MONEY can't buy me love..! crooned the Beatles in 1960s.

Circa 2008, things have changed. Money is the biggest means of showing the world how much you love your family.

Case in point: Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise and his wife, actor and socialite Katie Holmes.

'Tom-Kat', as the couple is nicknamed by the media, spent a whopping $100,000 for their daughter Suri's birthday bash.

That much money sure demands a 500-guest haute party, right?

Tom and Katie didn't think so.

The $100,000 party had just 24 selected guests - the couple's closest friends and family.

The venue wan't at the top of the world, or even atop the Eiffel Tower (where Tom proposed Katie!)

It was at the couple's residence - a plush home in Hollywood Hills.

So where did all the money go?

Intouchweekly, a Hollywood gossip website reports that the house was filled with more than $17,000 worth of fresh flowers.

Photograph: Getty Images