I don't think she got any presents from her parents but Jake got her a birthday cake which made it extra sweet. Winning over Jake was probably the best gift she could ever hope for that year

I kind of get the impression that her parents will make it up to her for forgetting her Sweet Sixteen once they get the hustle and bustle of Ginny's wedding & reception out of the way. Brenda to Samantha the morning after: "Oh Sam, Sam I am so sorry about your birthday." Samantha: "It's okay, I'll recover." Brenda: "It's important to you. And yesterday morning you were trying to tell me." Samantha: "It's okay Mom, these things sometimes happen." Brenda: "Honey, I just feel miserable." Samantha: "You'll feel better."

I just saw the part where the father comes down and tells Sam he knows they forgot her birthday. I'm surprised he didn't at least say "We will celebrate it as soon as the wedding is over." Or something like that.
As for making a big deal out sweet 16 depends on the family. I have a 20yr old, 16yr old and 15yr old. Many of our friends have kids similar age. Some have thrown sweet 16 parties and some haven't. Our family hasn't. We like to keep birthday parties simple.

I think they skipped the presents and promises to make the ending scene with Sam and Jake kissing over a birthday cake more romantic. It's more interesting to get a cake from the boy you've been drooling over than your parents.

No really. I remember being invited to a few sweet sixteen parties and the girl's families were hardly 902010 rich, just regular old middle class.
Obvious it wasn't that ridiculous stuff with riding on tigers and parading elephants and crying when you got a 'lame' Benz instead of a cool BMW though haha.

I have to disagree. My school had people from pretty much all income brackets. There were kids who were from ultra high net worth families and there were kids who were on full scholarships and could not even afford their own books and had to borrow a set. It was quite random who did and did not have a sweet 16 party in my class. The richest girls in my class did not have one, seemed it was more of the middle class girls who had the party. I do not know much about them, since I grew up in a household of three boys, but seemed that they were a much bigger deal for girls from Catholic families.

I think only rich people with something to prove make a big deal about sweet 16 birthdays (a la that lame reality show that was on MTV)

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