I have been known to throw pretty elaborate parties for my kids, not to keep up with the Joneses, but because I love to craft and decorate and entertain. However, I can’t ever fathom the thought of asking my friends and family to donate to the cause!
Since 2010, crowd funding websites have raised millions of dollars for people in need. Some asking for help with medical bills, school, entrepreneurial endeavors and the like. A new trend is happening though – moms are asking for help to fund their elaborate birthday birthdays! Why are moms so desperate to have fancy parties? Social media seems to be the biggest culprit. Browse Pinterest and you can easily see why so many moms feel the need to impress. Everything online is perfect and beautiful, and many moms seem to throw these parties effortlessly. More and more moms have fallen in to this trap of wanting the perfect party to post online for all of their friends and family to “oooh” and “ahhh” over. They see other moms doing it, and they want that for their own children.
Rebecca Michals, director of BabyCenter‘s global community, recently told Good Morning America that sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Michals said there’s a definite sense of “if you give to my child’s birthday party, I’ll give back to yours” in the crowd funding community.
It’s not likely that these families who are asking for help with parties are destitute, otherwise they would be seeking help with things like food or shelter. Has our society become so excessive that a good old fashioned party at home with cake and a pinata is no longer acceptable?
What are your thoughts? Is this new trend okay, or do you think it’s going too far?
