Taylor Swift Eras Party: How I Pulled Off 3 Eras in 2 Hours for 11 Kids ($92 Total)
Eras party for 11 kids, 3 themed stations, $92 total. Complete breakdown.
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Pool Deck Birthday Party: How We Threw a 12-Kid Water Party for $71 (Complete Breakdown)
We genuinely could not afford a venue. That was the starting point. My daughter turned eight in July, and the trampoline park wanted $340, the gymnastics place wanted $280, and I did the math and just — no. We have a small above-ground pool. It’s not glamorous. It’s 12 feet across and sits kind of…
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Spring Break Birthday Party: My System After 4 Years of Half the Guest List Being in Florida
My kid’s birthday falls on spring break every year. Here’s my system after 4 years of fixing the attendance problem. Maya’s birthday is March 28th. Which means every year, approximately half her friend group is somewhere in Florida with their grandparents. I planned an amazing party three years ago. Made the invitations by hand. Rented…
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Minecraft Movie Party Ideas: Planning a Birthday Around the April 4th Release
The Minecraft Movie comes out April 4th. My son has been vibrating about it for three months. His birthday is April 12th. So we have about eight days between “Dad took me to see the movie” and “Dad throws me a Minecraft party.” That is a lot of pressure. I have now thrown two Minecraft…
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Easter Birthday Party Ideas: My 4-Year System for When Your Kid’s Birthday Falls on Easter Weekend
My son Max turns 5 on April 3rd. This year that puts his birthday two days before Easter. Last year it literally fell on Easter Sunday. We have done this four years now. I have made almost every mistake you can make. Here is the actual system — not the Pinterest version, the real one….
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Minecraft Birthday Party Ideas: How I Built a Real Creeper Encounter for 11 Seven-Year-Olds ($78 Total)
My son Liam has been Minecraft-obsessed since he was four. Not “watches some YouTube videos” obsessed — “builds working redstone contraptions and explains them to me for forty-five minutes” obsessed. So when he turned seven, I committed. Full Minecraft party. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Three weeks of planning and one…
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My Kid’s Birthday Is April 1st. Here’s How I Finally Stopped Apologizing for It.
For five years, I led every birthday invitation with a disclaimer: “P.S. — I know it’s April Fools’ Day, but this is a REAL party invitation.” Nobody RSVPed to the first one. Three kids. A bouncy castle in the backyard that I’d paid $140 to rent. My son Eli cried. That was my first mistake….
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Party Hat Decoration Stations: How I Turned $12 of Cone Hats Into the Best 30-Minute Birthday Activity I’ve Ever Run
Party Hat Decoration Stations: How I Turned $12 of Cone Hats Into the Best 30-Minute Birthday Activity I’ve Ever Run Three years ago I bought $40 of party games for my daughter’s 6th birthday. Musical chairs ended in tears. Pin the tail on the donkey took four minutes and two kids got dizzy. I spent…
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My Daughter’s Birthday Is March 20th — Here’s How I Finally Got the First Day of Spring Party Right
My daughter Emma turns 8 today — March 20th — which means every year her birthday party doubles as an unofficial welcome-spring party for the neighborhood. We lean into it hard now. We didn’t at first. The first time I tried to plan a “real” spring party, I went down the Pinterest rabbit hole and…
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I Didn’t Know What Sensory Processing Disorder Was Until My Neighbor’s Daughter Cried Through My Son’s Entire Birthday Party
That was two years ago. Max’s 6th birthday. Twelve kids, standard setup — balloon arch, cone hats, the usual. Emma, my neighbor’s daughter, started crying about 20 minutes in and couldn’t stop. Her mom pulled her into the bathroom. She missed the cake. She missed the games. She was in there for 45 minutes. Her…