Walking Shadow

YOWSA!!

Wow.

I remember when I was a kid, my brother and I were each allowed to have one birthday party where we invited other kids. Every other one was just family.

warrrreagl

My big sister's birthday is November 10. Mine is November 11. We're 10 years apart. Guess who got shafted out of a birthday cake and birthday parties every single year? And all those times when we shared our birthday cake (one cake to cover both birthdays), guess whose actual birthday the candle-lighting and singing occurred?

Half birthdays? Multiple birthday parties? Bah.

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snowy

Yeah, that is a little ridiculous. The last birthday party I went to for a small child was held at a local gymnastics center, where we got to jump on the trampolines and go on the balance beam and do all sorts of crazy fun things. Even us grown-ups got in on the fun. I would say the "event party" is the norm in kid birthdays, at least around these parts--my young charge has attended a soccer party, a karate party, and a gymnastics party (that's where she got the idea for hers) within the last six months. But the parties themselves are not over the top. Plus, by having the party somewhere other than home, parents don't have to clean up and it's more fun for the grown-ups too.

My birthday was always a big deal growing up because it's July 2nd, right before Fourth of July, and so it always got tied into the celebration for that. But as I got older, that sort of subsided, because we started taking vacations during that time of the year. Fancy birthdays weren't necessary--in fact, my favorite birthday memories consist of my 15th birthday, spent at a Pizza Hut in Grandville, MI, while visiting old family friends in Holland, MI and Grand Rapids, MI. I got all the quarters I wanted for the jukebox, and spent most of it playing Oasis's "Wonderwall" and "Round Are Way" over and over again. Also, my 21st birthday was quite notable--my parents took me on a brewery tour at the Pyramid Alehouse in Seattle, and then took me out to a fancy restaurant to get me drunk. Other birthdays with simple pleasures include my 17th--I got my driver's license and went out to dinner at Olive Garden, and my 23rd--my friends and I had a potluck barbeque at a local park to celebrate, and everyone turned out for it. I was touched.

By having over-the-top parties like this, parents are discouraging their children to enjoy life's simple pleasures, and they aren't teaching their children the true value of giving. Whatever happened to "it's the thought that counts"?

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maleficent

What charming children...

Gift bags used to contain a plastic toy, bubbles, and a piece of candy -

My birthday is 2 weeks before christmas and was generally forgotten and/or merged with christmas so it generally sucked but this is beyond insane...

I've sat thru a few moments of that MTV show - and really wonder how those girls are going to survive in the real world - and what the hell is the matter with those parents that they think it's ok to act like that.

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Siege

While I disapprove of this, spoiled is a very relative term. In a rich community, the kid who drives the lambourghini is spoiled compared to the kid who drives the mercedes.

Most of these kids are probably going to be very shocked if they have to ever fend for themselves. However, with parties this ridiculous, it's pretty safe to say they won't need to worry about money.

As for my birthday parties, what birthday parties? Oh yeah, that's right, none. And i'm not even near a sibling/holiday

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This part just makes my posts easier to find

flat5

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TotalMILF

For my 1-year-old's birthday we had almost 50 guests... but that's because I worked in child care and had a lot of friends with a LOT of kids It was just a BBQ in the park with cheesy gift bags full of plastic toys from the dollar store. We did have 2 cakes, though - 1 chocolate and 1 vanilla

No llamas, however. I hope junior wasn't too disappointed.

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mixedmedia

I didn't have birthday parties growing up and never once have I felt sorry for myself.

I had a 1st birthday party for my oldest daughter and haven't hosted another one since. I make a delicioius yet modest cake, sometimes I'll decorate a little if I'm feeling extravagant, occasionally a friend or two will be invited over for cake, but that's it. This year we took E to Chuck E Cheese for her 8th birthday and I will never be doing that again either.

We're just not much of a party family.

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albania

Chinese food and a birthday cake, it’s our own family tradition, and I’ll be damned if everyone in my family doesn’t love fruit cake. I don’t ever remember having a birthday party for myself, not that I’d want to anyway. I believe once my brother whose birthday is a week after mine had one, but I was too young to remember anything except that my mom had a headache. If these parents have the money to spoil their kids… I say who cares?

StanT

A trip to Chuckie Cheese was as flamboyant as my daughter birthdays ever got.


For myself, I spent my 18th birthday at the International Ampitheater in Chicago drinking way too much with 15,000 other people watching Johnny Winter. I'm sure all of those folks were really cheering for me.

la petite moi

Oh god, those Super Sweet 16 birthday parties are RIDICULOUS. All the girls are chubby, spoiled little brats. It's disgusting.

LoganSnake

I've only had one birthday party where I got to invite my closest friends. Every other one was about family time, and it still holds true.

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abaya

I didn't know anyone who had any different, until now!

Growing up, I was a bit odd because I did have "big" parties (up to 14 girls overnight, some years), but it was all homegrown and cheap fun. And, much to my parents' pleasure, I'm sure, I insisted on planning every detail... from age 6 or 7 onwards up to about age 17, when the birthday thing got a bit old.

