“Social media has an influence,” said Michals. “Some moms see photos of their friends giving their children amazing birthdays and holidays and just want that for their own child. While it’s not a sure thing that donations will come rolling in, moms feel that it can’t hurt to try. There is also some sense of what goes around, comes around. … If you give to my child’s birthday party, I’ll give back to yours.”

The idea of crowd-funded birthday parties has it’s critics.

“It ridiculous,” said Lyss Stern, CEO and founder of Divamoms.com. “There is no reason to put yourself in debt or ask other people to pay for a birthday party.”