Our Story
Welcome to the party! With two parents, eight adult children (emphasis on children), spouses of said children and 29 grandkids, we are quite the group. It’s messy and chaotic, but it’s our happy place. We are a family business (it's a business up front but a party in the back...) and it all starts at the top with Grandma/Mom/Master-Creator-of-all-Wonder. The rest of us are her minions who contribute all of our different gifts to make this place happen. Without Mama, none of this would ever be possible. Parties and Playtime was born out of tradition, creativity and love.
Growing up, holidays, birthdays and everyday-days were a reason to celebrate. There were treats on our pillows, gross pickle sandwiches for April Fool’s Day (that I pretended to eat because I didn’t know it was a joke and didn’t want to get in trouble), stringed candy countdowns to holidays, homemade toys and quilts, themed dinners, big parties, and endless memories that still bring us joy and laughter.
Let’s be real though...in a family that big, it wasn’t all joy and laughter. There was a lot of screaming over clothes, fighting over seats around the dinner table, bickering about chores (remember that time...*those times* mom threatened to run away?), someone eating all the Easter candy before Easter (we know who you are!), and tears -- lots and lots of tears. Through all of that, it was the family traditions and the carefully plotted time spent together as kids that has us all flying in from around the world to still spend holidays and summers together.
The traditions that were created when we were kids grew and grew and grew as the family grew and grew and grew. Now, we have become an even larger family, and we delight to bring our ideas, creations and love of tradition to all of you. Our family was knit together with moments, sometimes very small moments, but all of it amounted into something great. What we bring to you with our Party-in-a-Book Series and interactive projects are those same moments. Fill every moment with love and tradition and your kids will keep coming back!
xoxo,
The Erickson Party