Parents feel pressure at cost of children's birthday parties

Birthday parties are some of the highlights of the year for children and their friends, but parents may see it another way.
Although it is wonderful to see your children enjoying themselves with their friends, the cost of hosting an extravagant party can put real pressure on parents.
Irish parenting website Mummypages.ie conducted a survey to find out what the average children’s party entails.
They found that the average spend by parents is €366 to put on their child’s birthday party. The pressure of making your child’s party extra special puts great pressure on parents, with 80% admitting they are keen to outdo their fellow parents in terms of the party’s wow factor.
Expensive features that are often used include bouncy castles (21%) and children’s entertainers (77%).
You may think one good way to keep costs down for a party would be to host it at home, but Mummypages found that home parties are actually more costly at an average of €387 compared to €344 for parties held at commercial venues.
The cake can also be an expensive feature of birthday parties, with 69% of children requesting a special themed cake for their party. Only 21% of parents said they would bake the birthday cake themselves.
Party bags are a traditional gift given to guests at the end of a child’s party. These can be particularly difficult for parents to balance the cost and quality, with an average of 20 children attending parties.
All these details add to up to an expensive and stressful time for parents. The average planning time for a child’s party is 6 weeks.
The other side of the coin is of course when your child is invited to attend the birthday party of one of their friends. On average, parents spend €15 on the present for their child to bring, and with an average of 12 parties a year to go to, even sending your child to someone else’s party costs parents €180 per year.
On that note, 23% of parents admitted they re-gift their children’s presents to others, but 80% said they dread the expense of birthday parties at the start of the school year.
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