My nephew Leo turned twelve last April, and since I’m the “cool aunt” with a dog who looks suspiciously like a foreman in his little orange vest, I got roped into the planning. We were in my backyard in East Austin, the humidity already thick enough to chew on, trying to figure out if we…
My classroom in Houston usually looks like a glitter bomb detonated by Tuesday morning, but nothing prepared my living room for the Saturday I hosted nineteen 11-year-olds for Maya’s butterfly-themed bash on April 12, 2025. I am a fifth-grade teacher, so I deal with chaos for a living, but eighteen girls and one very brave…
My living room in East Austin looked like a multi-colored explosion of latex and pure toddler enthusiasm last Saturday morning. I spent exactly three weeks hunting for the perfect paw patrol party balloons set for my nephew Leo’s 4th birthday on March 14, and let me tell you, the stakes felt higher than a Chase-led…
I threw a party for eleven 11-year-olds in my tiny Austin backyard. Chaos. Utter, beautiful, loud chaos. My niece Chloe specifically requested a Heeler-themed bash for her eleventh birthday, despite her friends supposedly being “too cool” for afternoon cartoons. Finding the right bluey party party decorations set without spending my entire grocery budget felt completely…
My kitchen counter looked like a crime scene involving black belts and red frosting on April 12, 2025. My oldest, Leo, was turning twelve, and he decided a “cool” karate party was the only way to ring in his pre-teen years. I was standing there with a lukewarm cup of coffee and a guest list…
My daughter Maya turned ten on April 12, 2025, and our house in Denver looked like a feline bomb had exploded. We have a rescue tabby named Barnaby who spent most of that Saturday hiding on top of the refrigerator, judging my attempts to assemble the perfect cat party goodie bags set. I am a…
OMG, Last-Minute Easter Basket Ideas?! Help a Mom Out, Seattle! 😱 @sofia.lopez: Okay, GINYOU fam, I am officially in full-blown panic mode over here in Seattle! 😭 Easter is like, *tomorrow* (practically!), and my brain is completely fried trying to figure out what to put in the kids’ baskets. Every year, it’s the same thing…
My Aussiedoodle, Brisket, is currently shimmering. He looks like a furry extra from an underwater movie. That is the immediate, glittering aftermath of hosting twenty-one 5-year-olds in my South Austin backyard on April 12th for my niece Maya’s birthday. We wanted magic. We wanted iridescent scales and ocean hues. We got it. Honestly, finding the…
Last April, my living room in Denver transformed into a literal jungle, and not just because my son Leo decided his second birthday was the perfect time to practice his ‘apex predator’ crawl through the snack table. We had seventeen toddlers, a dozen sleep-deprived parents, and a soundscape that would make a jet engine look…
My kitchen island is currently a graveyard of rogue sequins, half-eaten string cheese, and enough hot glue strings to bridge the Columbia River. This is my life in suburban Portland, where the rain never stops and the birthday party expectations are, frankly, a bit much. Last March, my middle child, Lily, decided her 7th birthday…
