Chandra Turner, executive editor of Parents magazine, said many kid birthday parties were so huge they were more like mini weddings. "I think that parents for a while there were doing everything they could to make the birthday parties as amazing, and extravagant as possible," she said. The magazine recently did an informal study of the subject, asking 2,264 readers how much they expected to spend on their children's next birthday. Twenty-six percent said less than $75, 49 percent said $75 to $200, 19 percent said $200 or more, and 6 percent said they didn't know.

Toy Trains concert Nov. 21