When I was a child, birthday parties involved lots of jelly and ice-cream, pass the parcel and balloons.

I would spend weeks counting down the hours to my big day and couldn't sleep the night before because I was so excited.

I have great memories of some fantastic parties which have left me with a life-long love of birthdays - both other people's and my own (yes, even the impending 30th).

Of course it must have been stressful for my parents - organising games, food and the surprise home-made cake which had to be a different shape every year (I can remember them all from the Mr Men creation, to the Wombles and Tony Tiger).

But the pressure I put my folks under for the nicest looking cake is nothing compared to what today's parents are going through.

New research reveals on average the modern children's party costs £492 - or at the very least one week's wages!

I can not believe that so much money is forked out for one afternoon or morning of mayhem.

Party bags in my day contained a plastic toy, a balloon, a badge and a piece of cake wrapped in a napkin so all the paper got stuck to the icing.

Now they are setting back parents up to £97 with the latest toys being handed out to party-goers as they leave the door.

Food bills are coming in at £88 - what happened to cheese and pineapple on sticks, triangle sandwiches and a plate of Wagon Wheels?

What are today's children eating -- M and S finest? Harrods hampers? I am all for kids refining their taste buds but if you can't gorge yourself on chocolate and white bread on your fifth birthday then when can you?

Venues are also costing £85 - I'm sorry but when I was a child the venue was the lounge of my parent's house, the garden if the weather was nice and if there weren't too many rowdy kids to control we would go to the park.

No doubt the parents who are forking out a fortune every year would blame peer pressure for making it impossible for them to organise a party that doesn't cost the earth.

But will these kids really have fantastic memories of their special day if their party is just the same as everyone elses?

Instead of getting in £200 entertainers in to make the party go with a bang, why don't these parents roll up their sleeves, get on their knees and play some old fashioned games?

Young kids don't care how much things cost - they just want to have fun which can be provided for a few pence if you have space for them to run around and a few props like music, a water pistol and a tail to pin on a donkey.

But the survey into the cost of parties proves that when it comes down to it youngsters never change.

Girls still want princess-themed parties while boys want a football-theme (which will surely only cost the price of a ball!)

As children get older they naturally become more demanding but those who have been brought up with home-grown fun are surely to have more realistic teenage demands than those who sat down to posh parties before they had left their potties.