The Children's Birthday Party Industry

I'm completely guessing here, but the children's birthday party industry must be a multi-billion dollar business. In suburban areas such as mine, children's birthday parties easily cost parents upward of $150. There are very popular inflatable play places springing up all over the place. Those start at $125 for 15 kids/80 minutes on a weekday, and go up to $269 for the "Classic Party" which includes 2 hours of jumping fun for 25 kids (which usually means you've invited the entire class).

These parties have gotten extremely competitive. When the inflatables place first opened, every child in our school district seemed to have their birthday party there. My daughter was going every week. Then other places opened up, offering their own gimmicks: paint-your-own-pottery, play on gigantic playground equipment, learn to cook and make your own cupcakes, bowling parties, hotel swim parties, etc.. All costs hundreds of dollars, and all the kids made the rounds of every one.

I was flabbergasted and decided not to have my daughter's party at one of these pricey establishments. She would have a party at home. The kids could swim, we'd get pizza, it would be fun. Just like birthday parties when I was young. Except it wasn't.

By the time we bought decorations, pizza for a crowd, cake (which we made), ice cream, a pinata, and goody bags to give as gifts for each guest, the party cost us close to $150. That didn't include our daughter's presents. We could have booked a party at one of the entertainment places that specialized in children's parties. It would have cost about the same and we wouldn't have had to clean the house before and after the party. Something to consider.

I guess the days of cake and ice cream in the backyard are over. At least for now. There's too much money to be made in guilting parents into holding extravagant birthday parties for their children. Chuck E. Cheese has morphed into a mega-industry. The really smart parents will buy their children stock in these inflatable places before their next birthday. I wish I had.