KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — Kathryn Chua spent between RM5,000 and RM6,000 on her baby daughter’s recent birthday party that featured an intricate “My Little Pony” carousel birthday cake, a bouncy castle, an entertainer, and a chocolate fountain complete with environment-friendly palm leaf plates.
She hired event stylist I Heart Party to help organise the celebration for her daughter’s one-year-old birthday last November, and paid RM1,500 to rent a marquee with air-conditioning, tables and Chiavari chairs of Italian origin for 50 guests at her house in Old Klang Road here.
“Even a very simple party that you do it yourself, with your own cake and party favours, you can easily spend thousands. Nowadays, our money is very small,” Chua (not her real name) told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview.
The celebration based on the “My Little Pony” animated TV series excluded the cost of food and beverage but featured other items that centred on the theme such as cake pops and stuffed toys as party favours; even the walls were dressed up in elaborate honeycomb paper balls.
Average cost RM5,000
Middle-class parents in the Klang Valley are throwing increasingly lavish birthday parties for their offspring, party organisers told Malay Mail Online; the average celebration costs RM5,000 excluding food and beverage.
This trend of organising extravagant children’s birthday parties — as parents strive to outdo each other — comes amid rising cost of living that is set to grow even higher following the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on April 1.
Alice Tan who co-founded I Heart Party with her husband, Toby Leung, five years ago, said she is currently planning a football-themed birthday party for a seven-year-old boy scheduled in June that is estimated to cost overall between RM70,000 and RM80,000.
The party featuring entertainers and inflatables will comprise 150 children and 150 adults and is likely to be held at Zebra Square in the city centre, an event space off Jalan Tun Razak that hosts weddings too.
“[My] styling business has been growing,” Tan told Malay Mail Online, adding that she currently organises three to four children’s parties a month.
She also said she rents out party entertainers 20 times a month and has between 10 and 50 rentals of bouncy castles every month. The bouncy castles cost about RM350 on average.
Another specialist, Louise Teh, said parents get inspiration for party settings and decoration based on Western trends they see on social media or after studying abroad.
“Now, people are willing to spend. They’d rather leave it to the pro than do it DIY. They want ideas,” the Art of Love founder said, adding that the trend cuts across race.
“Malays spend slightly higher,” she said, noting that Malay parents usually prefer more extensive decorations that cover the whole room.
The party planner, who also organises weddings, said themed parties are the trend for children’s birthday celebrations, with girls generally favouring Disney Princesses with the current flavour being the popular Disney cartoon-musical “Frozen”; boys lean towards sporty or superhero themes such as Batman and Superman.
According to Teh, children’s birthday parties now typically feature a candy and cake corner with a themed backdrop that can cost more than RM2,000.
Themed party favours such as colouring books and pencils, customised birthday cakes with one to three tiers that can cost more than RM500, magicians or clowns costing more than RM500 an hour, a photo booth costing upwards of RM2,000, and a photographer who charges more than RM1,000 for four to five hours are the norm, she added.
Food and beverage are separate and can cost from RM50 to RM60 per person for buffet style home catering, comprising dishes like pasta, canapes, fried rice, or snacks for the children, said Teh.
“Some people do something like a bazaar with stalls or they go to hotels. One stall can cost between RM800 and RM900. If it’s in a ballroom in a hotel, it’ll cost more than RM20,000 for the set-up,” said the party planner who has been in the business for five years and is based in Kuala Lumpur, though she has also organised parties throughout the country.
Another party planner, Christine Chew said parents generally spend the most on their children between the ages of one and three while other milestone ages are 12 years, 16 years and 21 years.
While parents of yesteryear could get away with organising a home party featuring cake, ice-cream, balloons, and games like musical chairs and pass the parcel, or treating their children to a Western-meal outside the home, she believes today’s parents likely feel pressured to keep up with their peers.
“In a sense, it is a bit like keeping up with the Joneses. As different parents host parties that are just as elaborate, then [other] parents may feel like they should do the same,” said the Milestones Party and Events founder.
Like mini weddings
Penang-based Daphne Seow of ParteeBoo - The Party Designers, said cultural differences in terms of decoration, venue and food for children’s birthday parties also translates to price differences among the races.
“For example, in terms of food, Indian and Malay clients are able to save more on that as the Indian and Malay caterers are much more reasonably priced compared to the Chinese ones. Therefore they may tend to want to spend more on the decor and entertainment,” she said, and described children’s birthday parties nowadays as “mini weddings”.
“I had one party where the cost of the decor and entertainment was about RM12,000. That cost more than my own wedding overall!” she said.
Seow, who has been running the company for three years with two partners, said business has been progressing with an average of 10 to 15 clients monthly during slower months; some months, she gets 28 clients.
According to Seow, parents typically hold birthday parties for their children at home, in rented halls, hotels or restaurants.
“For first birthday parties (and children of older age), I tend to see more people giving presents rather than angpows. If it's a baby full moon party, then I think more people give angpows,” she said, referring to the celebration that ethnic Chinese parents usually throw when their child turns one month old.
Restaurants surveyed by Malay Mail Online charge between RM30 and RM100 per head for birthday or full moon parties.
A Chinese restaurant in Petaling Jaya offers packages of eight-course meals costing between RM800 and RM1,000 per table seating 10 people, including decorations for the VIP table.
A restaurant and wine bar in Bangsar charges RM80 per person for birthday parties on weekends comprising starters and main course dishes like steak or pasta, but no decoration is provided.
Sharol Izuan Rahmat, area manager for the Janji Temu at Mark’s restaurant in Subang Jaya, said his restaurant charges between RM30 and RM40 per head for two-hour birthday parties that serve Asian food.
“From October 2014 to March 2015, we have catered for six birthday parties,” Sharol said, adding that five of the six celebrations were for children.
Peer pressure
Evelyn Quah (not her real name), 28, said she spent less than RM1,000 for her son’s birthday party last August when he turned one, despite other parents’ expectations for extravagant features like a candy booth.
The executive, who works in a multi-national company, told Malay Mail Online that the birthday cake with the Disney’s “Cars” theme cost RM120, while catered food cost less than RM10 per head for 50 guests and party favours comprising a toy car, stress ball and stickers cost less than RM6 per pack.
She also created her own decorations comprising flags and banners featuring the “Cars” theme. Her sister took photographs of the event. There was no candy booth.
“A lot of people are very judgmental these days,” said Quah.
“If you don’t give a party pack, [they’ll say] ‘why no party pack?’ If you give, [they’ll say] ‘why junk food?’ They will think maybe you are well off, why can’t you afford a simple party pack?” she added.
The young parent said spending more than RM5,000 on a child’s birthday party is “a bit too much”, noting that the money could be better spent on a birthday trip to a theme park with the child’s friends.
“Plus, the kids are a little too young to appreciate all the splurging,” said Quah, requesting anonymity for fear of being judged by other parents.
Chua, however, believes that the RM5,000 to RM6,000 she spent on her daughter’s first birthday was “good money spent”.
“I enjoy having friends and family come over and celebrating the special day with them. It's my choice,” said the 39-year-old, who runs a trading company with her husband.
