Millennial moms dropped $1,500 to see the Backstreet Boys. For a night of nostalgia, it was worth every cent.

If you see a gaggle of girls in Las Vegas dressed in all white right now, it’s because they’re ready to turn back the clock. Descending in packs of three, four, sometimes 10, they spill into casino lobbies across the famed Strip, accessorizing their ’90s-inspired looks with butterfly clips, body glitter and the unmistakable hum of a chorus so inescapable that you know it the moment you hear it. They’re in town to see the Backstreet Boys take the stage at the Sphere, and for two hours, millennial women — moms, professionals, lifelong friends — are ready to reclaim and re-create their youth.

“I want to relive my childhood memories,” Lauren, 33, from Grand Rapids, Mich., tells Yahoo, just hours before the boy band took the stage on Aug. 8. “This was the music I grew up on.”

Lauren traveled to Nevada with her two best friends: Betsy, 33, from Columbus, Ind., and Megan, 32, also from Grand Rapids. I sat next to them at Casa Playa, a Mexican restaurant at the Wynn Las Vegas, one of at least a dozen tables where girlfriends from all walks of life were catching up before making the trek to the venue. There, the Backstreet Boys would be playing the 13th show of a residency that has likely made its way into the social media feeds of anyone who came of age while the band was in maximum rotation on MTV.

For Lauren and her friends, an evening of joy was priceless. But that doesn't mean revisiting the ’90s for a weekend came cheap.

For each of the women, airfare to Las Vegas was around $700, the Wynn stay was roughly $500 a night and their concert ticket cost totaled $1,337. A budget for merch? Unlimited, they said. The splurge was worth it.

"It took a little convincing," Betsy said of her husband, who stayed home to watch their almost-2-year-old. “He said Vegas was unsafe, and I said, ‘It’s not unsafe when you go [without me].’” Laughter rippled across the table, one of many echoes in the room of women buzzing for a long-awaited girls' night out.

This trip, like so many others that evening, was about millennials carving out a moment for themselves while embracing fun, friendship and pure nostalgia.

Moms deserve a ’90s kid summer, too

A big talking point among parents is the ’90s kid summer trend, which is about encouraging children to have carefree days reminiscent of mom and dad’s own experiences growing up: less screen time, more real-world fun. In Las Vegas, this applied to the caregivers.

For the hundreds of millennial moms who flocked to the Sphere, experiencing the summers of their youth again meant slipping into their best white outfits — a nod to the 25th anniversary of the Backstreet Boys’ Millennium album — moving the group chat to IRL, and singing and dancing the night away… while leaving their offspring at home.

I grew up more of an NSync fan, but even I couldn’t resist the allure of a girls’ trip with five of my closest friends who I’ve known for nearly 20 years, including my college roommate. Among the four of us, we left eight kids in the care of their dads.

Using a getaway card on the Backstreet Boys was a no-regrets move. Not one person in my group, or the 20 people I spoke with after the show, left disappointed. The boy band, which released its first single, “We’ve Got It Goin’ On” in 1995, delivered a high-energy performance and catered exactly to the audience they knew was there to see them. Our experience wasn’t unique — it was universal.

Courtney and Meg, best friends since age 8, had been planning this trip since February, when the Backstreet Boys announced their summer residency. Now 36, they hadn’t seen each other in nearly two years, with life keeping them busy in Texas and Wisconsin, respectively. Between them, their children range in age from 4 to 12, but for one night, their mom responsibilities were happily checked at the door.

Leaving their families wasn’t cheap or simple, but the pair said the trip, which averaged around $1,500 per person, was worth every penny. “It was the best time of our lives," they tell me in unison.

As the crowd funneled into the Sphere, it was clear this wasn’t just a concert — it was a reunion of both friends and memories. The crowd, a sea of white, stretched across the venue. Heels clacked against polished floors, glitter and sequins caught the lights. Groups chatted animatedly, reminiscing about study abroad adventures, trading parenting war stories or soaking up a rare night of freedom.

"Oh God, I just checked the Nanit," I heard one woman murmur to her friends, glancing at her app that logs into a baby camera in her daughter’s room. "She literally didn't sleep once today."

"Put that phone away! This is our night," her friend replied. "Your daughter is with your parents; she’s in good hands. Now let's go get a drink."

Making my way across the room, I spoke with Brittany, 34; Jen, 42 and Felicia, 35, who became close friends after meeting at their kids’ competitive cheerleading practices. When the trio, who traveled together from Denver, learned that the Backstreet Boys would be doing a summer residency, they jumped at the chance to go. Their tickets — $254 apiece, the cheapest I heard all night — were a steal. They spent around $700 for their hotel room.

When I asked what they were all-in, cost-wise, Jen shrugged it off: “Who f***ing cares? We came to have fun.”

‘Fun’ money

While some moms savored a night off from parenting duties, others in the crowd were there to indulge in the freedom and discretionary spending that comes with having different responsibilities.

For millennials without kids, the Backstreet Boys residency was an excuse to treat themselves. Haley, 38, from Houston, summed it up best when I asked her why she wanted to travel to Las Vegas for the show: “Money and availability.”

"We have disposable income and no children," said Haley, who made the trip with two of her closest girlfriends. "We have no commitments. We have the flexibility to go on a whim and we get to spend our money and have fun for ourselves."

Haley didn’t have to run her finances past anyone but herself. "It's unlimited," she said. "All of our budget, at this point, is unlimited. It's all fun money."

For Haley’s group, she said flights, hotel and ticket prices clocked in around $500 per person, and anyone who’s traveled to Vegas knows that’s just the starting line. A single cocktail at the Wynn runs about $17 before tip, and even without alcohol, a meal rarely comes in under $50.

For the millennials at the show, the expense wasn’t a deterrent; it was part of the experience.

A millennium of memories

Once the boy band took the stage, all bets were off. The 25-track set kicked off with “Larger Than Life,” which marked the concert’s celebratory tone. Perhaps the biggest difference in watching the Backstreet Boys in 2025 compared to 30 years ago was the sea of iPhones capturing every moment. The group poked fun at that during their performance of "Don’t Want You Back" as Nokia phones flashed on the giant screens in a reference to the technology of the era.

When the fivesome asked who still had their Backstreet Boys CDs, the Sphere erupted. But the loudest cheers came when they asked the crowd who was there enjoying a ladies’ night; there were so many “Woooooos!” you literally felt the Sphere vibrate with excitement.

“Is this the best night ever? I think this is the best night ever,” two girls in front of us said to each other, before snapping a selfie during “Everybody."

It wasn’t just the music, but how Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson worked the crowd together. At one point, the men threw their hats into the crowd, a sight I hadn’t seen since 2005. They even led roughly 20,000 fans in a friendly competition over which side of the audience could scream the loudest.

With hits like "As Long as You Love Me" and "I Want It That Way," the group delivered every note, dance move and throwback thrill that fans had been craving. It wasn’t lost on the singers that millennials are deliberate in how they spend their hard-earned money, and they were spending it on them.

"It's because of each and every one of you showing up that we have a job," Littrell, 50, told the sold-out crowd.

Even in the worst section at the Sphere (110, to be exact), it was all worth it for the sing-along I had with some of my closest girlfriends.

“My only complaint? Why did we only do 24 hours in Vegas?” my friend Katie said. (We all agreed.) “We should have done two nights. I would have gone back again.”