IT USED to be that rich people bought birthday cake and everyone else settled for a block of HB ice-cream with Smarties on top.

How things have changed. Now, really rich people are forking out up to 500,000 for their children's birthday and the merely wealthy people are settling for more modest 50,000 affairs. Confirmations, communions, 21st birthdays, weddings . . . whatever the occasion, Irish people are throwing money at it in a way we've never done before.

"It's actually got to the point where people are trying to outdo each other, " said Martin McIvor, managing director of Creative Events. "It's becoming a status thing. Whatever the last person has done, the next person wants to do better.

And it's only going to get worse after the 21st party in the Four Seasons a few weeks ago."

McIvor is referring to the birthday celebrations held by Sinead Kelly, daughter of property developer John Kelly. Kelly's party made frontpage headlines when it emerged that Girls Aloud had been paid 100,000 to attend, with other celebrity guests including Colin Farrell and P Diddy. A total tally for the cost of the night has not been revealed but it has been suggested that it must be hundreds of thousands of euros.

"The Four Seasons is not cheap and they don't lower their rates for anyone, " said McIvor. "It was a very impressive party and it's definitely raised the bar. I was actually running a rival 21st party on the same night down the road in Jury's Hotel.

There were 350 people attending that one, we had a full casino running, Paddy Casey's band were playing, actors were running around among the group. It didn't come in at quite at the price tag of the Kelly party but it was still up there."

Money's not an object McIvor said that the trend for extraordinarily expensive birthday parties seemed to start in earnest last year and that the budget for these events can now be anything up to 100,000. "The average one would be between 30,000 and 50,000, " he said. "But obviously some go way beyond that. To be honest, it seems to be all coming from the parents. And a lot of the people invited to the parties are friends of the parents too."

But it's not just the children who are benefiting from affluent Ireland. According to Mark Shaughnessy, managing director of the Red Zebra eventmanagement company, people have also started pumping money into their own birthday celebrations. "They come to me and say money is not an object, " he said. "I'm organising one party at the moment and the birthday person in question wants to hire out the Jeanie Johnston famine ship as the venue. Another client said they were looking for a party similar to that of Posh and Becks 'Full Length and Fabulous' bash. They said they didn't have quite the same budget as the Beckhams but they weren't far off it."

Shaughnessy said that people were spending upward of 50,000 to 70,000 on their birthdays now. He's also noticed a big increase in corporate spending. "We're currently organising a corporate event for 4,000, which I think might be the biggest in Ireland, " he said. "That area has definitely taken off too."

Joanne Byrne of Presence Communications agreed that the party scene in Ireland had changed beyond recognition in recent years. "Twenty years ago, having two kegs of beer in your house was regarded as the height of sophistication, " she said. "Ten years ago, no one celebrated 16th birthdays or 18th birthdays. We looked at the extravagant parties people were having in other countries and thought it would never happen here. But it has and it does, on a regular basis now."

Byrne referred to the 21st party of Jodie Ronan . . . daughter of property developer, Johnny 'The Buccaneer' Ronan . . . as a prime example of extravagant birthday bashes. That particular event was held in Ronan's 20m Enniskerry home and was estimated to cost 500,000. The 300 guests enjoyed the 150-a-bottle Montrachet wine.

Mumba's the word on 21st parties Rumours were also circulating this weekend about another 21st party for the daughter of yet another property developer that was planned to run over four days. Highlights of the schindig were said to include a famous rugby player being flown by helicopter to the grounds of the venue to play tag rugby with guests. And last week the Connors sisters went all out for their double wedding in Limerick.

But it's popstar Samantha Mumba who is often credited with redefining the 21st party, following her glitzy affair in 2004. That event, also held in the Four Seasons Hotel, was strictly celebrities only and attracted guests such as former Miss World Rosanna Davison, Girls Aloud and Westlife.

Mumba shrewdly did a rather lucrative deal with Hello! magazine to foot the bill for the celebrations.