Taking a final look, I smiled. Everything was perfect – the false lashes were just the right length, the £3,000 (Dh16,735) Rolex glinted when it caught the light and the long, black hair and Gucci handbag were right up to the minute. Now I just needed to find the keys for the Range Rover, drape the cashmere designer cape and we were ready.
‘You look gorgeous,’ I said, grinning. But I wasn’t looking at my reflection. I was talking to my six-month-old baby, Romany Rose – the girl I bought everything for.
Ever since I discovered I was pregnant I’d vowed to spoil her rotten. Before she was even born I splashed out, buying more than 50 frilly dresses and bonnets and a restored antique crib for her.
Now, it was her first Christmas so I bought her a Rolex – it looked so cute on her chubby little wrist – along with a £350 Young Vivace coat, £1,000 worth of designer dresses, learning toys and games. It came to around £8,000 but Romany Rose is worth far more than that to me. She was too young to know how to unwrap the presents so I did it for her, while she watched, as fascinated by the pink ribbons around her gifts, as she was by the presents themselves.
For her first birthday in June, I will spend another £5,000. I’ve been enjoying buying her gifts for the past few months. The toy Range Rover I bought her for Christmas is still a little big for her so I’m going to get her a £150 baby Porsche. It comes with a remote control so she can whizz about in the car while I make sure she doesn’t bang into the walls. I’ve just discovered a new Spanish brand, Miss Rodrigo, and I’ve spent £1,000 on four dresses and cardigans for the big day along with a £1,200 pram to go with the other five she already has. Prams are my weakness and I like them to be colour coordinated with her dresses.
I haven’t worked out how I’m going to wrap her main present though – a £3,000 castle bed with a slide coming down from the top bunk.
She may be too little to know what’s going on, but her birthday party will be themed like a fairground, with two bouncy castles, a bucking bronco, a blow-up candy shop, toffee apples and candy floss. There’ll be a Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty – and Romany Rose will be the centre of attention.
It might seem frivolous for a little girl who’ll be one, especially as she won’t even remember her party, but I want her to know that I always wanted the best for her. I remember the way I was spoiled on my birthdays and at Christmas and I’m just trying to give my daughter all the lovely experiences that I enjoyed as a child.
By now you’ll be wondering how I can afford all this for my little girl and why I would spend so much on materialistic things that she will soon grow out of. I’m sure that like many people, you’ll think I’m wasting money on a baby who won’t remember her gifts when she’s older. But you’re wrong. We will always have the photos and even if she doesn’t have specific memories of her first birthday, she’s only one once. I think she deserves to have the most incredible party ever. She deserves to be lavished with more gifts than she knows what to do with.
As for the people who post nasty comments on my Facebook page, saying my spending is disgusting, I say that’s just their opinion and they are entitled to it, but I think they are probably just jealous. Romany Rose’s dad isn’t around so I think it’s my way of overcompensating so she doesn’t feel like she’s missing out on anything.
As a single mum, I live with my parents, Christine, 39, and Morris Rowland, 52, in Plymouth, UK. My dad is a successful businessman who owns his own a metal works company. A few years ago he bought me a salon so I could run my own hairdressing business.
I worked hard during the week and went out at weekends. My life was about having a good time. I’d wake up the morning after the night before with nothing to show for it except a headache and a broken pair of heels. Life wasn’t exactly fulfilling.
Now, I live for Romany Rose. She’s given my life purpose and I’ve never been happier. That’s why I buy her everything – it’s my way of saying thank you.
I wasn’t in a relationship when I found out I was pregnant. I didn’t even think I wanted children. But there I was, a positive test in my hand; seven weeks pregnant. I’d been seeing someone casually but he was long gone by the time I realised I was having a baby.
It didn’t sink in straight away that I was going to be a mother. I was 18 and it took some getting used to. But once I discovered at the 20-week scan that I was having a girl I had never been so excited. That was the time everything changed. The moment I saw her wriggling away during the scan I fell in love with her. I’d always wanted a girl so I knew I was going to pamper her and give her the best of everything. In fact, after that scan I went straight to the shops. My little girl was going to need kitting out.
