My backyard in Austin felt like a literal sauna on March 14, 2025, but my twelve-year-old niece Lily didn’t care because she wanted an “Aesthetic Ice” birthday. We had 21 pre-teens descending on my house, and I had exactly $99 to make it look like a winter wonderland without my credit card melting. Finding a…
My kitchen island was completely buried under a mountain of silver Mylar and glow-in-the-dark stars last April 12th when I realized I’d made a massive mistake with the space party favors for Leo’s 4th birthday. I had this brilliant—or so I thought—idea to make “moon rocks” by spray-painting actual gravel from our driveway with metallic…
Leo’s seventh birthday on March 14th last year was a literal splash zone in our Austin backyard, and I learned the hard way that a group of second-graders has the attention span of a goldfish—ironic, considering the theme. Determining exactly how long should a whale party last felt like trying to track a humpback migration…
@kinsley96: Hey GINYOU fam! Kinsley here from chilly Milwaukee. Easter is creeping up faster than my 1-year-old, Nora, can pull a book off the shelf, and I’m already deep in the planning spreadsheet for our annual family shindig. With Nora (1), Ezra (3), Meera (6), and Milo (7), plus their cousins, we’ve got a pretty…
Last April, my middle daughter Maya decided her 7th birthday had to be a full-blown Casita reconstruction in our rainy Portland living room, and I spent three nights straight wondering how many crown do I need for a encanto party while my cat chewed on a stray purple streamer. It was pouring outside, because of…
My kitchen floor was a disaster zone of neon green frosting and sticky juice box rings last Saturday afternoon. I stood there, clutching a half-melted lighter, staring at the cake I’d spent three hours “distressing” to look like a watermelon. My youngest, Leo, who just turned four, was currently vibrating with excitement because he’d spotted…
My living room currently smells like a mix of damp cedar shavings and expensive Portland roast coffee, which is exactly what happens when you decide that a 40th birthday “Barnyard Bash” for your husband is a great idea in the middle of a rainy October. It was October 14, 2025, and I was knee-deep in…
My dog, Barnaby, was wearing a tiny red bandana while fifteen toddlers screamed at Zilker Park last March. It was my son Leo’s second birthday, and I had decided, in my infinite Austin-mom wisdom, that a pirate theme was the only way to go. The heat was already hitting eighty degrees, and I was sweating…
I found myself knee-deep in lavender tulle and glittery pipe cleaners on a humid Saturday morning last March, wondering why I ever promised my best friend I would host her daughter Chloe’s fifth birthday. Austin was already hitting eighty degrees by 10:00 AM, and my Golden Retriever, Charlie, had already tried to eat three of…
Easter Decor on a Budget: Help a Mama Out! @the_real_addison: Hey GINYOU fam! It’s Addison, from sunny Denver. Seriously, where did March go? I swear I just put away the St. Patrick’s Day stuff and now Easter is breathing down my neck! My son, Kai, is 11 now and while he’s “too cool” for some…
