My living room in suburban Portland looked like a high-tech crime scene last Saturday night, but the fun kind with neon lights and overpriced appetizers. My sister-in-law Sarah turned 30, and she made it very clear that she didn’t want another “quiet wine and cheese night” with the same three stories we’ve been telling since…
My nephew Leo turned eight last March, and in our corner of South Congress, that meant only one thing: a full-blown quest to find the perfect pokemon invitation that didn’t look like a pixelated mess from a 1990s clip-art gallery. Being the resident “cool aunt” and a self-proclaimed party enthusiast, I took the reins, thinking…
My kitchen floor was a literal sea of cobalt blue cardstock last March 12th when my middle son, Leo, turned six. I had this grand vision of eighteen tiny speedsters racing around our soggy Portland backyard, but reality hit hard when the “gentle spring mist” turned into a sideways downpour that threatened to melt every…
The smell of wet flour and desperation filled my kitchen on March 12, 2024, as I stared at what was supposed to be a majestic mermaid pinata but currently looked more like a lumpy, blue-tinted baked potato. My daughter Sophie was turning five in four days, and I had foolishly decided to DIY her party…
Last May, my oldest, Leo, turned ten, and honestly, I thought I was done with the “mom-group-chat-is-exploding” phase of my life. I was wrong. We went full Jurassic Park in our drizzly Portland backyard on May 12, 2025, and after three hours of chasing ten pre-teens through “volcano” smoke (dry ice is a nightmare, don’t…
My dining room table looked like Tinkerbell had a violent sneezing fit. Glitter covered the floorboards. It stuck to the dog. It coated my coffee mug. It was April 3, 2025, precisely nine days before my twins, Maya and Lily, turned seven. I had twenty energetic second-graders RSVPing to a woodland pixie bash in our…
Last June 12th, my middle child, Sophie, turned seven, and I thought—in my infinite, caffeine-deprived wisdom—that a backyard horse derby was a great idea. We live in a quiet-ish pocket of suburban Portland where the neighbors usually just ignore my yard’s rotating collection of inflatable dinosaurs and half-finished DIY projects, but this was different. I…
I stood in my Austin kitchen on April 12, 2024, staring at three massive refrigerator boxes and wondering if I’d lost my mind. My nephew Leo was turning two, and I’d promised my sister I could handle the whole thing for under $100. My dog, Barnaby, was already wearing a miniature tricorn hat, looking significantly…
My living room smelled like a strange mix of peppermint-scented glue and frantic pre-teen sweat last June 14. I stood there, clutching a lukewarm cup of coffee, watching seventeen 12-year-olds try to glue felt ears onto headbands while screaming along to a Taylor Swift bridge. My oldest, Chloe, had decided that for her big 1-2,…
Help! My Daughter’s Already Asking for Teen Frozen Party Ideas for Her 10th – What Even Is That?! @mateodoesparties: Okay, GINYOU Party community, I need some serious help here. My daughter Stella is turning 10 next year, and I’m already in panic mode. You know me, I like to plan months in advance, usually with…
