Parents in the US are throwing lavish wedding-style birthday parties for their children – and Ireland may not be far behind.
A recent New York Times article found that ‘kid’s birthday planners’ are charging up to $50,000 to organise events.
On Newstalk Breakfast, Irish Independent journalist Kirsty Blake Knox said parents are hiring these people to act like “wedding planners” for their children.
“They get planners to kind of build balloon walls [and] kind of come up with themes,” she said.
Ms Blake Knox said one birthday party described in the article had a videographer and professional photographer.
She said families like the Kardashians hold “ostentatious” parties similar to “music festivals” for their children - which encourages other parents to do the same.
"It's taking off because parents will share the pictures of these incredibly over the top birthday parties on Instagram and on their social media," she said.
“That'll up the ante and we see other parents who think, ‘God, I've got to do something comparable for my own kids’.”
Picture perfect
Ms Knox thinks it’s “understandable” that this trend has emerged among parents who are pressured by social media.
“When you're going on Instagram and seeing how picture-perfect other people's lives are, [you understand] why you would be susceptible to it,” she said.
She said the most important thing is that “fun is being prioritised”.
“When the emphasis shifts to being ‘how is this going to look on Instagram’, that's when a problem starts.”
Parties in Ireland
Ms Knox said this trend in huge birthday parties has not fully reached Ireland, but we have a “tendency” to copy American customs like baby showers and ‘sweet sixteens’.
“I remember when they started with divorce parties,” she said. “People said it would never come to Ireland and now it has.”
Ms Knox hopes mini-weddings do not “reach our shores” - but she thinks there is a strong chance it will.
She said: “People are susceptible to looking at other parents and seeing what they're doing. It influences how they how they do things themselves.”
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