Make HER row.
Posted on 01/17/2007 4:20:52 PM PST by Ptarmigan
NEW YORK, Jan 16 (Reuters Life!) - Heard the one about a group of seven-year-olds picked up in stretch limousines to transport them to a friend's birthday party?
Or New York's designer candy store, Dylan's Candy Bar, that charges $1,200 for a 90-minute party for 20 preschoolers?
Or the sleepover party at New York's upmarket FAO Schwarz toy store on ritzy Fifth Avenue where a store spokeswoman said prices start from $25,000?
I see nothing wrong with it. I just can't wait to see what happens when these little spoiled brats get to the real world.
Really? When I was a kid, my parents flew me to New York once each week for my own private sleep over at FAO Schwarz's. It was lots of fun, and I think I'm a better person because of it.
Just raising the next generation of pricks, thats all.
Now that just plain damm nuts
but...but...but...I thought the economy is in horrible shape because of Bush and we are all a paycheck away from homelessness.
It's already happening around here. They will live the script, fail, and become our problem when it all collapses and their widow-fleecing, paper shuffling no-real-skills careers evaporate, leaving them their $4000/month mortgages and leased SUV's, and not a clue about how to survive.
They will walk away, find another script, we'll all pay higher interest rates and taxes to cover their defaults, and they will move on and on.
Because They Are Special.
A gracious few will suicide. The rest will be discarded by their mates on their fortieth birthday.
I assume that the poor kids have to settle for sleepovers at Toys R' Us.
As kids my brothers, sisters and I felt like we were treated like royalty for the day - no chores on our birthday, AND we got to say what we'd have for dinner! We loved it.
Are these the children of the porn-rich?
I detect a bit of class envy here. Talk about stereotypes.
to do less would be abusing the "children"
It ain't the kids that are messed up -- it's the parents that are messed up.
Kids can have fun with a home-made cake around a formica kitchen table and a few games like pin the tail on the donkey and bobbling for apples. They. Don't. Care. Not about things like stretch limos and F.A.O. Schwartz.
It's the parents that are behaving badly -- using their kids as the trigger a weird modern form of potlatch. The parents need to be spanked and sent to bed without supper.
Thankfully, 75% of my kids have their birthday in June, so it's the the traditional pool party, cake and ice cream. I'm sure kids have just as much fun at my kids parties, maybe even more, than these rich kids parties.
Dads who hang out gett all the beer they care to drink, btw, and moms get my world famous high speed mudlsides.
Geez, hildy, break your funny bone again? You must be HELL to live with.
The economy is in the dumper, and the evil rich people wasting this money is why I plan to introduce Senate legislation banning these wasteful practices, and confiscating transferring the cash to Democrat government coffers instead. It is time we taxed the rich more, if they can waste this much money on their children, instead of donating it to The Village that should be raising them.
I expect Speaker Pelosi to join me in this effort by introducing similar legislation in the House.
Oh, and it IS Bush's fault!
(ss) Hillary
Maybe it is one of those "more for the parent then the kid" things like designer baby clothes.
Hi Hildy!
IMHO, everybody is just reacting to the sheer idiocy of this sappy not news article. If it is true, and with Reuters it is always a big IF, then I would say that the comments are pretty rational.
I'm from a large, poor family. Lots of kids, so nobody had a birthday. How envious we were of neighborhood kids who had cakes and balloons and presents. Thus, our collective resolve was born. We all worked hard, became successful, got seriously upwardly mobile, and now...we don't want the birthdays!! God is a very funny guy!
If you wanna see a preview of these children's future, watch "My Super Sweet 16" on MTV.
You'll see the most vain, superficial, shallow, overdramatic, demanding, daddy's-girl, greedy, materialistic little bee-atches the world has ever seen.
Don't ask me.
I remember the birthday cake and games as a kid. Good times.
You're right. What was I thinking? I feel for the kid.
oh, come on. These kids are handpicked. No doubt there are spoiled ones...but even they can grow up. They're on 16. I have some very wealthy friends who have thrown incredibly lavish parties for their children. Their children are well-behaved, smart, respectful kids. Please don't measure this current generation by what you see on MTV. It will only depress you. It's good TV, it makes you glad you're not that wealthy.and that's something! But it's just not indicative of the real world.
If what you wrote was actually funny...then we'd be having a different discussion.
If what you wrote was actually funny...then we'd be having a different discussion.
When I was a kid, I had a great 10th B-day party.It was Oct 30th and we had a costume party with a bonfire in the field, hay bales, caramel apples, and my uncle's friend played guitar for us. That's high living right there!
of course, when I was 18, we went to Maggiano's Italian Restaurant in Atlanta and it cost around $400 for 9 people to eat(no alcohol, either). That's about as expensive as we got, and only for a very special birthday.
"Camping out" with friends in a tent in the back yard with "Jiffy Pop" Popcorn in the aluminum pan!
Not understanding that your flashlights, and voices, could be detected outside the tent when it's 3 am and you're keeping the neighborhood awake!
