Preschool Kids Get Lavish Graduation, Birthday Parties
Elaborate, themed affairs cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Aug. 23, 2011 — -- TLC's hit reality-TV series "Outrageous Kids Parties" features lavish affairs, including over-the-top birthday parties and graduation parties for preschoolers.
That's right. Preschoolers.
5-year-old Derek, from Long Island, NY, loves candy. So his love for candy served as the inspiration for his party, which his mother, Donna, dubbed a Willy Wonka-style candy fantasy.
"This party is really for Donna, and Derek is just a prop," said the boy's father, adding that Donna was "not very good with budgets."
Donna and Derek head to the candy store with a budget of $500. They buy multiples of any item that catches their eye, and end up spending $1,303.50
Candyland Fantasy, Country Carnival
And when the big day arrives, it's clear that the candy budget isn't the only one that was blown.
Derek's preschool graduation party features aerial dancers, bouncy houses, a rock wall and a towering cake.
"This is the coolest graduation party I've ever been to," one of Derek's classmates says.
Derek's parents spent $31,838 on their son's big bash.
"Twenty years ago, a clown making balloon animals was a big deal," Leesa Zelkin, a children's event planner, told ABC News.
"And over time that's become run of the mill, that's become the norm, and now I think people are trying to not only outdo one another, but they're trying to outdo themselves.
Little Sadie definitely knows how she wants to celebrate her 6th birthday.
"The birthday party that I want is a country carnival," she said, with "a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster, a dunking booth, I went to enter on a horse."
When her mother asks how she'll be dressed, Sadie, from Cary, NC, replies, "I'm going to dress like a cowgirl."
Sadie's mother also has some ideas of her own.
Blowing the Budget
"We have to get it catered," the girl's mother said. "I was thinking of some kind of barbecue and we need a really big cake, and I was thinking I even wanted a cake that's going to be bigger than Sadie, I definitely want a big stage, a band and a DJ and some dancers, a cotton candy machine, funnel cakes, popcorn and she wants to show up in a limo.
"How much do you think I can spend? $10,000?" her mother asked.
The girl's father said he "just about fainted" at that estimated budget.
There was one other wish Sadie's mother wants to fulfill for her little girl.
"I want a tattoo for this party because I want to be like one of the big girls … My friends are going to be so jealous," Sadie said.
Her mother explained: "I think I was living vicariously through Sadie getting the tattoo because I had always wanted one myself."
With her glittering, temporary tattoo in place, Sadie was ready to celebrate in style.
"I'm a little cow girl, yee-ha!" she said at her country-inspired party, complete with live band, dunk tank, dog show, face painting, a barbecue feast and a candy booth.
And the $10,000 budget? Sadie's parents went over. The price tag for their daughter's big day was $32,550.
The children's parents weren't the only ones who were spending big. The guests went all out, too. Derek's birthday gifts included a $8,500 rock wall, and Sadie got a play set that cost $5,700.