‘REALITY’ TV

While many question how widespread Sweet 16s really are, most planners also say the events' depiction on TV isn't entirely accurate. Many scoff at TV's portrait of bratty teens. Mitchell-Steiman says of his teenaged clients: “The 16-year-olds have all had fair temperaments.” Zeigler, too, notes the graciousness of the celebrant she worked with for MTV's show: “The girl was actually really sweet and was just excited her parents were throwing her a big party.”

In addition, many note the gap between what aired on TV and what really happened at the party. One example Zeigler cites is the BMW X5 gifted to the girl on the MTV program, which Zeigler says “was just for the show. She really got a Honda or a Toyota.” Rosenzweig says that MTV's involvement in DaVinci Fusion's party turned the simple task of booking entertainment “into full-blown casting sessions and auditions to make for compelling television.”

TEEN PARTY POWER

Despite the televised Sweet 16 extravaganzas, the real blockbuster teen parties typically honor younger children. “Bar and bat mitzvah are the real children's parties that we're having,” Zeigler says. Mitchell-Steiman agrees. “It's a known fact that in a Jewish family, there's going to be a bar mitzvah when a young man reaches 13,” he says. “And there will be a party — they can easily exceed $50,000 in decor alone.” In fact, he notes that many event planners stay in touch with local synagogues since bar and bat mitzvahs are such established celebrations. Mitchell-Steiman has even encountered a “faux mitzvah” that a mother from a Christian background threw for her 13-year-old. “The young girl had been to all the bar and bat mitzvahs of everyone else in her class, so her parents threw her a very expensive birthday party, done in the same extravagant style of a floral bat mitzvah,” he says. “She had huge towering centerpieces at $500 apiece, then she had extravagant linens and wonderful entertainment, but it was not for 16 — it was for 13.”

Bar and bat mitzvahs — as well as the quinceanera, which some planners do a decent business in — have cultural ties that keep these celebrations going strong. In addition, according to Mitchell-Steiman, if parents throw an elaborate religious coming-of-age party for a young teenager, they are less likely to turn around and throw another party when the child reaches 16. Another piece of competition for the Sweet 16 party: “Parents here are making deals with their 16-year-old girls to buy them cars when they're 17 instead of giving them huge Sweet 16 parties,” he says.

FUTURE FÊTING

Will the trend of hosting Sweet 16 parties outlast the run of MTV's show? Event planners don't agree. “People will throw them forever,” Rosenzweig says. Mitchell-Steiman hopes so — he welcomes Sweet 16 business since “at 16, the young lady has more taste, personality and style sense than she had when she was 13.”

But others doubt it. “The craze will slowly fade and parties will become simple again,” Finlayson says. Zeigler is even more blunt: “I think they're just a blip on the radar screen.”

RESOURCES

Blue Plate Catering, 312/421-6666; Bold American Catering, 404/815-1178; DaVinci Fusion, 415/864-1000; ME Productions, 954/458-4000 or 800/544-0033