Birthday Maharajahs
Dear Doctor,
We are not wealthy or rich. We feel that we are being pushed into giving expensive gifts for birthdays.
Our two kids get invited, and we go out to the store. They want us to buy things we can’t afford.
Do other parents have this problem, or is it just us?
Not Bankrupt Yet
Dear Bankrupt,
The birthday party circuit has changed. It is not your imagination.
Like so many things in the suburbs, the birthday party has been hyped, energized, and so elaborately revamped that kids rack up loot as if they were maharajahs.
The end result is that children value things less and do not have a chance to appreciate anything less than a major gift or production. This is not all. Parties are planned as if the competition were terminal.
They are catered. Clowns, ponies, magicians, and petting zoos arrive to entertain. Some parties require costumes and are centered on themes.
The suburbs seem to attract the absurd celebration of success and competition. This gets mixed with love.
Soon loving your youngster means never having less than the best, the most, and the winning event!
There is a word for that: dumb. Pick out something original. The small present, one which conveys a special bit of thinking and care, is always the best.
For example, a couple of certificates for meals at a kids’ restaurant packaged with a yo-yo or some other such self entertaining gadget will do just fine.
Let’s start a movement to return the birthday party to sanity and defeat the notion that bucks can buy joy!
Tags: birthdays and money, gift giving and money, suburb birthdays
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