New York Sign Language The Struggle To Find the Best Birthday Party in New York By BOB YAMPOLSKY	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
子供のバースデーで親は頭痛？ N.Y. では幼稚園に通う子供の誕生日が近づくと親は頭を悩ませます。というのも、誕生日会には、子供の友達数十人とその親を招くのが習慣だからです。狭いアパートにそれだけの人数を招くのは無理。となると、場所も借りなければならず、出費もかさみ…。

Our sign for this month is taped to the window of a casual Italian restaurant in my neighborhood called V&T's. It advertises the V&T Children's Birthday Party, which includes:

PARTY TABLE SET UP

PARTY HATS

HELIUM BALLOONS

PIZZA OR SPAG. & MEATBALLS

SOFT DRINKS

INDIVIDUAL JR. SUNDAES

POPCORN

PRIVATE ROOM

At $8.95 (¥984) per child, this is, the sign says, "BEST DEAL IN TOWN." The sign also advises that a clown or magician can be arranged for an extra fee.

This is the story. In Manhattan, like everywhere else, kids have birthday parties. That's fine. You have a cake and balloons, you sing "Happy Birthday," the kid gets presents, then wait till next year, right? Wrong. It isn't that simple.

First of all, parents come. Parents have to come because 5-year-old William certainly isn't going to be allowed to go by himself. Second, siblings come because that's the accepted practice. Third, if your kid is in preschool, just like mine, you have to invite all 12 or 15 kids in the class, because that's the way it's done.

So projecting an invitation acceptance rate of 75 percent, you get nine kids, meaning nine adults and three or four siblings thrown in. This adds up to 22 guests. Twenty-two guests in my tiny apartment? I wouldn't even have enough chairs for the adults to sit.

Let's talk about money now. Consider V&T's. Twelve kids, at nine bucks (¥990) a pop, is $108 (¥11,880). But this doesn't include the cake ($30 (¥3,300), unless you make it yourself) and the party favors ($3 (¥330) a bag). It also doesn't include lunch and drinks for the adults. So you figure about $10 (¥1,100) an adult. So let's say you're paying $200 (¥22,000) to the restaurant. Tax and tip adds about $45 (¥4,950). Add in the cake and party favors, and $50 (¥5,500) for the clown, and you're looking at $350 (¥38,500) without even buying the kid a present. And this is for the "best deal in town."

There is, of course, an easy solution to all this. As Evan's father says, "Most important thing: Tell your kids to be born in the warm weather." In the warm weather, you just have the party in the park. That's what Thomas' parents and Ani's parents and Ev an's parents did. Karen's parents did too, though Karen is an October child, and it did get a little chilly toward the end.

If your apartment is big enough, and you can stand having it packed with kids, you can have the party there. That's what William's and Henry's parents did (Henry's arranged for a storyteller). Chloe's parents did this too, even though their apartment, exactly two flights below mine, is small. But they took the bold step of limiting the number of invitations they sent out, telling Chloe she could invite the same number of guests as her age (four).

Let me tell you some of the birthday parties that I have been to in the past year. There was Natalie's party at a gymnasium, where two staffers led the children through various athletic activities. There was Sophia's party, at a swimming pool. There was Cody's party at a McDonald's (complete with clown). There was Nicholas' party at the Museum of Natural History, and Jacob's party on Intrepid, the World War II carrier that has been converted into a museum.

After Jacob's party, Karen's mom, who is from Israel and thus somewhat bewildered by American customs, asked me some serious questions. Just how much did I spend on the present for Jacob? ($15.) Do you spend more for the present when the party is an "event" party? (No.) And now that our kids are in kindergarten (she had a very concerned look on her face when she asked this), do we still have to invite the whole class, which would mean 27 kids? (I certainly hope not.)

My own story is this. For my daughter's 5th birthday, in February, we rented a pool. It was $80 (¥8,800) for an hour, plus $20 (¥2,200) for the lifeguard, and $25 (¥2,750) for a half-hour in a room afterward. We spent $60 (¥6,600) on pizza and drinks, $40 (¥4,400) on party favors and about $50 (¥5,500) on paper plates, cups, napkins, tablecloths and decorations. Add in the cake and presents, and you have over $300 (¥33,000) to celebrate the kid's birthday. We would have done much better by her if we had put that money in a tuition fund.

For my son's 3rd birthday, last November, we went low-key: some balloons, a cake and a little party at home. He didn't know to expect more. But what we'll do this November is up in the air. I suppose we'll have to give him a pool party too, and then we'll declare a party moratorium.

Or maybe we'll just throw in the towel and move to the suburbs. You put up with a lot living in Manhattan — the crime, the dirt, the noise, the crowds, the costs. I've managed to put up with all of them. But these birthday parties may turn out to be the final straw.

Shukan ST: Sept. 24, 1999

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