For her younger daughter’s first birthday, she and her husband paid $50 to rent a clubhouse, $200 for machines to dispense cotton candy, hot dogs and popcorn, and $250 for a woman to give a Little Mermaid performance.
For another birthday, Ms. Szarka hired a $100 face painter for 20 guests, as well as a tea party organizer for $300, so the kids could don princess costumes and enjoy a tea party with miniature fine china.
“I like making my kids feel special,” she said. “It’s the one day of the year where the focus is all on them. We spend a lot, but we don’t buy them as many toys and we only do it once a year.”
Parents like Ms. Szarka were clearly on Charlotte Cassese’s mind when she opened a birthday party center called Glam Jam last spring in Randolph.
For $300, parents can give a party for 10 girls at Glam Jam’s warehouse operation, where guests create their own lotions, lip gloss and eye shadow. The girls, ages 6 and up, can then get their faces painted and dress up in boas and sunglasses for a red-carpet fashion show. A big-screen TV projects their images as they strut down the carpet. Parents can buy their own video of the show before they leave the event.
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