The Minecraft Movie opens Friday, April 4th. My son told me about it in January. He reminded me again in February. By March he’d mentioned it so many times I started seeing “April 4th” in my dreams. So we’re doing a watch party. Ten kids, Friday night, our basement. I’ve thrown enough birthday parties to…
My son’s birthday is April 4th. For three years in a row, Easter weekend landed on his birthday window. And for three years, I apologized for it. “Sorry the egg hunt is part of your party.” “Sorry we’re doing both.” “Sorry your birthday cake has a bunny on it because I ran out of time.”…
I want to be upfront about something: I have never seen the Barbie movie. My daughter has watched it eleven times. She turned eight in February and had exactly one request — “a Barbie party but like the real Malibu Barbie not the cheap kind.” I didn’t know what the “cheap kind” looked like. She…
My son has been building LEGO sets since he was four. Not the 30-piece ones. The 500-piece Technic ones. He once spent three hours on a motorcycle kit and cried when a wheel fell off — not sad crying, mad crying. The kid takes LEGO seriously. So when he turned eight, he wanted a LEGO…
We had the book covers memorized. My son Oliver could tell you the chapter count of every volume. So when he turned eight and said “Harry Potter party,” I said yes without looking up from my coffee. That was my first mistake. Eleven kids showed up. We had $97 to spend. Here’s what actually happened….
Last Easter, I spent the entire Saturday morning running around Target at 8am because I forgot to buy plastic eggs. The ones left on the shelf were cracked, mismatched, and overpriced. My daughter was waiting at home with her basket ready, and I was in the candy aisle having a small meltdown. Never again. So…
The first year Lily asked for an LOL Surprise party, I said yes before I understood what I was agreeing to. Three weeks later I was hot-gluing foil fringe onto everything I owned. My kitchen table had purple glitter on it for six days. The dog had glitter on his ears. I found a tiny…
My nephew has been into Pokémon since he was four. Not casual into it — like, knows the base stats for Gengar, corrects adults about evolution chains, carries a binder of cards everywhere. When he turned eight, there was only one option. I told myself it would be simple. Use red and white colors, maybe…
My son Connor is not a casual Marvel fan. He’s the kid who corrected me when I called Thor “the hammer guy.” He knows the Infinity Stones by name, in order. When he said he wanted an Avengers party, he meant he wanted an Avengers party — not a generic superhero party with a balloon…
My son has watched exactly three episodes of SpongeBob. He knows Patrick as the dumb rock man. We did the party anyway — 12 kids, $93, Krabby Patty sliders, jellyfish race, and a Squidward nobody recognized.
