Happy Birthday to who?

Tomorrow is my youngest daughter's birthday party. She just turned eight. My oldest daughter is nine so that means this is our 17th birthday party. Holy crap! I have never done that math before. It has been many years since I have had enough money to purchase the little gift bags that go home with every tiny party goer. I did have some guilt at first but now (still broke) I no longer have guilt. Who started this nonsense? Since when is it appropriate to expect a schwag bag when you go to a kid's birthday party? With not a lot of money, I would rather spend my money on the birthday girl. For anyone that has not bought these goodie bags, they can easily run over fifty bucks. Sorry, that's a whole other present. I also know that the moment a partygoer gets home, the bag goes right into the trash, mostly because it's a bunch of junk. Call it going green, call it selfishness, whatevs. I am not doing it. I found some glow bracelets for the kids for a dollar. I will be giving those but they won't come in cute bags to be thrown away. We will have cake and fun. Isn't that enough anymore?