I was looking at my phone calendar/schedule and couldn’t believe it was spring and we just had St Patrick’s day then I looked forward in the calendar and saw it….. 2 months until my oldest daughter graduates high school and I lost it and started crying.
Then started planning her graduation party.
I have always loved throwing parties, not just attending them, planning them. The vision, the theme, the tiny details no one else notices but I obsess over, the gift giving, the decorations, the way a moment can feel magical when everything comes together. Some people love hosting dinners, some people love cooking, but I love planning celebrations. Holidays, birthdays, graduations, parties, showers, honestly all of it.
It started long before social media ever turned celebrations into content. Back when if you wanted something cute or themed, you had to figure it out yourself. No Pinterest boards, no Etsy shops for every tiny detail, no Cricut machines printing custom labels, just a hot glue gun and a vision.
I Planned Everything Myself
When I got married in 2007, Pinterest didn’t exist yet. There were bridal magazines and maybe a few wedding blogs if you really searched for them, but most of the inspiration lived in your own imagination. I planned my entire wedding, well with the help of my mom and a wedding planner, but the wedding planner saw my vision and helped facilitate it. The ceremony, the reception, the décor, the whole atmosphere. My vision for the reception was basically a Miami nightclub. Which sounds funny now, but at the time it felt very cool and dramatic. Dark lighting, a dance floor that felt more like a lounge than a traditional reception. I was in my twenties, and that energy made total sense to me then.
Winter ONE-derland Before It Was a Thing
When my daughter turned one, I threw her a Winter ONE-derland birthday party. Now you see that theme everywhere, but back then, it was just something I dreamed up because her birthday is in the wintertime and I thought it would be cute. We had a hot chocolate bar, which again, now you see everywhere, but this was before dessert bars, before charcuterie boards were everywhere, before Instagram tablescapes. Just me trying to make something special. I remember making decorations myself, printing labels, cutting things out, using my hot glue gun to attach ribbons and tags. If you wanted custom party pieces back then, you made them. There was no Amazon overnighting everything to your house.
There was a whole era of my life where the hot glue gun was basically my crafting assistant. I made my own labels. My own décor, my own party details. This was long before Cricut machines made custom printing easy. If you wanted something to look a certain way, you sat at the kitchen table and figured it out. There was something creative and satisfying about bringing an idea to life with your own hands.
People have said to me before, “You should have been a party planner.” I always laugh when someone says that because I love planning my vision. If someone hired me and said they wanted a totally different theme or aesthetic, I would probably spend the entire time trying to convince them to do it my way. Which is not exactly a great quality in a professional party planner. A good party planner brings someone else’s vision to life. I love bringing my vision to life.
So it always stayed something I did for my family, for birthdays, for holidays, or special moments. But this is honestly, more fun for me doing it for my fam and myself.
Looking back now, the parties themselves were only part of it. What I really loved was creating moments. A theme that made a one of my kids feel special. A celebration that felt a little magical. The funny thing is, now social media is filled with “Pinterest moms.” But there was a whole generation of us doing it long before Pinterest ever existed.
Just using our imagination, a glue gun, and a lot of late nights at the kitchen table making things by hand.
I wouldn’t trade those memories for anything! Now excuse me while I help my daughter plan her graduation party and ugly cry.
Nikki Lanigan
Nikki Lanigan is a yoga, HIIT, and Barre instructor, she is also a Holistic Health Coach through Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Nikki is trained in Yoga Shred, Yoga Psychology, meditation, chakra balancing, and EFT/Tapping. She has done trainings with Sadie Nardini and Ashley Turner. She got her 200 hour yoga teacher training in 2017 at the Carrie Treister School Of Yoga. Nikki takes a holistic view of health, helping her students and clients reach a place of self-love not just through movement, but with mindset and lifestyle guidance as well. Nikki is also show prep writer for The McVay Media Show Prep and host of the podcast Fit, Fun, and Frazzled. Connect with Nikki on Instagram. www.instagram.com/nikkilanigan.yogaandwellness www.instagram.com/fitfunandfrazzledpodcast
