Bravo gets this "Party" started

Annabel Schwartz, center, and her mom, Carol Ann Ross, right, prepare to cut the cake at Annabel's $250,000 bat mitzvah. (BARBARA NITKE / AP)

NEW YORK — Let's get this party started. Dress code? Definitely. Roller dancers and drag-queen hostess? Hired. Neon lights? Lit. Full spread of gourmet food? Got it. Dance floor full of movers and bootyshakers? Invited. Two top-shelf open bars? Absolutely.

This is not a hot new dance club or a launch party for some hot new designer vodka. This is 13-year-old Annabel Schwartz's bat mitzvah. And the entire celebration — all $250,000 of it — is being documented for Bravo's "Party/Party."

Each episode of the new docu-reality show (which premiered Tuesday) follows two families as they plot and plan the biggest, bestest blowout in the whole 'hood.

Supervising producer Todd Radnitz, who previously worked on Bravo's "Showbiz Moms & Dads" and "Showdog Moms & Dads," insists the motivation behind "Party/Party" is cultural observation/observation.

"We thought this was a terrific way to understand who we are by looking at the milestones in our life and holding up a mirror to our own life," says Radnitz. "Everyone can identify with what they're seeing in the show because every family has put on a wedding or a graduation or a kid's birthday party. It's really a window into how other families do the events that are really relevant to all of us."

On these televised affairs, piñatas and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey have been replaced by grand entrances and high-tech toys. At the Schwartz bat mitzvah inside the Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center Studios, tween attendees were treated to an inflatable bungee run, airbrushed T-shirts, karaoke, personalized souvenir DVDs and burgers, fries and chicken fingers. It's Annabel's party — and her parents will spend six figures if they want to.

Why do children and parents alike have a lust for lavishness?

"Everyone has a different reason," answers Radnitz. "In some cases, it's parents giving their kids something they didn't have when they were growing up. In other cases, it's keeping up with the Joneses."

Nowadays, the Joneses might have their event featured on national TV. From the how-to help on Discovery Home Channel's "Party Planner" to over-the-top coming-of-age affairs on MTV's "My Super Sweet 16," the trend of watching giant galas from start to "party's over" has become must-RSVP TV.

In January, UPN's "Get This Party Started" will follow a professional team of surprise party throwers. And a third "Super Sweet 16" season is in production.

"We're in a time of supersize," says Nina Diaz, vice president of MTV News and Documentaries. "Everything is big and over-the-top in pop culture. Some of it has to do with celebrity culture. Everybody wants to have that star-making moment. Everyone wants to experience what it's like to pull up in a limo and get off on the red carpet and have everyone waiting for you."