Word. Birthdays for us growing up were a Duncan Hines cake, kool aid, and a trip to the public swimming pool- and we thought we hit the lottery. A professional catered party for a young kid is nice if you can properly afford it- but not required. I even had a top 1 percent friend in elementary school- she wore hand me downs and had frugal birthday parties just like I did. Her parents were very humble and didn’t believe in extravagance.