My twins, Maya and Leo, hit double digits on May 14, 2025, and I found myself staring at a bank account that didn’t share their enthusiasm for a milestone celebration. Living in a small, two-bedroom apartment in Logan Square, Chicago, means space is tight and my wallet is usually tighter. Maya wanted an “Enchanted Midnight…
Maya turned seven last June, and she decided her entire world needed to be the color of a copper penny dipped in pink paint. I live in Denver, where the dry air makes static electricity a nightmare and party planning usually involves a frantic trip to the shops near Cherry Creek. My daughter is relentless….
My living room rug still has a faint dusting of iridescent glitter from the party I threw for my niece Maddie on April 12, 2025, and honestly, I am not even mad about it. Every time the Austin sun hits those tiny sparkles, I’m reminded of sixteen five-year-olds screaming at the top of their lungs…
Hey GINYOU fam! So, Easter just wrapped up, and while it was totally sweet and chaotic (as always with three kids!), I’m already thinking about next year. Anyone else do that? My Leo is 9, Ruby is 13, and little Jude just turned 1, so every holiday feels like a new adventure in trying to…
My living room floor in Logan Square looked like a blue paper massacre last Tuesday afternoon. Glue sticks were rolling under the radiator. Scraps of cerulean cardstock littered the rug. I had nineteen toddlers coming over for Leo and Maya’s second birthday on April 12, and my bank account was screaming. We were doing a…
My kitchen floor in Atlanta currently looks like a unicorn exploded on it, and I have exactly zero regrets. Last Tuesday, April 14, 2025, I hosted my son Leo’s 12th birthday party, and if you had told me three years ago that I’d be calculating how many crown do I need for a tie dye…
February 12th in Austin was supposed to be sunny, but instead, I was staring at 144 deflated latex circles while my dog, Bear, tried to eat a snowflake sticker. My niece, Harper, was turning seven, and she had exactly one demand: a winter wonderland that would make Elsa look like an amateur. I failed. Miserably….
Leo looked at me with those giant, expectant eyes on the morning of April 12, 2025, and asked for a “cake party,” which immediately sent me into a mild panic because my last attempt at DIY baking involved accidentally swapping salt for sugar during a 2023 holiday bake-off. Being a single dad in Atlanta means…
Last March, my living room in Austin looked like a primary-colored disaster zone. It was my son Leo’s fifth birthday, and I had exactly ninety-nine dollars left in my “fun” account to pull off a budget lego party for kindergartner chaos that included 21 kids, all of whom were surprisingly age two or younger siblings…
Last April 12th, I found myself sitting on a tiny plastic chair in our Denver backyard, surrounded by fifteen screaming seven-year-olds and a mountain of pink tulle. My daughter, Maya, had decided that her seventh birthday needed to be a “High Tea in the Rockies” event. I am a dad who spends way too much…
