I am 59 so I am of the same generation. I can count on 1 hand the number of times my family went out to dinner. It was an event! We never had fast food. We only had cake when it was someone's birthday in my family. Never had a birthday party other then my Aunt and Uncle and Grandmother coming over. No acknowledgment in school either. Everything now is so excessive in my opinion. Nothing is "special"...just expected.