On one hand, the birthday parties thrown for kids these days are ridiculous. We used to just have a few kids to the house, hot dogs, cake and ice-cream, play some games. No goody bags were even given out. Things have gone nuts in the kids’ birthday competition.
On the other hand, people these days think NOTHING of honouring their commitments. People cancel at the last minute or just don’t show up at the drop of a hat. No consideration whatsoever.
When my daughter turned 16 recently I was asked “at what hotel will her party be at”? And they expected most of her grade to be invited! No, she had her close friends and they had a mini-spa day and dinner. Still cost way to much!
Same here. Wear your swimsuit, eat homemade cake, play in the yard and bash a piñata. Show up or don’t show up. More cake for the rest of us if you don’t. One of our kids’ friend had the same birth day and his mama always dropped him off until she remembered to pick him up late. It was fine as I don’t know that he ever had a party. That British mama would have sent a babysitting bill rather than chalking it up to the kids having longer to play together.
If a 5 yo has a party (he won’t remember by the time he’s 15) that requires an RSVP, something is wrong. People have been inconsiderate about RSVPs for many, many years.
Our wedding was small and no “professionals” - witness the ceremony, eat great cake ($15), visit a bit and go home. Don’t remember if anyone didn’t show up, RSVPed or not, but it didn’t matter. It was much nicer than the overly dragged out one we went to two weeks later that was all frou-frou, cost a fortune, “professionals” very unprofessional, an u-g-l-y cake (that I had to pick up which cost more than my entire wedding from the gown to the venue to the delivered cake), and worries over every cup and fork being accounted for.
I despise the whole idea of “goody bags” and now they’ve grown up and have wedding “goody bags.” WHY? I’ve never understood it.