whatever happend to a bunch of kids/people gathering around and hanging out to celebrate ones birthday? you know what im talking about, pizza, cake, soda and a pinata... those were the good ol' days.

Pinata? HaHaHaHaHa. That cracked me up!

The good old days of 1990`s.....Tadpole..geez, Nancypoo will be along shortly because she has a friend who has a cousin who dated a neighbor who read that they once had a study on pinatas and they can be dangerous but her grandson is in Iraq and pinatas are no laughing matter there and you better respect the children who are fighting for our freedom against the Iraq people intended on keeping all the oil to themselfs......

Kids parties are an exercise in parental peer pressure gone to the extreme (and teaching the kids bad manners in the process). I don't know when the "me" generation turned into the "greed" generation (and the "my house/kid/etc is better than yours, look at this lavish party" generation), but that seems to be the root of the issue. If not for the peer pressure (i.e. you can't throw a party that is actually reasonable because "what would the neighbors think"), there probably would be a lot more parties like Tiffanilynn posted about. It takes a lot of courage (or just not caring about peer pressure) to buck the trend and go back to the simple parties.

I'm getting tired of Maggiepoo's crap. All she does is insult people, and it's not nice. I know she's going to come up with some way to insult me now, but I don't care.

As for parties, I only had one birthday party in my life, and it was with my parents' friends' children, so it wasn't much fun for me. I don't remember much at all from that party. All of my birthdays have always been celebrated with my siblings, parents and grandparents. We never did anything huge. The only time I ever celebrated my birthday with a friend was the night before my 18th birthday when she asked me to go ice skating, because it would be "fun." I wound up smashing my front teeth against the ice and permanently fracturing them. What a sweet birthday, right? Heh.

maggie......cute.

Robin, maggie is a guy.  I would say "man" but that's not really an accurate description.

Robin --

Hej! This is the most common way of greeting someone, be it in a formal or informal situation, and can be used as an equivalent of ‘How do you do’ as well as ‘Hi (there)’.  

Robin, note that Maggiepoo (like his predecessor LynchRacing, utilizes this quite often. It is Swedish - pronounced HEY! ,and used often in print (viz Maggie).

He was banned as LynchRacing. His Mother In Law is supposed to come up here any day from Kern County Assessor's Office and attache some of my parcels {LOL!}

He's a troll-twit

I'm getting tired of Maggiepoo's crap. All she does is insult people, and it's not nice.

Robin, you'll have to excuse Maggie. He has terminal constipation.

It was the "hej" that gave him away.....that and his charming personality.   HA !

 Gifts to cover the price of the party, what do you do , sale em at the end ?  When I was a kid and even when we had party's for our children, we never worried over the price of the gifts received.  If fact, we'd throw some extra ones in for the kids that couldn't afford to bring one.  You throw a Birthday party for the kids to have fun, not to rate the worth of the gifts kids brought.

I came from one of the rich family's in the town I grew up in and my mother always had me to take the best in gifts when I attended a party.  I saw the ones that couldn't afford a gift and I'd let them share in giving mine or help them buy one.  Some people buy what they can afford and some can afford nothing, these were the kids that we always made sure that when the party ended, with them taking something home as well.

and predeliction for C&P

I already knew Maggie was a guy. It's not my fault he chose a girls' name.

Chico, I have no idea what you're talking about. I never saw this hej greeting. But I feel like I somehow left myself out of the loop, because I don't remember LynchRacing even though I've been on the blogs for three years...

 JBS-- you said that before and it cracked me up, and you said it again and im dying of laughter...

Dont mind maggie today he has it out for me and nancy (and a few others) ... and that tadpole comment... [edit.] is that.

I wish they would ban him again, but he would just come up with another name.

 robin- i believe he said it today in another blog... where he decided to go round and round with me.. i called him a "she" for a long time.... would have thought it was female LOL....

OldBlue- i forgot to mention, pin the tail on the donkey.

OK, folks. Time to stop straying off topic!

The post is about penny-pinching at parties, and spending tons of money to keep up with the neighbors.

The Cheapskate editors are losing patience!

Robin..possibly Chico mistook your "HeH" for hej.  Just a guess.

