Planning a party for any occasion can be super stressful. Ensuring everything is perfect and in place can be too much for some moms, especially new ones struggling with the throes of postpartum. Katie Cunningham saw this firsthand and found a way to help relieve the stress and tackle that “perfect party” syndrome by creating LYFETYMES.
Founded in 2018, this comprehensive website is a one-stop celebration platform and marketplace designed to transform the party process. It even offers an all-in-one free planner, which connects you to all the necessary steps for putting together everything from children’s birthday parties to bridal showers and graduation celebrations.
“People spend a lot of time and money to make these moments memorable, and LYFETYMES wants to help enable people to celebrate easier and also build a platform to connect the market network with communities,” founder Cunningham tells Parentology. “The website came to fruition as I was frantically trying to plan a baby shower with multiple hosts — all while working full-time and being a busy mom. In that, I quickly discovered there was no comprehensive place to plan celebrations outside of weddings.”
As the name alludes, LYFETYMES gives parents the chance to bring the party to life, offering everything you need to ensure the event is a success — from day-to-day checklists to guestlist management software and everything in between. With LYFETYMES, you can plan multiple gatherings, coordinate with co-hosts or guests of honor, create interactive checklists, pin ideas, or book vendors and venues, and more.
Currently, the tools offered on the LYFETYMES website are free. However, if you connect with a vendor or provider through the site, there will likely be a charge for their services.
The Need Is Great
According to Child Trends, there are around 74 million kids under 18 in the United States alone. That equates to a lot of birthdays, holidays and milestones. Cunningham’s goal is to have LYFETYMES help make all of those more manageable to the people throwing them. And it’s working.
“Moms spend upwards of 20-40 hours plus planning per party, and most plan a few celebrations a year. It becomes exceptionally stressful as these moms don’t want to disappoint anyone or be judged negatively, and therefore dread planning the event,” Cunningham says. “As painful as this process is, they take a lot of pride in putting on a great celebration.”
“My favorite part has been hearing the stories from our LYFETYMES users,” she continues. “I’ve heard from clients who have saved up to $700 because they didn’t need to hire a party planner, or that it was so easy to use. Or just hearing how stress-free the design process was and how easy it was to have one place to plan all celebrations. Our goal has always been to make millions of happy memories.”
LYFETYMES — Sources
Katie Cunningham, LYFETYMES
ChildTrends.org