What Recession?

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Just because you're on food stamps doesn't mean the still-employed are going to stop throwing their kids $20,000 quinceañeras, Sweet 16s, and bar and bat mitzvahs. Take Sunday's well-attended Teen Party Expo—the first such event of it's kind, at least in Culver City, California. Crowds were able to check out "dozens of companies hawking tiaras, frilly dresses, disc jockey services and giant sheet cakes," you know, all the really important crap teen brats need to make their day special. That crap is pretty important to their parents, too—even the ones who are on disability. They just call it "prestige." [Gawker via LA Times]