Science is messy. My living room in Midtown Atlanta looked like a neon-green disaster zone after Leo’s 11th birthday on March 12, 2024, but the real stress wasn’t the vinegar-soaked rug. It was the bags. Every single parent knows the panic that sets in 48 hours before a party when you realize you haven’t thought…
Last May, my middle child, Sophie, turned four, and she decided her entire personality was now “glitter-flower-fairy.” Living in suburban Portland means we deal with a lot of rain, so her outdoor “Enchanted Forest” party quickly migrated into our living room, which was already cluttered with my 11-year-old Leo’s LEGO sets and 7-year-old Maya’s half-finished…
My kitchen floor in Atlanta still has a faint, sticky blue stain from what I call the Great Kakamora Juice Spill of 2024. It was June 12, exactly ninety-eight degrees with humidity that makes you feel like you are breathing through a warm, wet sock, and I was somehow in charge of seventeen five-year-olds. My…
Thirty minutes before my niece Chloe’s 8th birthday party kicked off in our Austin backyard, the wind decided to act up. It was March 14, 2025. I stood there, clutching a handful of orange balloons, watching the humidity wilt my perfectly curled hair. My golden retriever, Cooper, was busy trying to eat a stray piece…
My basement smelled like a chemical spill on June 12, 2025. I was trying to spray-paint gold leaf onto plastic leaves for my son Leo’s sixth birthday party, but the Denver heat turned the “non-toxic” fumes into a localized environmental disaster. I had this vision: a pride of lions, a flock of flamingos, and 11…
It was 104 degrees in Austin on July 12, 2025, and I was sweating through my favorite linen romper while trying to tape a massive navy blue fringe curtain to a brick wall. My best friend Chloe was turning 30, but since she is obsessed with the ocean—and her toddler is obsessed with a certain…
Diane texted me on a Thursday night with three words: “Winnie. The. Pooh.” Then nothing for six minutes. Then: “Henry turns two on Sunday and I have done nothing and Im starting to panic can you help me.” I said yes before I finished reading the message. Ive planned enough kids parties to know that…
My backyard looked like a Marvel movie set gone wrong, mostly because I tried to DIY a smoke machine with dry ice and a leaf blower. It was October 12, 2025, a date I will remember because it was the day I realized that hosting a “Super-Millennial” 30th birthday for my best friend Leo, while…
My living room looked like a gale-force wind had ripped through a craft store last October. It was October 14, 2023, and I was three cups of coffee deep into planning Leo’s 5th birthday bash. Leo is my middle child, and at five, he was obsessed with anything that involved saying “Arrr” and digging in…
My living room looked like a red and blue crime scene on the morning of March 12, 2025. It was the twins’ fifth birthday, and Arjun and Ishaan had been vibrating with excitement for weeks. We live in a small apartment in Rogers Park, Chicago, where space is a luxury and a budget of $50…
