My student Gracie turned 8 on a Tuesday in February. Her mom, Denise, came to me two weeks before and said, “She wants an art party. At school. Can we do something?” I have been teaching second grade for 14 years. I have thrown approximately 230 classroom birthday celebrations. Most of them involve cupcakes and…
My middle kid Owen turned 5 in January, and somewhere around November he announced—loudly, at dinner—that he wanted a “science party.” Not a space party. Not a dinosaur party. A science party. He’d been watching Ryan’s World do baking soda volcanoes and decided that was his entire personality now. I run an Etsy shop selling…
My son Elliot turned 6 last September, and he wanted one thing: to sleep outside. Not at a campground. Not in a cabin. In our backyard, in a tent, with all his friends. I said sure before I thought it through. Then I spent the next three weeks figuring out how to make a backyard…
My daughter Nora turned 8 in January, and she had one request: a sleepover. Not a regular birthday party with cake and games and everyone goes home by 4 PM. A real sleepover. With sleeping bags on the living room floor, flashlight tag in the backyard at 9 PM, and pancakes in the morning. I…
Last September, my best friend Courtney called me on a Tuesday night — panicking. Her son Weston had just turned down the trampoline park idea for his 6th birthday and announced he wanted a pirate party. “With a real treasure hunt, Mom.” The party was 11 days out. I told her I’d help. I always…
Last July, my friend Danielle called me in a panic. Her daughter Lily wanted a pool birthday party — not a backyard sprinkler thing, a real pool party with all Lily’s second-grade friends. Danielle had never done a pool party before. Neither had I, honestly. But I’d just spent the previous two summers throwing increasingly…
I Thought a First Birthday Would Be Easy My sister called me in January, panicking. “Liam turns one in six weeks and I have nothing planned.” I teach second grade — I have organized more birthday celebrations than I can count — so I said sure, I’ll help. How hard could a first birthday be?…
My son Owen has been obsessed with excavators since he was about two and a half. Not just casually interested — the kid would sit at our kitchen window for 45 minutes watching the neighbors get their driveway repaved. So when his 4th birthday came around last October, there was exactly one theme option. Construction….
My middle kid, Leo, turned 5 last October and told me — completely unprompted — that he wanted a “safari party with real animals.” Real animals. He was dead serious. I had three weeks and about 20 to work with. No real animals happened, obviously, but what we pulled off was honestly one of my…
