My kitchen floor was a literal sea of red, orange, and yellow crepe paper bits on the morning of April 12, 2025. It was the twins’ fourth birthday, and I had exactly three hours before sixteen toddlers descended upon our small Logan Square apartment. Maya and Leo were already vibrating with sugar-high energy from sneaking…
Glitter is basically the herpes of the craft world, and I say that with the weary affection of a man who still finds a random silver fleck in his beard three weeks after my daughter’s fifth birthday. Being a single dad in Atlanta means I spend a lot of time trying to look like I…
Last Saturday, March 14th, my backyard in Austin looked like Motunui exploded, and I’m still finding tiny plastic pineapples in my dog Barnaby’s water bowl. My niece, Maya, turned nine, and she had one demand: her 14 friends needed the most epic moana birthday treat bags ever seen in Travis County. I love a good…
I stood in the middle of my living room in Atlanta last March, specifically on Tuesday, the 11th, staring at a giant pile of cardboard boxes and wondering where my life had gone. My daughter Maya was turning three the next day. She was obsessed with that giggling baby JJ and his fruit-themed friends. I…
My living room looked like a unicorn exploded in a glitter factory last Saturday. I was helping my best friend, Jen, throw a 10th birthday bash for her daughter, Maya, and the pressure in Austin is real. We didn’t want the basic “rainbow and sparkles” vibe that every other kid in South Congress has done…
Aaargh, Mateys! Organizing the Ultimate Pirate Birthday for Miles (with spreadsheets, of course!) Hey everyone! Fatima here from Louisville, KY. My middle kid, Miles, just turned six, and he was absolutely set on a pirate party. You know me, I can’t just throw a party; I have to optimize it. So, I grabbed my trusty…
My basement smelled like wet cardboard and cheap green paint on that humid Saturday in April. It was April 12, 2025, exactly three days before Leo and Maya’s 11th birthday, and I was staring at a mountain of boxes from the Aldi on Western Avenue. Most moms in my Chicago neighborhood hire planners or drop…
Hi everyone! Elena here from Memphis. My sweet Beckett is turning 6 soon, and you guessed it – Cocomelon is still life in our house. Even with Max, my 11-year-old, trying to steer him towards Roblox or something, Beckett is obsessed. We’ve been planning this party for weeks, and honestly, seeing his little face light…
March 12th, 2024. I was standing in aisle four of the Buford Highway party supply store, sweating straight through my favorite vintage Braves t-shirt. My son Leo was turning 8 in exactly four days. The group chat of homeroom moms was already pinging with aesthetic balloon arch ideas and custom macaron orders. Me? I just…
Pink frosting was everywhere—on the dog’s tail, inside my favorite Austin-crafted ceramic vase, and deeply embedded in my niece Maya’s eyelashes. It was October 12, 2025, and I had somehow agreed to host a birthday bash for 14 two-year-olds in my backyard. The humidity was doing things to my hair that even Poppy from Trolls…
