Are kids’ parties the new wedding?

There’s a report going around today that suggests some parents are spending up to $10,000 on their kid’s birthday parties.

According to the report from Adelaide Now, it’s not uncommon for parents to spend between $500 and $3000 on birthday gatherings, with the $10K figure is on the extreme end of the scale.

“The theme starts from the stationery, then carries through to the backdrop behind the cake table, to the stickers on waterbottles, personalised chocolate bar wrappers and other decorations.”

(Party Stylist) Claire Cassey says it’s due in part to the growth of social media sites such as Pintrest and Etsy.

Personalised chocolate bar wrappers? Is this for real? Has the world actually gone mad?

Now, EVERY time the damn music stops and a layer of paper is unwrapped, there has to be a gift. And it’s not Minties anymore, it’s Cadbury Favourites with mini Snickers and Picnics and Flakes and then you need to have separate food for the parents who WON’T LEAVE and expect to be served proper coffee so it’s like having two parties and then you have to book a fairy or Spiderman and then lolly bags and it’s all just giving me a headache thinking about it and PLEASE MAKE IT STOP.

This is a clip from the Momversation women talking about how kids birthday parties seem to have gotten totally out of hand and how for some parents, they’ve become like weddings:

Can you relate to this kind of pressure? Have you been invited to over-the-top kids’ parties? Do you have a party policy if you have kids? And if you don’t, what are your best memories of parties you went to? Is it the kids who need to change their expectations or is it all driven by competitive parents?

Talking about extreme birthday parties, take a look and see how North West celebrated her first birthday: