Getting engaged is exciting- but it also means that there’s a lot to plan! Celebrating your engagement with family and friends might seem like something complicated to coordinate, but it doesn’t have to be.  We’ve put together two tips to keep in mind while you plan your celebration- or celebrations.

Timing Is Everything

You should plan to throw your engagement party within a few months of your engagement, ideally within three months of getting asked the big question. This should give you enough time to plan in advance and make sure people coming near and far can make it.  It is also far away enough from the big day and will ensure you won’t be in the midst of big wedding plans and tasks. A couple of months will also give you enough time to plan exactly the type of party you always dreamt.

Keep in mind that if you’re hosting a laidback intimate gathering, planning shouldn’t take too long. If you’ve got your mind is set on something a bit more lavish, you’ll want to give yourself a bit more time pay attention to the fine details.

The More the Merrier

Planning an event around the schedules of everyone you love and want to celebrate with can be a stress trigger. Planning a couple of small get-togethers with different groups of people can be an excellent solution for this. If you and your partner’s parents don’t live in the area, you can wait and celebrate with them over dinner next time they’re in town. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get cocktails with your friends to toast the next chapter of your life in the meantime.

Your engagement should be something to celebrate with everyone you love. Not being able to coordinate with everyone precisely at the same time just means you’ll have more celebrations!

If you are a parent or have been around children, especially when they are young, then you know they are like little escape artists. They have special superpowers to get into places and things in the blink of an eye. That is why if you ask any parent about this, they have some stories to tell. Don’t believe us? Check out what these parents have to say!

One kid is hard enough to keep track of, but when you have two, that becomes a two-person job. That is why it is nice to have someone else to lean on or a house that has been kid-proofed from top to bottom.

This mom thought she had done that, but apparently, her kids worked together to get into some trouble. But why was one covered in peanut butter? How long was she in the restroom? We have so many more questions!

One of a parent’s biggest fears is to lose their child in a public space. That is because you don’t know if they just ran off or someone has taken them. So when this mom thought she had lost her little one in Target, it was an all hands-on task to find him.

With people running all over and announcements being made over the intercom, the young child stayed quiet. Luckily, they found him! Where? He was hiding in the cart. This kid must have gotten into big trouble after!

It doesn’t take long for a kid to vanish. So when there is a miscommunication, and both parents think the other is watching, this gives the child the perfect opportunity for an escape.

This little guy just wanted to go to the park, so he thought he would take a walk. The parents were obviously frantic, and luckily someone found the little guy before he got to the busy intersections!

Siblings start torturing each other pretty early on. So you have to monitor them like a guard in order to make sure that nobody gets hurt. But even guards need to do their business sometimes and head to the toilet.

When Mom’s Away

Unsurprisingly, during the time when the mother was away, the ninja of a three-year-old managed to roll up his sibling in a carpet like a burrito, whilst he sat on top of him.

As you grow older, you tend to add on inhibitions. So kids don’t have the same body image issues as adults do. That is why they are more than willing to strip down and let everyone see them in their birthday suit.

Can you really blame this little girl? She just wanted to be free and she has not learned that this is not socially acceptable. One thing is for sure though, this parent and his kids left a lasting impression with their new neighbors.

Young children have not yet been taught to fear things, so they often end up getting into sticky situations that could be dangerous. One of the rooms in any house that is the most dangerous, is the kitchen. So you have to be extra vigilant here.

Even still, it is hard to believe that looking away one second can lead to having to negotiate a large sharp knife from your little one. But this stuff happens!

It is always nice to take the family out into nature’s belly for a hike. But it can be dangerous too, and that is why there are so many signs all around to caution you. But even when you’re ready signs, you have to be on your ‘A’ game. Otherwise, cases like this happen.

Luckily, the dad wasn’t looking away for long and managed to grab the child before anything bad unfolded. He must have had major anxiety for the rest of the hike and we can totally understand why.

Halloween is one of the most exciting times of the year for kids. So leaving them alone for even one second would end up with you spending the night looking for them. The moral of the story here, watch your kids like a hawk when it comes to celebratory events.

We’re sure that when this parent noticed that the child had moved when she was specifically asked not to, they must have flipped. But once she was found safely, all was probably well again.

Parenting is exhausting, and sometimes you just need a nap. Once a parent has their little ones secured, then generally that’s their cue to close their eyes for a few seconds. But if their kids are wanderers, then they’re never really secured and out of harm’s way.

Like these little ones that figured out how to open the window and climb out. At least the roof was a flat one, otherwise, this might have been a tragic story!

Two minds are better than one, that’s for sure. So when you have two kids, you have to be even more cautious as they tend to get up to no good together. Just like this brother and sister duo who took it upon themselves to lock their mom in the garage.

