Amen!

I just ran across an article on Yahoo called 12 New 'Necessities' That Drain Your Cash. This paragraph is the gospel truth if I ever heard it:

Childhood Parties
If you don't have kids, you probably can't appreciate how out-of-control children's birthday parties have become.
"Every kid has to have a bouncy house for their birthday," says Hunt, who lives in Southern California. "It's not enough to have just a cake; you have to have a meal. And now you have to invite the parents."
Hunt adds that such celebrations no longer are restricted to "big" birthdays, but occur every year.
"And they celebrate graduations, from preschool, for kindergarten, for elementary, junior high," she says. "When they get to be teens, the whole group has to go somewhere. By the time you graduate high school, now you go to Aruba."
Young parents, you've been warned.

I thought I was the only one who was appalled by the amount of money people spend on kids' birthday parties - and presents for that matter. I've started to give into the trend out of pure peer pressure, but this article has motivated me to stick to my guns. I've already paid the fee to rent the community pool for Mason's birthday in July, but that's it. After this year we're going back to the basics with parties. Thank you Jay McDonald for writing this!