I sat on my kitchen floor in suburban Atlanta at 2:00 AM on February 11, 2024, surrounded by enough blue glitter to choke a polar bear. My knees popped as I reached for another roll of Scotch tape. My daughter Maya was turning six the next day. Being a single dad means you don’t get…
Austin in October is usually a literal furnace, but on the morning of October 12, 2025, my nephew Leo decided he wanted a “scary bear” party for his 4th birthday. My sister Sarah—yes, we have the same name, it’s a family quirk—panicked because how do you make a survival horror game appropriate for twenty toddlers…
Best Easter Baskets Under $10: My Strategy (Help Me Improve!) Hey party planning pros! Nevaeh here from Minneapolis. Hope everyone’s having a decent week. With Easter right around the corner (seriously, where does the time go?), I’m already deep into planning for my crew – Maya (3), Nora (4), Meera (5), Owen (11), Lily (12),…
Leo stared at me with those big, expectant eyes on February 14, 2024, and I knew I was in trouble. He didn’t want a trip to the zoo or a new bike; he wanted the city of New York in our cramped Atlanta living room. Specifically, he wanted Peter Parker to show up. Being a…
My daughter Maya turned nine on April 12, 2025, and I still have purple circles stuck in the cracks of my hardwood floors in Denver. We went all-in on the Madrigal family theme, but finding the best confetti for encanto party magic proved to be a bigger challenge than getting Bruno to talk. Most parents…
Pink is currently the primary color of my life, my rug, and probably my soul. Last Tuesday, while the rain hammered against our kitchen window here in suburban Portland, I found myself surrounded by three shades of crepe paper, two decapitated fashion dolls, and a 4-year-old who was currently “helping” by sticking googly eyes onto…
Chicago humidity in July feels like a soggy wool blanket wrapped around your head. My twins, Leo and Maya, turned eight last Monday, July 14th, and they decided their shared birthday theme had to be “Vintage Grand Prix.” I had exactly $72 left in the “fun fund” to feed 18 kids and decorate our small…
Standing in the middle of the Dollar Tree on Western Avenue, I clutched a crumpled list and felt the familiar Chicago humidity sticking my hair to my forehead. My twins, Leo and Maya, were turning six on May 12, 2024, and they had decided—with the unwavering conviction only a local kindergartner possesses—that our small apartment…
Twenty-two four-year-olds in a humid Houston backyard is exactly what I imagine the inside of a blender feels like if the blender were also filled with sticky strawberry juice and high-pitched squealing. My name is Ms. Karen, and after fifteen years of teaching elementary school and throwing at least six classroom blowouts a year, I…
Living in a drafty Chicago bungalow with seven-year-old twins, Maya and Leo, means my life is a constant cycle of finding “treasures” in the clearance aisle and praying the dishwasher doesn’t finally give up the ghost. Last March, specifically on Saturday the 14th, Maya decided she absolutely needed a high-society tea party for her 7th…
