suggested, “Parents see lavish parties as a way to compensate for a lack of parenting time.”
Another family psychologist, Laurene Man, noted lavish parties have “no direct bearing on the children’s happiness.” In fact, she suggested that large parties overhelm a child. “They can’t relate to so many children at one time, not to mention so many adults. Kids enjoy small simple parties – playing with a few children on one or two simple games.”
Man recommended parents think back to their own birthday parties to gain insight about what’s truly memorable about birthdays. I remember:
- My mother making really creative sheet cakes decorated with M&Ms or Smarties.
- Getting to go to Baskin & Robbin’s every year for a free cone.
- Loving the present game where you sit in a circle and get to unwrap one layer of paper from the prize gift it was in your lap when the music stopped.
- Dressing up in a hand-made costume for a friend’s Superhero party.
What simple pleasures do you remember and wish we still embraced at birthday parties?
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