Two Ukrainian women living in the Okanagan have a combined total of five sons.

In an effort to organize some of the chaos while keeping things cost-effective and fun, Yuliia Zaika and Mariya Kadachyhova worked together to plan their boys含羞草研究社� birthday and holiday parties.

Together, the Ukrainian refugees came up with treasure and scavenger hunts, games like Bingo and beautifully designed Christmas cards.

They had so much fun at the parties that they decided to share their passion with the world. That is when Zaika and Kadachyhova decided to create , an online business on etsy.com.

含羞草研究社淲e make the board games, the treasure hunts, scavenger hunts, with instructions that people print off and do their own games,含羞草研究社� said Zaika, who lives in Vernon with her three sons and husband. Kadachyhova and her family reside in Lake Country.

含羞草研究社淲hen my boys have a birthday party, we had to decide how to make it fun. I like to create games and we decided to make games for all children. I含羞草研究社檓 the creator, [Kadachyhova] is the illustrator.含羞草研究社�

The business partners met for the first time in the Okanagan.

The families had to flee their war-torn homeland and ended up in the Okanagan Valley, in March 2023. Zaika is from Luhansk, in the eastern part of Ukraine, while Kadachyhova is from Kharkiv, which is further to the north.

Zaika and her family arrived in Vernon with only the three carry-on bags they had when they fled Ukraine.

含羞草研究社淲e think we were on the same plane coming over to Canada,含羞草研究社� said Zaika, who worked as a teacher and early childhood educator in Ukraine.

She now works at three daycares in the North Okanagan, teaches Ukrainian to refugee kids at a Ukrainian school so they can continue to learn the language, does weekend cleaning and gardening with her husband, entertains people with puppet shows in the summer, will show up at your house to help with birthday parties and, on top of all that, find times to help run her online business.

Zaika, who speaks three languages including English, said she and Kadachyhova are extremely grateful for the support and welcoming their families have received in the Okanagan.

含羞草研究社淸Kadachyhova] was really stressed at first but now she stays calm and feels safe and comfortable here in Canada,含羞草研究社� said Zaika of her artist partner.

含羞草研究社淭hey really love all the things they can do as a family here,含羞草研究社� said Zaika含羞草研究社檚 family friend Lauren Lypchuk. The Zaikas stayed in Vernon with some of Lypchuk and husband Ward Strong含羞草研究社檚 friends when they first arrived.

All products created by Zaika and Kadachyhova can be found on etsy.com at , named by their three-year-old for the Zaika含羞草研究社檚 yellow house they live in, and Ua which is the suffix for Ukraine online, similar to Ca for Canada.