My kitchen looked like a glitter bomb went off in a comic book store last Saturday morning. I stood there, coffee in a “Super Mom” mug that felt like a lie, staring at fourteen tiny capes I’d spent three hours sewing the night before. My youngest, Leo, is only four, but he’s obsessed with anything…
Rain was threatening to dump on our backyard in suburban Portland last May, but my middle son, Leo, didn’t care one bit because his tenth birthday was finally here. I spent three weeks stressing over the logistics of a backyard “Stadium Party” for sixteen rowdy boys who think they are the next Shohei Ohtani. We…
Leo turned three on April 15, 2024, and my living room in Denver looked like a literal pile of trash three days before the event. I had gathered sixteen cardboard boxes from the Safeway on 20th Street because I was determined to pull off the most authentic, safety-first racing event on a budget. My wife…
The air in Houston on March 14, 2025, felt like a warm, wet blanket, which was exactly the wrong atmosphere for my niece Sofia’s second birthday party where 21 toddlers were about to descend like a swarm of sugar-starved locusts upon a sea of pink decor. I have spent fifteen years teaching elementary school, so…
There I was on a gloomy Tuesday in my Portland kitchen, aggressively peeling a stubborn crust of dried frosting off the counter while frantically scrolling for safari party supplies amazon on my phone. Leo was turning seven in exactly ten days. He declared, quite casually over breakfast, that he wanted a jungle. I had grand…
The wind off Lake Michigan was howling at thirty miles per hour on March 14, 2025, which is exactly why I decided to host thirteen five-year-olds in my cramped Chicago bungalow. Maya and Leo were turning five, and their current obsession was a certain wayfinder from Motunui. I had a self-imposed limit of fifty dollars…
The Houston humidity had other plans for my fourth-grade classroom on April 14, 2024. I was standing on a shaky plastic chair, sweat beads forming under my bangs, trying to stick a fairy party streamers set to a ceiling tile that felt like it was made of damp crackers. My life as a teacher is…
Sophie’s face was covered in neon pink hibiscus frosting by 2 PM on June 14, 2025, and that’s when I realized my first major planning mistake. I had spent three weeks researching the tensile strength of various paper goods, but I hadn’t accounted for the sheer velocity of an eleven-year-old with a sugar rush. We…
The sweat was already pooling in my collar on the morning of May 12, 2025. Atlanta humidity takes no prisoners. I had 11 six-year-olds descending on my backyard for my daughter Maya’s birthday, and I was frantically taping paper flowers to my wooden fence. The kids’ activities were totally locked down and ready to go….
Hey party planning pros! Gabriella here from Philly! Okay, so I’m already deep into planning for Easter (yes, I know it’s still March, but you gotta start early, right?!). Last year, our big outdoor egg hunt was a total washout thanks to a surprise April snowstorm. A *snowstorm*! In Philadelphia! You can imagine the chaos…
