Would you (if you could)?

We've gone crazy. In a nation world of starving children, I can't believe that parents are spending thousands of dollars (hundreds of thousands in some cases) on parties for their kids a la My Super Sweet Sixteen.

Check out some of these stories that will make you cringe/beat your head against a wall/want to slit your wrists/never want to procreate/all of the above:

In 2007, "...former CEO of the leading supplier of body armor to U.S. soldiers in Iraq was charged yesterday with looting the company to bankroll a lavish lifestyle that included a $10 million bat mitzvah for his daughter."

Dude - you looted your company for a Bat Mitzvah to the tune of $10 million?!? $10 million on a Bat Mitzvah? Where do you go from there? How old is that - 13, right? (Sorry to all my Jewish friends). Where do you go from a $10 million party at 13 years old? What can possibly ever satisfy this child in her life now? Can you imagine the poor schmuck that she ends up marrying? It's SO a lost cause.

Another goodie? At one 10-year-old birthday party, they created a "Coach Themed Cake" for? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone know the answer?

$1500
FIFTEEN HUNDRED.
DOLLARS.

That's more than my wedding cake (seriously).

And it had like SIX TIERS.

And like FOUR DIFFERENT FLAVORS.

But, anyway...

Here's the real one that takes the cake (yes, pun intended):

From the caption:

"Elisa Strauss' Confetti Cakes made this elaborate 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' cake, which cost $2,000, for a 5-year-old's party."

The kid was FIVE.

FIVE.

The kid probably eats his own boogers and still needs help wiping his butt. I'm pretty sure that he didn't understand that he had a $2000 cake.

Look, many of us - as parents - have probably spent a little more than we should on occasion. We once got my oldest stepdaughter tickets to NSync at height of their heyday. But we sacrificed to save for those tickets (and the hearing loss we sacrificed due to the shrill of nine-year-old girls screeching at the top of their lungs. Who knew an entire stadium of females can shriek like that?!?). Not to mention? It scored me BIG POINTS on the cool stepmom scale and I'm all about bribing and buying love. But this post isn't about me, now is it?

(AND, if it makes you feel better, we MADE her birthday cake).

(Probably from a box...)

(And we were giving a lot of money to charity that year, too).

(And volunteering...)

Anyway, whenever I see these kind of extravagant stories I always ask myself, "If I could - if I had the means - would I?" Inevitably, without fail, the answer is NO!

A few Oprah shows ago, she relayed that we are raising the most indulgent generation yet. What are we teaching our kids? How are they going to function in the egocentric "enough about me, what do you think about me?" world we've created for them? I mean seriously people, stop the madness!

Really.
STOP IT!

Now.

I mean it.

And to think, all that I ever wanted was a Barbie Cake.
Ahhh...simplicity...

Just in case this posting hasn't made you crazy enough: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/04/18/lw.pricey.bday.parties/index.html