Forget Chuck E. Cheese or some boring bounce house, birthday parties for kids today need something more exciting to celebrate the turning of another year. Something like swimming with live alligators perhaps.
Yes, on purpose. A company out of Florida (where else?) is offering to throw live alligators in your backyard pool to pep up your kid's party. Bob Barrett runs The Alligator Attraction out of Mediera Beach, and decided to take his show on the road charging $175 to put one of the reptiles into the pool with a bunch of screaming kids. Apparently this idea is for some reason appealing to the masses (or Floridians anyway), and Barrett says the reptile-infested parties have taken off like wildfire.
The gators' mouths are taped shut, so it sounds at least relatively safe (until some curious kid pries that tape off). But still, talk about overkill. Not to mention those poor gators!
The freaky factor aside, it's just the latest example of out-of-control, overindulgent parenting trends that will likely set our kids up for a lifetime of disappointment. Seriously, when you get a party at 10 that requires as much planning as some weddings, what's there to look forward to in the future?
I get it that we all want to make our kids' childhood memories the best they can be, and if you have the money, why not. But there's a point at which you're killing their childhood with elaborate expectations. Other kids' parties I've attended and/or heard about from others include things like:
Limousine rides
Overnight stays at pricey hotels
Fancy catered food
D.J.'s and full bands
42 center pieces, 2,000 flowers, and 300 costumes for a 6-year-old's party with a $32,000 budget.
And on and on. So I suppose a few alligators aren't that outrageous in the scheme of things. The scheme of things, however, is so ridiculous it's sad.
What's the most outrageous children's birthday party you've attended?
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Comments 9
Isn't that animal cruelty? Gators don't usually swim in cholrinated water. Imagine someone taping your mouth shut and throwing you to a bunch of screaming kids - fun, huh?
While I think there is something kind of cruel about taping gators' mouths shut so a bunch of kids can poke at them, there is nothing wrong with kids having over the top birthday parties. I remember one of my birthday parties (I believe it was my 11th) was a hummer limo rid into NYC with 15 of my friends, dinner at a well known restaurant, and a broadway show with orchestra seats. I didn't know at the time that it probably cost more than some weddings, but I definitely appreciated it and had so many fun memories that I recall to this day. If you could afford to give your child a birthday party like that, why wouldnt you?
Everyone involved with that should be ashamed of themselves.
This is just terrible. It's crying out for animal cruelty.
i think over the top parties are just ridiculous unless, as someone else mentioned, it's a 'milestone' type of birthday (and even then, within reason!). my oldest daughter's favorite birthday? the year we took her to disneyland with her cousin (my niece). it was just the two of them, along with myself and my husband, so they had our undivided attention for the day. not that they wanted it, we were in disneyland! lol but it was a wonderful day, and now the kids ask us if we can make it a yearly birthday thing. what, you mean i don't have to plan parties or clean cake out of my floor anymore? i'm in!
I wouldn't be concerned about my child tbrucemom because my child wouldn't be in this pool. This is a bad idea every single way you look at it.