I usually spent at least half the summer sketching out a little "agenda" for my birthday extravaganzas: planning all the games (three-legged race, etc), prizes (plastic trinkets), who I wanted to invite, where we would be sleeping, what games to play at night (classic sleepover stuff) and picking out ONE special pinata from Toys R Us to fill with candy. THAT's what went into the gift bags! Pinata candy.

The only thing my mom had to do was order a cake and put cheap frozen pizzas in the oven to feed us during the party. Good times.

Man, we should have had a pinata at our wedding. And a 3-legged race.

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MexicanOnABike

like most people, I had 1 party. then that was it. Getting crazy amounts of gifts is not that great anyways. it's best to just get one so you can really enjoy it! (1 gift is a toy, the rest can be clothing or w.e else.)

My kids(IF) will not get super crazy gifts or parties...

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uncle phil

birthdays on december 10 sucked when i was a kid...still do...

"don't worry, you'll get extra for christmas..."

in a pig's ass...

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Adri

My birthday is January 24, so it was actually the perfect distance from Christmas... I would give my parents my "wish list" mid-December, and then whatever was left on the list after Christmas was my "wish list" for my birthday. I make it sound like I had 10-page lists... I did not. My most memorable holiday season occurred when I had both a scooter (not a razr scooter, one of the big unwieldy 80s style scooters) and a pair of rollerblades. I got one of each on each holiday, and it was awesome.

As for birthday parties, the only time I ever had a big one was my sweet 16. My parents rented out the community center and we decorated it with streamers and bought a bunch of food at Costco and then sat around by ourselves all night waiting for the guests to arrive. Unfortunately, my party coincided with some big basketball game at my high school and so I think a total of 3 people showed up. I had invited my entire class of 300+ people. Talk about a let down.

Willravel

My kid will be their kids' boss some day.

JumpinJesus

These kids are so damn spoiled it makes me mad.

Why, I remember as a kid we used to have to dig in the baker's dumpster for our birthday cake and then we had to decorate with the dead rats we killed fighting over it! These kids don't appreciate a damn thing!

We would have to stand outside our relatives' houses and use slate boards and rocks (not even chalk!) to write thank you letters. Not notes - no siree - but letters! For not getting presents!! And we enjoyed it!!! (please pretend my voice is rising in pitch with each sentence)

In fact, if we even said, "Happy Birthday" to anyone on their birthday, we'd get the shit beat out of us and be forced to sleep on a bed of nails that we had to smelt ourselves!

Presents? Bah! We were forced to give everyone else presents and if we complained, we'd have to eat a bag of dirt for dinner that we had to dig up ourselves.

Oh, yeah... and we were glad to have the opportunity for all of that!


There will always be spoiled kids, parents who spoil kids, and people who have shit we don't have or didn't have growing up. And most of these stories are filled with hyperbole, anyway.

Why do we care so much about what others have or do?

No offense, but we're spending way too much time and energy bitching about shit that really isn't all that important.

There have always been spoiled kids - remember the Little Rascals where that one kid had the really neat fire engine go cart and he stuck out his tongue at Spanky because his gang had that really rickety one? - and there will always be spoiled kids. Chances are they won't have to deal with the real world because they'll always be sheltered. If they do have to deal with the real world, then they'll adapt or fail. What else is there for them to do?

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dirtyrascal7

What excellent examples of bad parenting. It almost seems like a competition to some of these parents... see who can throw the most lavish and outrageous party for their kid.


Oh, and my birthday is worst of all... December 24th. Never had a true birthday party when I was little because everyone was busy doing their own holiday thing. I'm over that, but I still hate how it always seems like an afterthought to everyone because they're so focused on Christmas... "Oh, right... it's your birthday. You don't mind that your gift is wrapped in Santa Claus paper, do you?"

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Sue

When I was a kid I always had plain ol birthday parties. The only 2 that stand out are my 10th birthday, where my folks went all out for whatever reason (maybe reaching the double digits?) and rented a limousine for me and 7 friends of mine, where we all went out to dinner.

The next bday was my 16th, where I invited all my friends in HS (only had about 10 real good ones), we went out to dinner, then went back to my house for cake and presents and swimming.

I liked that one the best.

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ItWasMe

My oldest daughter's birthday New Year's. We have always had a slumber party New Year's Eve. They seemed to like the combined New Year/birthday party, and it gave her friends a safe place to stay the night if the parents went out partying. My younger two have summer birthdays, which we enjoy celebrating at the local park. They work off their 'energy' on the playground instead of in my house, and they think it's more fun to go to the park.

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I bake cookies just so I can lick the bowl. ~ ItWasMe

analog

...what the hell's an Og? lol

Walking Shadow

You know, Og, the creator of the universe who sent his only son to Earth to preach the gospel and who ended up being crucified to prove his love for Og.

That Og.

Crack

Og Dammit! Now I am confused...

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