Parents feel the pinch when kids' birthday parties become expensive affairs

Parents are feeling the pressure to spend large amounts of money on their children's birthday parties, including goodie bags and smash cakes. — Photos: ANNETTE RIEDL/dpa

WHEN Stephanie Carlucci’s son was six months old, she started planning his first birthday party. The 34-year-old Downingtown woman picked a theme – little Dean would be “Mr. One-derful” – and filled her online Etsy shopping cart with the essentials: matching invitations, thank-you cards, banners, a high-chair ribbon, a custom onesie, and a hat.

She ordered “fancy catering” of charcuterie, pasta salads, and gourmet focaccia sandwiches from Carlino’s Market, she said, and secured a smash cake (that’s a mini-cake the guest of honour eats with their hands to mass applause). For the grown-ups, she crafted a signature drink, a muddled cranberry spritzer in honour of the January baby.