Worst yet, they just walked away laughing. Good thing this mom was resourceful and probably got out in no time. Oh boy, these two must have been in big trouble after!

Kids are uncoordinated because they haven’t trained their fine motor skills. This is why they fall down a lot, which is probably the scariest thing for a parent to witness. We get small bouts of anxiety just thinking about it!

Like this poor little one who slipped and lost two teeth. We also feel bad for the parents who witnessed the accident. We just hope they didn’t feel guilty. After all, accidents happen all the time.

Kids are curious and also don’t always understand why something is off-limits. They also often confuse things that look like other things because they haven’t developed an awareness of everything yet. So when you drink an adult beverage that looks like apple juice, you have to be really careful.

The kid learned quickly that that wasn’t juice. He turned all shades of colors and gagged a little. We bet he even felt sleepy and headed to bed early that night. He definitely won’t make that mistake twice!

Toddlers like to grab things and stick them in their mouths. This is true for every one of them, and that is why so many parents have stories about turning around to find their child with something in their mouths that shouldn’t be.

For example, like this mother who had to end up using that first-aid class to get the potato out of her daughter’s mouth before she choked. Good thing she took that class!

This dad just wanted a little time with his girl, so he picked her up and brought her to the hardware store with him. He sure wasn’t expecting what unfolded next…

It would be a little unnerving to turn around to see your little one with an ax in their hands. At least she gave up the sharp tool without any fuss. That could have been way more of a nightmarish story!

One child is hard enough to keep track of, but four is a whole different ballpark. It might even be more difficult when three of them all look the same. So taking the family out for an outing means being very alert and practically paranoid at all times.

These parents thought they had a safe system down but upon one blink, one of the children had wandered off. That must have unleashed hysteria but we have full faith that the child was found safe and sound.

Pets are a good way to teach kids responsibility, but you have to be really careful when they are too young. They don’t understand that their pets can’t eat the same things they do, so you might wind up like this parent having to explain the circle of life.

This kid was just trying to feed the fish. Unfortunately, he grabbed something when his parents weren’t looking that was tantamount to poisoning them. We feel bad for the poor little guy as he was only trying to do good.

Having a setup where you teach your kid self-efficiency is a good thing. This family did that by giving their kid a drawer with several cups that he could reach and use. But there comes a time in every kid’s life where they want to be like the big kids.

When that time came for this explorer of a little boy, the parent happened to be in the bathroom. Upon re-entering the room, the top-shelf had broken and the kid had fallen backward. The poor parent must have had a mini-heartache!

Kids are easily excited, and so when they see someone they love from afar, they throw caution to the wind and run to them. It doesn’t matter if that means running across a busy street or through a crowd of people.

So when this little munchkin saw her mama bear on the other side of the road, nothing was going to stop her from getting to her. Even though jay-walking in a foreign country is about as dangerous as it gets.

The beach is a great place to take a little time with the family. You have the ocean water and the sand and each has its fun quotient. But with that fun, comes dangerous scenarios if children are not watched.

Can you imagine the shock and fear these parents must have felt when all they saw was their daughter’s hat floating? It’s human nature for you to assume the absolute worst.

Parents tell little children little white lies to protect them for numerous reasons. However, generally, when we lie it can catch up to us, and such was the case with what we’re calling Cookie-Gate.

We have to give it to this smart kid for going the extra mile by disposing of what she believed were gross cookies. We bet the mom also upped her game of strategy the next time she baked a batch of goodies that won’t for her child.

Kids love to play and because they don’t know boundaries, this playtime can often be taken too far. A great example of this would be thrashing your dad with a bat. Even though in this particular case the bat was made from foam, there is still a wooden foundation to it.

To make matters worse, once the kid committed the crime, he then proceeded to drink his dad’s alcoholic beverage as if he’s some thug. This little boy must have been grounded for days after this.

There’s nothing worse than dealing with your child acting up, especially if you are not in the mental space for it. So we have a lot of sympathy for this mom who was four-weeks post partum and just trying to drop her kid off.

When the daughter refused, the mother jumped out of the car in a huff to escort the little girl to school but she had another plan in mind. Locking your parent out of the car is a pretty devious move!

One way to get around worrying about kids doing crazy things is to keep them occupied. That is at least what this mom thought to do. But unfortunately for her, the plan backfired badly.

Within two seconds, the two-year-old boy decided to experiment with his crayons by sticking them in his nose. If that sounds like a recipe for disaster to you that’s because it is!

This little terror seems to be quite the handful and one that cannot be left alone, not even for a matter of seconds. Not only does she like to take baths with clothes on, but apparently, she is looking at being a hairstylist when she grows up.

Well, at least hair has the power to grow up and soon all will be well again. In the meantime, the mother should invest in a few hats to cover up the missing chunk.

