Karen’s son throws his first children’s party. It turned out to be a little more expensive than planned. “Allow yourself to be influenced by what you see in others.”
Our son recently turned 5, and it’s so exciting to see how much he is looking forward to his birthday party and how much he’s enjoying it. He really had real birthday wishes, and he knew exactly who he wanted at his party and what he wanted to be treated to.
High demand
In recent months, I’ve seen a little bit of what other children were treated with and how other children’s parties were treated. It’s a whole new world that I’ve been immersed in. I had no idea what the other kids were expecting. What happened? When it comes to birthdays and sweets, a lot has changed since my childhood.
Bouncy castles and gift bags
I still remember when I had a children’s party at home and the activity was “balloons Crayon ‘was. A scavenger hunt or something. Fortunately, I still see this kind of cool, convenient, and cheap activity happening around me. But most of them pull off a little more. Many children’s parties are accompanied by dress-up, lots of candy, all kinds of prizes to be won and huge birthday cakes with half-dinosaur parks on them. The backyard bouncy castle is certainly no exception.
You know what else surprises me? Nowadays all children also get something to take home. A bag of sweets or a gift bag with a toy, for example. As if they were at a high profile event. By the way, I think it’s nice and cool when parents put so much effort into their children, let it be clear. but… I feel pressure.
processing
Then there is the fun at school. My son goes to a public school with kids from all backgrounds. The school is now located in a neighborhood where everyone enjoys relatively well-off conditions. In fact, behind the school is a real residential area with huge houses. (Haha no, we don’t live there.) But that might give a distorted picture of the average rewards handed out at the school. We can’t get away from the Mandarin with the face painted on it.
Every week the master comes home with a game. And some leftover candy. And that made me feel like I couldn’t stay behind. Not so much because I’m afraid of other parents’ opinions, but because I don’t want his classmates to look at him if his treats aren’t kind enough.
That is why I was so reluctant last weekend to fill thirty Batman mugs with candy and gifts instead of smearing thirty Mandarins. I’ve now set the bar minimum for sweets and went for a very simple gift, but it’s still overpriced and I’ve lost an odd amount of money.
Children’s party costs
I admit: I totally got carried away with him birthday. We even had a kids party outside in an indoor arcade. This was mainly because we couldn’t handle the idea of a full activity program in our home for all of these kids. But because of that fissa cost us 150€. This included food, drink, cake and tip. School gifts also cost us around 70 euros! This means that his birthday party for his school friends cost us 220 euros. (Not to mention our present and family party).
my intention? Next year, I won’t let myself be disturbed by outside pressure and we’ll see how we like to party at home. Because this should be (much) cheaper right..?