A modern phenomenon is the increasing cost and sophistication of events and mundane products. For example, before the existence of the now ubiquitous children’s “buffets” in Brazil (places where parents celebrate the birthday of their kids), birthday parties used to be a simple combination of best friends, a cake and homemade sweets. I do not remember at what time the “buffets” have become so prevalent in Brazilian cities. Maybe from fifteen years on. What I do know is that in affluent neighborhoods of the city of São Paulo a birthday party hosted at such place, lasting around 4 hours, easily exceeds the cost of R$ 10,000 (US$ 4,000) – a huge figure by Brazilian standards (compare it to the average of £ 300 in UK…) (click here to continue)