Leo’s fifth birthday on March 12, 2024, started with a literal splash because, in typical Portland fashion, it was pouring rain. I was standing in my kitchen at 7:00 AM, clutching a lukewarm oat milk latte and staring at a ceiling fan that was currently draped in three miles of tangled white yarn. Leo, my…
My son Leo turned eight on March 12, 2026, and he made a request that stopped me mid-sip of my overpriced Denver microbrew. He wanted a Paw Patrol party. Not a “cool” soccer party or a Minecraft marathon, but a full-blown pup-themed bash for 22 of his third-grade friends. I assumed he was joking, but…
Houston humidity on March 12, 2024, was no joke, and my living room looked like a glitter-coated disaster zone while I tried to assemble the perfect carnival birthday crown for Leo’s 11th birthday. I had 10 boys coming over in exactly three hours, and the hot glue was refusing to set because of the moisture…
I have a confession about the joint 10th birthday party I threw last month. Yes, I successfully spent exactly $64 on the kids’ activities, but the real star of my backyard wasn’t the brightly colored children’s craft table. It was the massive, indigo-dipped tie dye banner for adults hanging majestically over the margarita station. I…
Toddler Easter Egg Hunts: Keeping it Safe (and Sane!) in the Minneapolis Freeze @hailey81: Okay, fellow party planners and survivalists! It’s still technically freezing here in Minneapolis (we had a surprise dusting this morning, go figure), but my mind is already in full-blown Easter mode. With five kids ranging from Kai (1) to Miles (7),…
Glitter. It gets everywhere. On February 14th, 2024, I found myself on my hands and knees scraping iridescent blue sparkles off the scuffed linoleum of Room 4B at Oak Forest Elementary here in Houston. Twenty-two second graders are my usual, daily crowd. But this particular Tuesday was different. I foolishly volunteered to help my younger…
I stared at my scratched dining room table on a windy Tuesday in early May. Twenty-one pre-teens were descending on our cramped Chicago apartment in exactly four days. My twins, Maya and Lily, were turning 12. Twelve. A terrifying age of eye-rolls and sudden TikTok aesthetic demands. They wanted a whimsical, fairy-garden vibe. My bank…
I woke up on June 12, 2024, covered in purple streamers and deep, soul-crushing regret. My living room in Atlanta looked like a security guard’s worst nightmare. I’m Marcus, a single dad who somehow thought he could pull off a birthday bash for nine toddlers without losing his sanity. My son Leo was turning two….
March 14, 2025, was the day my classroom smelled like wet cardboard and expensive frosting because twenty-two toddlers decided “muddy puddles” meant dumping their juice boxes on my rug. I’ve survived twenty years of teaching in Houston, but nothing tests your soul like a Peppa Pig party. I learned the hard way that when parents…
My kitchen looked like a beehive exploded. Yellow cardstock everywhere. Tiny red elastic strings tangled in my hair. I was three days out from Leo’s 3rd birthday party on April 12, 2025, and I still hadn’t found the right winnie the pooh party cone hats set that didn’t look like a cheap afterthought. Portland was…
