In 1988, Saul Steinberg's last lavish displays of the `80s weren't both birthday parties, but they set the standard for what was to come. First, he hosted a $3 million wedding party for his daughter at the Temple of Dendur in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1988, complete with Brazilian band on stilts and snow blowers to blow thousands of feathers into the air. The next year, his wife would throw him a lavish 50th birthday in the Hamptons village of Quogue. That party featured a tent as seventeenth-century Flemish pub to correspond with Steinberg's well-known old masters art collection (which he would later have to sell off for $50 million). Costumed actors played out scenes from the paintings while others danced, played heralds or posed as mermaids. Identical twin mermaids, even.

    Steinberg's `80s bashes are remembered as the last of the `80s excess. Such decadence isn't found to the same degree at parties today, says Michael Marto, president and CEO of Executive Visions, which produces star concerts for the rich and famous. Marto's worked with many top-flight artists on billionaire bashes. (He can't cite specifics due to privacy.) The topper from Steinberg's era of open opulence? Saudi tycoon Adnan Khashoggi's multi-day bash in Monaco in 1980, which cost a stunning $20 million at the time.

庞德文（大卫•邦德曼），2002年

    私募股权公司TPG资本创始人庞德文的六十大寿可谓星光璀璨：摇滚歌手约翰•梅伦坎普献唱1个小时，滚石乐队（The Rolling Stones）表演90分钟，喜剧明星罗宾•威廉姆斯负责主持。这场盛典在拉斯维加斯硬石赌场(Hard Rock casino)的The Joint音乐厅举办，据说一晚上就花了700万美元。不过，这些音乐人收费还算是便宜的，老鹰乐队（The Eagles）在2003年的一场派对上演唱一首《加州旅馆》（Hotel California），收费高达600万美元。庞德文与拉斯维加斯的娱乐圈仍有不少联系，据传，在六十大寿后的几年里，他一直参与运作，希望能给拉斯维加斯引进一支专业球队。

David Bonderman, 2002

    The TPG cofounder rang in his 60th with some star performances: an hour of John Mellencamp and 90 minutes of The Rolling Stones at The Joint at the Hard Rock casino, with Robin Williams as the master of ceremonies. The bill reportedly reached $7 million for the evening. That means the musical acts were still a lot cheaper than The Eagles, who notoriously charged $6 million to play one song, Hotel California, at a party in New York in 2003. Bonderman's still linked to entertainment in Las Vegas; he's been cited as part of efforts to bring a professional sports team to the city in the years since his blowout party.

大卫•布鲁克斯，2005年

    曾当过防务承包商的大卫•布鲁克斯2005年为他女儿的犹太成人礼（Bat Mitzvah）花了1,000万美元，据报道他花大钱请来了耐利、50 Cent、席亚拉、汤姆•佩蒂和空中铁匠（Aerosmith）等一众音乐人，宴会上还给孩子们准备了iPod和数码摄像机之类的小礼物。布鲁克斯后来因税务和证券欺诈而被判刑，法院判决17项罪名成立，不过就其中14项他至今仍拒绝认罪。

    One-time defense contractor David Brooks dropped $10 million on his daughter's bar mitzvah in 2005. Brooks paid for a variety act that reportedly included Nelly, 50 Cent, Ciara, Tom Petty and Aerosmith. Party favors for the kids included iPods and digital cameras. Brooks would later be convicted on 17 criminal charges for tax and securities fraud, 14 of which he still contests.

Roger McNamee, 2006

    McNamee, one of the founders of Silver Lake Partners and now of Elevation Partners is also a musician via an alter ego, Chubby Wombat. McNamee/Wombat's band Moonalice includes hired guns Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane and Pete Sears of its spin-off, Jefferson Starship. At his 50th birthday in 2006, however, McNamee enjoyed the public serenading of his Elevation business partner Bono at the San Francisco Zoo. McNamee probably didn't have to pay for that appearance, unless you count the money both were losing on Elevation's bets in the mid-2000s.

    In the 1980s, multi-day birthday parties could lead to some serious business deals. Michael Marto recalls one binge in Monaco that brought together execs of Lockheed Martin and finance ministers from the Gulf states -- but this one was more about preserving investors' unity. McNamee and Bono's faith in Elevation has paid off, as its 2009 investment in Facebook helped erase memories of its gambles on Palm and Forbes. It's unclear whether McNamee's birthday concert or his changing his band's name was the key to his turn of luck.

史蒂夫•施瓦茨曼，2007年

    2007年施瓦茨曼60大寿时，百仕通集团包下了曼哈顿上东区的公园大道军械库（Park Avenue Armory），邀请了不下1,500位宾客。这位曾被《财富》选为“华尔街风云人物”的男人显然知道该如何庆祝：他花了300-500万美元将军械库内的蜿蜒空间装饰一新，然后请来了帕蒂•拉贝尔、马丁•肖特和罗德•斯图尔特等一众名流。2007年稍晚些时候，百仕通集团上市，他将7亿美元的年薪收入囊中，再加上他享用每只400美元的石蟹的奢华作风，一时间施瓦茨曼声名狼藉。

    几个月后股市崩盘，这场盛典成了华尔街铺张浪费的象征，施瓦茨曼也备受指责。在2008年的一次《财富》早餐会上，施瓦茨曼本人承认，如果可以回头再来，他不会举办上述派对。不过，考虑到这场派对带来了经久不衰的恶名，它所花的钱倒也不像人们想象得那么多，马托指出，请音乐人出场通常需要超过100万美元，据报道斯图尔特就是拿了这么多钱。一线明星有时候唱几首歌就会收这么——出场费是大头，演奏时间长短反倒是次要影响因素。

    Blackstone Group took over an Upper East Side institution, the Park Avenue Armory, in 2007 for a little 1500-person 60th birthday party. The man Fortune had dubbed "Wall Street's man of the moment" sure knew how to celebrate it: $3-5 million to deck out the cavernous Armory space and then fill it with celebs such as Patti LaBelle, Martin Short and Rod Stewart. Later that year, Schwartzman would become infamous as much for his $400 stone crab taste as the nearly $700 million he pocketed in Blackstone's IPO.

    The party became a symbol of Wall Street excess and the IPO reviled when the market crashed just months later. At a Fortune breakfast in 2008, Schwarzman even admitted that he wouldn't do the party over again if he could. But the bash didn't cost what one might expect for a party of such lasting notoriety. According to Marto, musical acts increasingly cost north of $1 million, the fee Stewart reportedly got. Top acts sometimes charge that much to play only several songs -- you pay more for the appearance than the length of set.

    Back in 2006, the high-profile lawyer's wife celebrated Boies' 65th by flying friends on two chartered jets to Las Vegas for a weekend at Steve Wynn's casino, courtesy of Boies' hauls from cases for representing clients from George Steinbrenner to Al Gore in the recall aftermath of the 2000 presidential election. Attendees regaled media at the time with anecdotes such as a wine tasting on the planes.

    This year, Boies celebrated his 70th birthday by again flying friends to Las Vegas-- though he may have cut the guest list down to only one plane. Tightening the belt on such celebrations is not how billionaires roll, says Marto, who adds that the billionaire party business is down only 10-15% from its 2008 peak. "They typically go ahead and do what they want to do," he says. "They still have the money to do it."