Two days later, her first gift arrived at the house – a £1,450 pram. I’d blown my money from the salon but I didn’t care.
The next day, Mum and I went from Plymouth to Liverpool to start shopping. It’s a long way to go, a good 965km journey for a return trip , but the designer shops are better in Liverpool. Luckily for me, Dad’s very generous with his cash. He’ll let me buy Romany Rose anything.
Since he gave me £1,000 and I spent the lot on little dresses and hair bows before she was even born, I haven’t been able to stop. I’m on a mission to make her the most pampered, beautiful princess ever.
‘Dad, I want Romany Rose to have everything her heart desires,’ I said. ‘I want her to be the next Honey Boo Boo!’.
Honey Boo Boo, aka Alana Thompson, nine, is an American pageant star who has a way with words and so much sass she owns every catwalk she struts down. She has beautiful dresses, ringlets and worldwide fame. That’s what I want for my little girl.
My dad has always looked after me and lavished gifts on me and my brother while growing up, and he didn’t mind splashing out on Romany Rose, especially once she was born. He was so madly in love with her, he’d have bought her the moon if he could.
He isn’t brave enough to just hand over his credit card, but whatever I want to buy her, I just have to tell him how much it costs and he’ll get it. Sometimes he’ll have a moan, like when I asked him to buy the £500 ride-on toy Range Rover, but then Romany Rose’s eyes light up as soon as she sees him and he’s putty in her hands.
Even before Romany was born, her bedroom was overflowing with prams, dresses and accessories. Her five prams all cost around £1,200 each, I bought her £800 diamond earrings, and she has around 500 £100 designer dresses, as well as a baby bath that cost £340. It’s pink and has some really fancy bath toys that came along with it.
She has a Gucci handbag and an antique crib worth £2,000. Her dress collection must be worth £10,000 alone and her bedroom rivals that of any diva – it’s packed with pink dresses and glittery accessories.
There are moments when Dad just rolls his eyes but Mum and I get so excited to see her playing and enjoying all the attention.
You might think I’m dressing her up like a doll, but Romany Rose is the happiest baby – she is always smiling. She loves it when I put on all her designer clothes and bling. As soon as she sees a camera, she smiles, giggles and bounces up and down. Fake eyelashes, hair in rollers – she laps it up. That’s why she’s already done so well at baby beauty pageants. She’s won five sashes and three crowns, for Cutest Baby, Best Dressed, Best Eyes, Miss Glitz and Best Smile. She won her first crown and sash when she was three weeks old. I dressed her up in a lovely pink dress complete with a bow and carried her, showing her off to the judges. I’ve got a wardrobe full of pageant clothes she hasn’t had the chance to wear yet.
She even has her own Facebook page to keep friends and followers updated on her photo shoots and modelling assignments and the latest designer gifts she has received.
She wears fake eyelashes but I don’t glue them to her actual eyelashes, I just stick them to her eyebrows when we go out for parties or for pageants. She doesn’t mind and it makes her look so cute. If she cried or protested, I’d take them off but she doesn’t so I don’t see any harm. Everything I do is for Romany Rose and to make things easier for her when she grows up.
I know people think I’ve gone too far. But Romany Rose loves being dressed up and the centre of attention. If the time comes when she doesn’t want to be dressed up, then I will throw away all the big dresses and buy her the outfits she does enjoy wearing. I will be a bit disappointed but I would leave it completely up to her.
Romany Rose has changed my life so much. I used to spend all my time out partying, now I like staying in with my baby. She might be the most pampered tot in Britain, but she’s made me a better person.
I want Romany Rose to be a star. And if she’s going to do that, she needs to have the right outfits and the right accessories. That’s why she has so many dresses, bows, bracelets and hair pieces. It’s why I have bought her a Rolex and a toy Range Rover – she’s not just any baby, she’s my Romany Rose.
Witney Rowland, 20, lives in Plymouth, UK
