Twenty-four kindergartners in one room is a biological hazard. I learned this the hard way on February 14, 2024, during our school’s “Kingdom of Kindness” winter party in a humid Houston cafeteria. My classroom mom, Brenda, bless her heart, brought in a 3-foot tall plastic poster as a “photo booth.” The kids loved it, but…
Last May 14th, I found myself sitting on my kitchen floor in suburban Portland, surrounded by nine disappointed ten-year-olds and a pile of crushed cardboard that was supposed to be a butterfly party party hats set. My oldest, Maya, was turning double digits, and she had her heart set on an “Enchanted Garden” theme that…
My classroom floor usually smells like a mix of industrial floor wax and generic brand apple juice, but last October, it smelled like cedar chips and frantic energy. I was determined to pull off a “Wild One” birthday bash for my nephew, Leo, on a shoestring budget of exactly thirty-five dollars. We had twelve toddlers,…
Chicago winters are brutal. Last February 12th, the wind chill hit negative fifteen, and I was trapped in a two-bedroom apartment in Logan Square with twin two-year-olds, Leo and Maya. They were vibrating with that frantic energy only toddlers have before a birthday. I had fifty-three dollars in my checking account and a dream of…
My kitchen smelled like burnt vanilla and desperation last Tuesday morning. It was March 14, and I was staring at a stack of cardboard boxes that had just arrived on my porch in suburban Portland. Leo, my oldest, was turning 11. Eleven is a weird age. One minute he is trying to act like a…
My kitchen table is currently a sea of black felt, stray gold plastic coins, and at least three half-eaten granola bars. It is the aftermath of Leo’s fourth birthday bash here in rainy Portland, and honestly, my living room looks like a galleon hit a rogue wave. If you are sitting there wondering what games…
My kitchen in Rogers Park smelled like burnt onions and frantic ambition last Saturday afternoon. Leo and Maya were turning 12, which apparently means they are too cool for clowns but still obsessed with a blue hedgehog from the 90s. I had exactly $99 in my checking account earmarked for this blowout. 20 kids were…
My neighbor’s kid, Leo, has a personality that is roughly 40% dinosaur facts and 60% pure Pokemon obsession. When his mom, my best friend Jess, looked at her bank account last October and realized her car repair bill had eaten the “epic birthday bash” fund, I stepped in. I’m a dog mom to a very…
Leo and Maya stood on our coffee table, roaring at the top of their lungs while I tried to glue felt giraffe ears onto a plastic headband. It was April 12, 2025, a gray Chicago morning where the wind whipped off Lake Michigan, and I was exactly three hours away from hosting eighteen toddlers in…
My living room smelled like a mix of cheap blue frosting, floor cleaner, and the sweaty excitement of twelve seven-year-olds on April 12, 2025. I stood in the middle of the chaos, watching my twins, Leo and Maya, vibrate with pure sugar-fueled joy. Chicago winters usually linger too long, but that Saturday was a rare…
