Have you ever seen even a few minutes of MTV's "My Super Sweet 16"? If not, it is a show about these spoiled rich kids who plan these ridiculous parties for their 16th birthday. Their parents rent out a night club, hire Beyonce to sing happy birthday, and the night usually ends with the kid receiving a BMW (which they cried about not getting the whole show)
Well, this is quite similar to how a 5 year old's birthday party goes these days. Five is a pretty big milestone to kids and that is ALL they talk about in school. Catherine starting this a couple of months before her actual birthday. Every day she would come home and say things like "Tommy is NOT invited to my birthday party!!" "I told all the kids that they can come watch Monster Inc on your bed after my party". My personal favorite "I told all the girls in my class that they can go in the hot tub after my party". Gone are the days of the "home party" or the small party at a fast food restaurant. Remember that? I cannot even imagine what type of response you would get from the playgroup moms if you handed out invitations for little Johnny to have a birthday happy meal party.
Most of the parties are at "bouncy house" places. This has to be my least favorite party to attend. Catherine isn't too big on these and she spends the whole time sitting by my side (while I am thinking of the million other things I could be doing) These parties all cost around $300. That is not including the pizza, cake, and goodie bags full of stuff you will throw out when your kid isn't looking. I did give into Catherine a bit this year. She got to invite all her friends to a pool party at the local YMCA. The kids got to swim for an hour in the middle of March. I think it went over pretty well and it was fairly inexpensive. That is, until we got her a motorized BMW convertible.