You may have missed him because he wasn't on the blog long.  He thought he could say anything he liked but it didn't work out well for him.   Now he flies just under the radar knowing that if he pops his trashy head up he'll be tossed again.

Sorry Christine..I'm done.

 The Green one is on track,,,,,.  ;=)))

Oh, don't tell me cheapskate that we have to please you, AND Jason?

I know, I am so mean and awful.

Yes, Murphyslaw, you are on track. I thank you for that!

Here's a cheap party: My sister was to have an ice skating birthday party. (Not in Kern County, and MANY years ago.) There was some mix-up and the ice rink was being used for a hockey game! The staffers at the rink were SO apologetic, but what were my parents going to do with the 30 or so eighth-graders who showed up? Well, they ended up giving us this huge room for free and my Dad went to the store and bought a bunch of snacks. The CD player blasted music. My sister was pretty devastated, I recall, but it actually turned out to be a decent party — and cheaper than paying however much it was going to be for about 30 teens to go ice skating!

Cheapskate--- I came back on topic, i said pin the tail on the donkey was a good one as well as the pinata...

 OK getting back to subject about parties, etc.  I understand about poor people not being able to afford presents, but then you have those who do have enough money to bring presents.  now this really galls me.  I come from family who are very generous in giving presents and have been brought up that way.  If you can afford to, definitely bring a nice present.  I don't know about keeping up with the Jones' or anything like that.  I have always had very nice parties for my daughter, nothing fancy but nice.  Things like going to park, going swimming at mother's swimming pool, skating parties, which are really pretty cheap.  I have seen lots of neighborhood kids whose parents never had parties because they were too busy with their own lives.  Always felt very bad for those kids.  Sometimes I would invite them over and say were going to celebrate their birthday too.  Guess I am very soft-hearted towards children.   

P.S:  I remember one time at daughter's 9th B-day.  It was at skating rink.  Well I was about 36-years-old at the time.  I used to be quite the skater in my younger days.  I would be the winner in races lots of times.  Well I got some skates too.  Wow, it was harder than what I remembered.  Fell on my bottom so many times, I went home and could hardly sit down.  On a positive note, the kids laughed so hard at me, that was fun after all.   

OK, folks. Time to stop straying off topic!

Too bad! This is an armed takeover...oh, all right.

Those quinceaneras sure can get expensive. Some cost ten grand! Ersatz quinceaneras are cheaper, and the originalists are mad at the El Cheapos for undercutting them.

Teacher said I did good.  ;=)))

I've got four children, so we've been to our share of birthday parties.  I've been to some that are nice, little cake-and-ice cream parties.  I've been to others where the parents willingly admit that they've spend a thousand dollars or more.  I've seen people bring in chefs and entertainment and dj's for a three year old birthday party.  It makes no sense to me.  At that point, it's no longer about the child.  It's about the parents' desire to keep up with the other parents in a weird birthday heirarchy.  A few years ago, when I was with my daughter at a birthday party of a little friend, I heard other mothers RATING the parties they'd been to and deciding which ones their children would/would not be attending for the year.  The gift aspect is CRAZY!  Just plain CRAZY!  There was a party that had a bunch of parents in our circle very angry three months ago because we found out that, afterward, the mom had posted a list of gifts on her blog and, beside every gift, she listed how much money they'd lost on that person (so, if your gift was $20, she would have a -$80 figure because she'd spent $100 a person on the party).  It was disgusting.  I keep my eye out for sales on-line.  I've picked up $40 playsets for $10 online.  But, I rarely spend more than $10.  There are just too many parties.  And, when we invite people to our kids' parties, we make sure to say (when they call to RSVP) that their presence is presents enough, but if they want to buy something, a coloring book and crayons, books, or something under $10 is just fine. 

These stories only prove my theory that this nation is filled with a bunch of hypocritical and status-conscience morons.

Birthday parties are about fun, not about how much money you spend, or what kinds of gifts your kids get.  I know one thing's for sure - when I have kids, and they want a birthday party, I'm going to ask the parents to not spend a fortune on some crappy plastic toy.  In fact, I'll encourage them to get my kids something useful and educational, like a book. 

I am not sure your religious feelings are making you popular. But, keep going on because you never know where your values will take you.