Having two young kids is challenging. There are times where you will be busy with one, which gives the other time to get up to all kinds of things. Like for example, taking their new puppy out for a stroll without their parents’ permission.

Luckily, the little explorer was caught by the next-door neighbor who planned to escort him back. On another note, we think it’s adorable how attached the dog and the little boy are.

Sometimes kids try to be like their parents by doing little things around the house that they’ve seen them do. For example, watering plants or peeling veggies. But in the case of the latter, we feel like this is an accident waiting to happen.

And unfortunately, what happened to this carrot-peeler only proved our point more. But before you stress too much, he lived to tale and now it’s more of a funny story than anything else.

Curiosity is something that drives kids into all kinds of trouble. They want to know how everything works and why things are the way they are. However, this need to know and explore more can be the catalyst for dramatic scenes like this one.

These kids wanted to see what would happen if they put their cousin on the treadmill at a high speed. They, of course, waited until dad was not looking but still were caught in the act.

We all crave dessert at any age. It’s one of those delicious things that could be had at any time, no matter your mood. So, when someone places a pie in front of you, it takes somewhat of a superpower to resist it.

So, we can fully understand why the kids chose to gobble up the pie while the aunty was out of sight. And their excuse is what really takes the cake – get it? Gosh, we’re feeling ourselves right now for that one.

Sometimes, it is hard to keep track of kids in an apartment building where everyone leaves their doors open. This generally means that there is a community atmosphere where people feel comfortable with each other. But with that being said, there’s obviously a limit with that open-door policy.

We would be pretty unnerved if we walked into our living room and found some strange child just chilling and watching our TV. Even though we might not be in fear of our lives, it’s still bound to give you a big fright.

There’s something about this next story that makes us crack up laughing. Between the little girl’s mischievous ways and the fact that she didn’t know how to unlock the door, we’re just glad that we stumbled across this one.

But the older sibling probably wasn’t thinking it was too funny. It’s amazing what kids can get up to in such a small period of time. We bet her big bro saved the day in the end.

Many kids have this desire to climb to the highest of places. They see it as a challenge that they need to conquer. That is why you often see kids happy as can be whilst climbing trees. The higher, the better, and that is a scary thought for parents.

So while we can make sense of why this boy felt the need to climb his dresser, the birthday suit and diaper cream don’t really add up. What was he thinking?

Sometimes you just can’t keep your eyes on each child every minute of the day. You try your best, but somehow they still manage to get away from you. And this can be really scary when it is in a public place.

We’re going to be optimistic here and assume that the older kid was found and returned soon after his disappearance. But we also bet that in the time he was missing, the poor dad must have been frantic.

There are some things that we all learn as we grow up. This includes what to put in our mouths and what not to. But as a kid, you simply don’t know.

So if a parent isn’t paying close enough attention, you may end up having a story like this one. This is kind of a gross story but a really entertaining one too. At least for those of us who weren’t there for the actual event.

Little daredevils – that is what most kids are, and now that more parents are home with them, they are seeing this more often. This can be especially difficult to deal with while parents are trying to multitask with work.

This parent was trying to take a work call when he saw his son launch into the air like a rocket. Luckily, he was muted when he reacted to the jump. And what’s even luckier is that he was able to catch his son before any serious injuries occurred.

All kids love pancakes because they are sweet, fluffy, and delicious. But you have to be careful leaving the syrup in the reach of those kids. Mostly because they will add too much to their pancakes but also because of this.

Not every kid is familiar with the concept that sticky stuff messes things up big time. You know a situation is bad when a parent has to call in their parent…

Kids love to copy their mom and dad. It doesn’t matter even what it is. So, this little girl wanted to shave like her dad and figured out how to get into the sink to do it. How she managed to get into the sink and get a razor, we will never know.

What we do know is that she cut herself so badly that 20 years later she still has the scars to prove it. Moral of the story here? Keep sharp objects locked away! Kids will find them and use them otherwise.

Christmas parties are a big thing for families and businesses. This is where you get to dress up and mingle with everyone. It takes a lot of preparation, especially if you want to be the talk of the party like this boy did.

He managed to get into some nail polish and give himself a Smurf makeover. We are sure the story of how this happened was one of the best told at the party, though!

While this story is straight-up crazy and enough to give any parent a nervous breakdown, at least something good came of it in the end.

After eating a pack of cigarettes and talking to poison control, the parent was so freaked out that they actually decided to quit smoking. It’s amazing to think about the effect that our kids can have on us.

When the kids are little, they want to be as close to their parents as possible. That is why many parents take the kids with them everywhere that they go. They often also have toys available to keep them busy while they get stuff done.

This mom did exactly that, and still, the kid got a little distracted. She turned away to load some laundry for just a moment and found the kid with a new friend – a snake!!! We would have almost lost consciousness but that’s just because we have a snake phobia.