Consumer Corner: Would you spend thousands on your child's birthday party?

Niamh Hennessy talks about the pressure on parents and the genius that is the €5 party rule

There’s a trend that happens with kids birthday parties that starts with plans for games like Pass the Parcel and Rice Krispie cakes and ends with Justin Bieber performing on your back garden decking. Maybe not as extreme as that but most parents will relate to the idea of having plans for a scaled back birthday party for their child and getting caught on the money spinning rollercoaster of added extras.

Organising a child’s birthday party can often involve an array of mixed emotions. You want your child to be happy but not too spoilt. You want your child’s party to be impressive but not over the top either. It’s easy to go to Mr Price for a birthday balloon and leave with the life sized cast of Frozen in balloon form. There’s now even reports of post-pandemic kids party guilt with parents scrambling to go the extra mile to make up for two years of lost parties.