My Super Sweet Six

Your article is totally disgusting! To take photo's of these precious little faces, when these girls are having the time of their life - and distorting it into something so vile and disgusting is a disgrace!!! Apparently the writer doesn't have, and will never have children! I do understand that there can be extreme - at any age - but to have a nice party and invite 8-12 friends is a normal part of growing up. Did this writer not get to have birthday parties as a child? Is this where all of this anger about other children having nice parties is coming from? I'm so sorry for your childhood, but that's no excuse for going after precious, innocent little girls!

Eat the rich. The time really has arrived.

I was disgusted by your slant on these birthday parties. You basically made any birthday bash sound like a parent was spoiling their child. It's not. I find your distortion of these parties as misleading to the public. Just another example of people printing what they believe in their own minds rather than truly investigating a topic and presenting a wide variety of opinions and facts. Something all to common in the media today.

Also, girls dressing up and putting on makeup is a rite of passage. I did it when I was little, and it didn't make me "grow up too fast." Why not have these little boutiques for girls? It's better than them going with mom to an "adult" spa and being treated with products that are not designed for a child.

I wish I had parties at places like Girly Girlz or Libby Lu when I was little. Sure, I think parent need to stop and think what their children want, but I think many girls have these parties because they want them, not because their parents are trying to live vicariously. It also makes party planning easier on busy parents. We are in a time where both parents work. Planning a party is hard, and many of these specialty boutiques help with all the semantics like invitations, games, and favors.

I think that this piece is an example of one person's opinion and a distortion of the truth.

Ms. Fishy, Scottsdalians don't read the New Times. :)

Utterly disgusting. This is why the incoming generation will be full of nothing but spineless, whinny, out of control BRATS. I feel sorry for these kids as they will have completely unrealistic views as to how the world works. This is a form of abuse in my opinion.

These parents are the reason why restaurants are banning kids (rightfully so in many cases) for bad behavior. They ruin things for EVERYBODY. I feel badly for the good parents who try to raise their kids to NOT be this way.

Now I am waiting for one of these so called hip moms to come on here and tell all of us naysayers we are jealous of what they are able to give their kids, and accuse the parents that posted of not loving their kids enough.

I read with interest your column on ultra-elaborate birthday parties (My Super Sweet Six page 17 of your March 29th-April 4th edition). I just was wondering a few things about it. Are the parties being held for the benefit of the child or for the parents living their lives vicariously through their children (as they often do in sports? I'm inclined to think the latter. Also how will a child be inclined to remember these uber-parties 10,20 years or so down the road? Will the child remember them with fondness or (as I suspect) will the child either not remember them at all or remember them as some of the most uncomfortable times of his or her life? In my mind, this is too much too soon for such a young child.

I always just invite family and friends over our house, usually held indoors since mysons birthday is in January. We eat good homeade food my mother in law and husband usually prepare, an uncle will bring the cake, an aunt will bring the pinata and candy. I'll take my son to the party store and he gets to pick out what theme he wants and what we should put in the goodie bags. That's it. And everyone has a good time. The kids are able to entertain themselves, running around and catching up with cousins they haven't seen in several weeks. As the party dies down, i'll even put a DVD on for them while the parents relax and chat in the dining area. I never realized how much stress some people are willing to go through to plan these extravegant parties, taking away all the fun for the parents and the child. What's the point, for everyone else to talk about your party for a week, until the next one is thrown? And the talk is not always good, as we've read for ourselves.

sickening...purely sickening. The parents need to grow up.

This story makes me grateful for my small house and older car, but especially my children. We have raised 8 wonderful kids who are excited when they get a surprise bag of clothes from some generous friends, thank me for taking them out to eat, and right now, busily making homemade gifts for their brother's upcoming 7th birthday. I feel sad for these parents because their children will never be satisfied and they will eventually blame them for never giving them "enough". My financial stress is looking less stressful now!

Hahahaha!

Poor little rich people, trying so hard to show off how they are better than their peers. My daughters birthday parties are at our house, we invent the games, and for an hour, the kids just get to play with each other away from the school environment. And they always love it.

These shams of a birthday party are strictly for the parents. None of that materialistic claptrap is for the children. Of course, in my opinion, most of the pressure to excel that rich parents put on their children these days is due to their keeping up with the Joneses mentality, not any desire to raise a compassionate, thoughtful, loving human being.

I am so glad I no longer live in PV.

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. Words escape me when trying to describe my disgust. This is a prime example of how excess money spoils people, both parents and children, creates greed and competition, and raises the next generation with a foul sense of values. Kids grow up with a sense of entitlement and don't understand the value of hard work. People who make enough to pay their bills and have a modest entertainment budget seem to be more humble and take more pleasure in the simple things in life. We secretly wish we made more money, but when we read storries like these we remember the scary, paltry, annoying trappings of wealth. Take some time to build some meaningful social relationships that aren't built on the transparent, empty status symbols or else you'll find yourselves consumed by consumerism.