Laura helps foster kids’ birthday wishes come true!

For most kids, a birthday is a special event complete with cake, wishes made on candles and presents. But sadly, not every child gets that joy. So Laila Scott came up with a way to make foster kids’ wishes come true!

Sitting on the couch in his new foster home, an almost six-year-old boy began unpacking a plastic bin.

With every item, his eyes grew wider. There were Spider-man paper plates. Bright red and blue balloons. Even presents wrapped in Spidey paper!

“This is for me?” he asked, amazed.

“Yes. So we can have a birthday party!” his new foster mother smiled—and at that, the boy looked confused.

Abused and neglected since birth, he had spent his life bouncing from foster home to foster home. It was heartbreaking enough that he had nobody permanent to read him the same bedtime story every night or to promise they’d always be there. But that he didn’t even know what a birthday party was . . .

“Yes, this will help us celebrate you. Because you’re turning six!” she explained. And as a smile spread across his face, the little boy beamed.

“This is going to be fun!”

Bins of love

Austin

mom Laila Scott considered herself blessed. With two beautiful little boys and one on the way, she longed to give back—and did so volunteering with Foster Angels of Central Texas, an organization that provided necessities for foster kids, from new clothes to glasses to even beds.

But Laila wished it could be more—not just things the kids needed, but something to make them happy. Then one day, driving home from a Foster Angels board meeting, it struck her: Birthdays.

Growing up, her mom had always thrown her wonderful celebrations. Now she did the same for her boys. But who does that for children in foster care? Do they even have a cake? And who deserves to be celebrated more?

Soon after, Laila went through her closets, gathering party supplies left over from her own boys’ celebrations—tablecloths, cups and plates; balloons and goody bags—and packed them in a bin.

“It’s a Pop-up Birthday,” Laila explained to the founder of Foster Angels. And now, as the soon-tobe-birthday-boy received his bin, he wrapped his arms around her in gratitude—and so did his new foster mother. For twin sisters Hannah and Anna, recently removed from their parents and placed with their aunt, their sixth birthday could have been heartbreaking. “I love them so much. But I just can’t afford extras,” their aunt admitted, tears welling in her eyes. So her social worker referred her to Laila. And when Laila learned the girls’ favorite movie was Frozen, she packed up cups, plates and balloons glittery with snowflakes—and even a sparkling tiara for each of them.

The girls looked and felt like princesses! And celebrating took their minds off the not-so-great things happening, their aunt wrote in a thank-you note.

After receiving a Sweet 16 PopUp Birthday, a teenager named Aurora requested the same surprise for her sister, Lana, who lived in a different foster home.

To be separated from your only family in the world . . . Laila’s heart ached for the girls.

“You got it,” she promised Aurora, arranging a Sweet 16 for Lana at a local trampoline center.

The day of the party, the sisters ran into each other’s arms. “This is the best present ever!” they squealed, jumping up and down.

1,000 wishes come true!

Inspired,

Laila turned Pop-up Birthdays into a nonprofit (Pop Upbirthday.org). And soon— thanks to donations—she was not only filling bins with party supplies, but also with three gifts: something fun, like a doll or remote-control car; a need, like pajamas or new jeans, and a book.

Born addicted to meth, tiny Brittany had already endured a world of pain by the time she was placed with her grandmother because both parents were incarcerated.

“Oh, how she loves Minnie Mouse!” the grandma told Laila, who filled a First Birthday bin with Minnie decorations and a cuddly Minnie almost as tall as Brittany.

“I can’t thank you enough!” Brittany’s grandma cried as the guest of honor giggled, stuffing handfuls of pink-frosted cake in her mouth.

When Anthony—who’d been removed from his home due to his parents’ substance abuse—was turning six, it was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles who made him feel strong.

So Laila presented him with a pizza party—since the turtles love pizza—as well as a new bike.

“My wish came true!” Anthony marveled, as he pedaled around the room.

I can’t begin to express how wonderful what you do is, making every child feel special. Anthony knows now to keep hope and dreams alive! his caregiver penned in gratitude.

Today, Pop-up Birthday has made more than a thousand birthday wishes come true!

“Birthday parties give these kids a sense of normalcy and remind them someone cares,” Laila says. “And making them smile—that’s a gift to me, too!”