Article: Candles to Light and Money to Burn - New York Times

"PARABENS para voce" "Happy birthday to you" in Portuguese idiom -- are among the first words after "mamae" and "papai" that many children utter here. In Brazil, children's birthday parties are big business and high art. A family chorus around a homemade cake, a few pointy hats and silly plastic party favors no longer define party magic; at one celebration, 1,500 balloons were just the beginning. While many American parents go overboard, too, practically turning birthday celebrations into three-ring circuses, Brazilians sometimes go a step further: they use actual circus tents and animals. Parents here think nothing of planning for months in advance and spending thousands of dollars on a ...

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