I don't have kids, so I'm hoping the parents can provide a little clarity on this one.
A woman in the U.K. recently posted on a British website for moms about an issue with another mom....that mom is throwing a 14th birthday party for her son at a go kart track, and she's charging everyone $82 apiece to attend. That includes $59 for the karts and $23 for transportation 80 miles round trip to and from the track. That cost does NOT include lunch.
The woman who posted about it said she feels like that mom is being unreasonable and she asked people if they agree. Most parents agreed that charging such a high price for a birthday party is excessive, although a few did say that since go-karting is expensive, there's no reason the birthday boy's family should have to incur it all.
One other mom even figured the mom throwing the party is making a profit . . . quote, "No way would go karting and transport for 30 teens cost over $2,400."
Maybe I'm wrong here, but it seems to me that if you don't have it in the budget to throw an extravagant party for your kid, you DON'T THROW THE PARTY. You cut the budget and do something less expensive. Would you charge people to attend your wedding?... would you be willing to PAY to attend a wedding? No, I doubt it.
So parents, what say you? If your kid were invited to a party where they had to pay $82 to attend, AND pay for their own lunch, AND bring a birthday gift, would you let them go?
The video below is about a DIFFERENT birthday party where guests were being charged admission... looks like this is becoming a pretty common thing! My mom would never have let this fly when I was a kid!