Kids paying price for extravagant birthday parties

bring back the parties of the 1980s – we were all happy and we had nothing.

The fact of the matter is our children would be just as content with a few sausages, a slice of pizza and toxic red lemonade.

Back in the 1980s, the games didn’t cost a penny and they were so much fun.

Remember musical statues, where your mum or dad would lift the needle of the record at random times and we all had to stay still?

The unco-ordinated kids would wobble but when it came to the final few the competition was intense and winning was enough, there was no need for a prize.

The reward was whether you were still standing.

Musical chairs was another hit where you had to peg it around the sitting room and once the music stopped make a beeline for a space on a chair, oh the craic was mighty.

Pass the parcel was the best fun ever, our mam used newspaper to wrap the token gift and half the fun was whether or not it landed on your lap, not whether or not there was something fancy inside. A few sweets was all that was needed to get us really excited. Blind man’s bluff was invigorating, getting spun around until we were dizzy and then stumbling into a party guest, feeling their features to see if we could guess who it was, was a real thrill. Fun doesn’t have to cost the earth and shared parties could be a way to keep costs down for stressed-out parents. The idea of everyone contributing to a voucher rather than the fiver in the card rule could be a better solution. We need to reframe things and realise the fun is in taking part and we don’t need to overcomplicate the birthday party in order to show kids we love them.