A friend of mine is the son of a hollywood star from the 50s and early 60s, and his birthday party used to be a private party at Disneyland, with Walt Disney there. (His mom starred in some Disney films). So, this is nothing new, just a sign that more people have lots of money.
No class envy from me....I was being sarcastic.....
... and the same goes for their children.
I have a friend who throws big birthday parties for her little girl, starting when she was like 2 years old! They aren't extravagant...But what gets me is the mom invites all of her adult friends, not the little girls' friends. There were 30 people at the last one. What's wrong with that? It makes the kid think that she is the center of the universe! She will keep expecting bigger and better parties as she gets older. Funny, her mom has always seemed to place importance on her own birthday, expecting parties and attention herself. Interesting...
They had a bit about this on the radio the other day. One lady called in to say she plans her kid's party four months in advance! And she was calling to say it's okay because she is teaching the kid "event planning" and "budgeting" skills. Yea, right. That kid is going to expect people to pull down the moon for him. Wouldn't want to be his future employer.
Me? When I was like 3 or 4, my parents had a little party for me with neighbor kids. When they sang "Happy Birthday" to me, I cried! I didn't want all that attention. That was the end of the birthday parties for me, as far as I can remember.
I always appreciated your parents inviting me, too. Thanks! (I'm the one who always brought you a goldfish for a present.)
Will you share your mud slide recipe?
It seems to me that these parents are giving these kids childhood experiences that can never be equaled nor matched again in their lives. So, do those kids turn into snobs or brats who are never satisfied by "normal" experiences? Expectations, hopes and dreams are better than childhood memories of excess.
When I was faced with giving a birthday party for my grandson, when he turned 9 years old, I started looking around at what other parents were doing. Mostly, they gave sleep-overs.
Our home is not large enough to accommodate 10 rowdy boys overnight. We don't have a pool. Our yard is not large, etc. etc.
There were several options: There is a "sports arena" with sporting gear: batting cages, basketball hoops, etc., which supervised games. One can rent it for about $15 per child. Includes refreshments. One could rent space where a "magic show" could be viewed, complete with refreshments, and the "motor speedway" was waaaaay too expensive.
So, we settled on taking 10 boys to an indoor "rock climbing" place. We paid about $12 per boy for them to climb, with supervision. We provided the refreshments.
It was probably much more expensive than the parties I had when I was his age, but I guess times have changed, and birthday parties have definitely been upgraded in the past 50 years.
We used to spend a certain amount of time on the Upper East Side, and whenever we walked down Fifth Avenue we'd go into FAO Schwartz with the kids.
We couldn't really afford to buy anything, but it's kind of a fairy wonderland, or at least it was. I haven't been there in recent years. They had slides the kids could go down, large toy animals they could ride, and all sorts of marvellous things to look at.
Then we'd stop and look at the jewelry in the Tiffany's window. I hate to shop, and I'd never buy any of that kind of stuff, but some of it was pretty beautiful to just stop and admire for a minute.
Half mudslide mix, half captains morgan spiced rum and a quarter hersheys chocolate (i know, it's more than 100% :). Keep adding ice into the blender until it becomes too stiff to mix, then cut it back with more rum. Repeat until it's nearly flammable, then add some more chocolate.
Line the glass with a layer of chocolate, pour in the mdslide mix, top with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry.
I hear you. Since my divorce, the pool parties are out, so The Sportsplex, similar to what you describe, will probably make some money off me, or I may do the local cruise line around the islands in my town. Either way, it's more cash than i have ever spent before.
Some people are either too cranky or just too dumb to get it. Sorry you caught crap from FR's Cranky Granny Squad.
We po' fo'k slept over at the KB Toys store.
After they went bankrupt.
Did he marry a redhead and sell shoes?
Thats what my family did too. Once in awhile if the birthday fell on a Saturday or Sunday we would get to go to a movie. Now I get to go out to dinner and thats just fine.
We'll take that exorbitant party money and harvest it for use in research against global warming and harmful sonar. We'll use it to teach kids not to eat meat or trust religion. We'll end military spending and fully fund the arts and entitlements for our millions of new citizens. My comrades, the North American village is within our grasp! We need little but a Democratic President to arm the detonator!
Make HER row.
Man, you must be from the rich section of town. We went to the toy department at Zayres. At least mom got us a greasy cold bag of popcorn (to share). They had this cool water bubbler too, that if you sucked hard enough would actually let water flow through the gum stuck in it.
There are specialty party places that are big business for themed kid's parties. I personally think they are great for parents who decide to go that route. They provide the premises, costumes, food, entertain them for two hours, and clean up the mess.
I would love to be seven years old, and be invited to a place with a big old pirate ship, where I could dress up like Jack Sparrow, wield a sword, or slap on an eyepatch, rifle through chests of jewels..climb the crows nest, make folks walk the plank, then get to pig out on cake and ice cream afterwards.
It's a kids birthday party, man! Besides, been there, done that! That's first date stuff. If I do decide to get a new wife, i want a strong woman, a Latvian or Kazak type wife! I'm old enough where making sure the chores are doe are more important than the peripheral stuff.
Games, cake, ice cream, goodies in paper cupcake liners, open presents and home.
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