As I mentally previewed these three phases of her third birthday, I momentarily thought, "Holy mackerel, that's a lot of parties." This made me feel bad, because it falls on Shannon to do most of the preparation (cooking, cleaning, setting up, and so forth) and because I didn't - don't? - think that we are really the type of parents who make each birthday (or, god forbid, "half birthday") into a giant production, least of all for a three-year-old. But I felt a lot better about our trio of kid-scale events after reading a truly appalling article in Time Out New York which, as it offers advice on reducing the intensity (and expense) of birthdays, also offers a revolting look at the standards for kids' birthdays in Manhattan and Park Slope. Merely the trick-question opening is enough to make me retch:
That’s right, it was a trick question—all of these examples are real tales of out-of-control kid parties, courtesy of fellow NYC-area parents.