My living room looked like a banana exploded. It was July 14, 2024, and I was exactly three hours away from hosting ten screaming five-year-olds for my son Leo’s birthday. I stood there, a single dad in the suburbs of Atlanta, clutching a lukewarm coffee and staring at a pile of yellow cardstock that refused…
Last Tuesday, my kitchen looked like a disaster zone after a stampede of preschoolers. There were dog-ear headbands everywhere and a suspicious amount of blue frosting on the ceiling. I stood there, clutching a torn paper handle, realizing that choosing the right party favors is basically a high-stakes safety inspection. If you are hunting for…
My nine-year-old daughter, Maya, has this specific, high-pitched laugh that only comes out when Bluey is on the screen. Last month, on March 14, 2026, I found myself sitting on the floor of our living room in Denver, surrounded by seventeen empty cardboard boxes and a very confused Golden Retriever named Buster. We were three…
The smell of floor wax and over-processed hand sanitizer is my natural habitat, but last Tuesday, my second-grade classroom smelled like pepperoni and plastic. Twenty-four eight-year-olds were vibrating with the kind of energy usually reserved for a snow day in Houston, which, as we know, happens once every decade. I stood there, clutching a clipboard…
My daughter Leo turned eight last April, and I decided to lean into the only era I actually understand: the 1990s. Planning a party as a single dad in Atlanta usually involves me sweating through my shirt in a park while trying to figure out why the cake is melting, but this time, I had…
Last April 12th, my living room in Logan Square looked like a glitter bomb went off in a thrift shop. Maya, one of my twins, decided her 11th birthday had to be a “regal tea affair,” which is code for expensive. My budget was $50. Total. For 14 kids. Finding the best photo props for…
Chicago wind doesn’t care about your Pinterest-perfect vision or your carefully curated color palette of ocean blues and sandy beiges. Last June 14th, I learned this the hard way while prepping for Maya and Leo’s 9th birthday bash in our tiny Logan Square backyard. I had spent three nights punch-cutting moana confetti for kids out…
My kitchen table in Midtown Atlanta looked like a pixilated crime scene last Saturday night. I was surrounded by 22 neon green paper bags, three rolls of black duct tape, and a bowl of chocolate rocks that I’m pretty sure I’d already eaten half of. My son, Leo, was turning five, but we were also…
Twenty-two toddlers in one room is a recipe for disaster. I know because I live it every single day in my classroom here in Houston, where the humidity is 90% and the energy levels are 110%. Last April, my neighbor Sarah came to me in a total panic because she wanted to throw a budget…
Austin in March is a total toss-up. One minute you are sipping an iced lavender latte in 75-degree sunshine, and the next, a cedar pollen storm hits that makes everyone look like they have been crying for a week. Last March 12, 2024, I was standing in my backyard with thirteen screaming five-year-olds, clutching a…
