Helotes Life

🎉 THE WORLD'S LARGEST BOUNCE HOUSE IS COMING TO HELOTES!! 🎉

Get ready, Helotes, because The Big Bounce America is taking over the Helotes Festival Grounds on November 7 and 8, bringing more than 50,000 square feet of inflatable fun! 🤯

And this isn't your average backyard bounce house!

🏰 The World's Largest Bounce House: A massive 24,000-square-foot inflatable standing 32 feet tall, complete with a LIVE DJ, music, games and competitions!

🏃 The Giant: A gigantic obstacle course stretching more than 900 feet!

🏀 Sport Slam: An inflatable sports arena with basketball hoops, climbing challenges and more!

🚀 airSPACE: A space-themed inflatable adventure featuring aliens, giant slides and ball pits!

There will also be food trucks, entertainment and shaded areas to relax between all that bouncing.

And here's the best part: It's not just for kids! 😂

There are dedicated sessions for little ones, older kids and even ADULTS! So yes, parents, you can get in on the fun too!

📅 Saturday, November 7: 9 AM to 9 PM

📅 Sunday, November 8: 9 AM to 6 PM

📍 Helotes Festival Grounds
12210 Leslie Road, Helotes, TX 78023

🎟️ Tickets start at $30, with early-bird pricing advertised. Each ticket includes a three-hour experience with access to multiple attractions.

🎟️ Tickets and details:
https://thebigbounceamerica.com/event/san-antonio/

📰 Read the full story from MySA:
https://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/article/worlds-largest-bounce-house-san-antonio-22468675.php

We love seeing major events come to Helotes, and this one is going to be HUGE!

So, Helotes, who's going? And more importantly, are you bouncing with the kids or signing up for the ADULT session? 😂👇

San Antonio, TX | The Big Bounce America Big Bounce America is coming to San Antonio, TX. 1 ticket, 3 hours, a whole bunch of fun.

🎃 Calling our local businesses! The Helotes Festival Association is looking for 6–8 companies to join us for Safe Halloween and help make it a fun evening for families!

📅 Saturday, October 31
🕕 6–8 p.m.
📍 Helotes Festival Grounds

Participating businesses must bring candy to hand out and provide one game for kids to play at their booth. You’re welcome to promote your business and give away free promotional items, too! No product sales are permitted.

It’s a great opportunity to meet local families and support our community while enjoying an evening of trick-or-treating, free games, a spooky hay ride, and hot dogs.

Interested? Please message us with your name, company name, and a good phone number or email to reach you.

Please share this with a business that would love to participate! 👻

Need help folks, what's the best seafood to eat nearby? Any suggestions?

HELOTES LIFE BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT • 5TH EDITION

Business Spotlight: Y’all Cozy

Embroidery, entrepreneurship, TikTok, motherhood — and a side hustle that became much more than expected.

One of the things we love most about this Business Spotlight series is getting to know the people behind the businesses we see around Helotes.

And sometimes, the story starts with someone buying an embroidery machine and thinking:

“How hard could it be?”

For Alexis Dean, founder of Y’all Cozy, the answer was apparently… pretty freaking hard.

But it also changed her life.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

FROM A NEW MOM LOOKING FOR SOMETHING MORE

Alexis and her husband officially closed on their Helotes home at the end of 2019, but their ties to this part of town go back much further.

Her husband grew up in Helotes and attended O’Connor High School, while Alexis grew up just down Bandera Road near Marshall High School.

For her, Helotes offers the best of both worlds.

She loves the small-town feel while still being close enough to everything San Antonio has to offer.

And, as she pointed out, having an H-E-B — or two — within about five minutes doesn’t hurt either.

But the Y’all Cozy story really started a few years later.

After having her son, now almost 3, Alexis was looking for a way to earn some extra money while also finding a little bit of herself again during postpartum.

She had spent nearly seven years working as a manager for a surgeon, but by the final year or two, she knew she wanted something different.

Something more creative.

Something more hands-on.

Then she saw a TikTok about embroidery.

That was enough.

She started watching video after video and eventually had the thought that has probably launched quite a few small businesses:

“How hard could it be?”

Turns out, very.

But she loved it.

What was supposed to be a small side hustle started growing almost immediately.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

TWO MONTHS IN, SHE KNEW

Alexis started with a single-needle Brother embroidery machine.

One needle. One thread color at a time.

It didn't take long for her to realize how limiting that could be as orders started coming in.

Just two months after starting, she upgraded to a larger multi-needle machine that could work faster and handle more complicated projects.

That was also when she realized this probably wasn’t going to remain just a little side hustle.

She scaled Y’all Cozy into a full legal LLC and began growing another side of the business that has become nearly as important as the embroidery itself:

content creation.

Today, Alexis isn’t only making products.

She’s built an online following by showing other people how she does it.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

SO… WHERE DID “Y’ALL COZY” COME FROM?

This might be our favorite business-name origin story yet.

Alexis tried all the obvious embroidery-related names.

Something involving “sew.”

“Thread.”

“Stitch.”

Taken.

Taken.

And taken.

Eventually, she and her husband were sitting on the couch throwing ideas around and trying to come up with something that actually felt like her.

They eventually landed on the word cozy.

And after getting increasingly frustrated with the naming process, Alexis blurted out a slightly less family-friendly version of:

“Y’all cozy?!”

They laughed.

Then stopped.

Wait a minute…

Y’all Cozy.

They sat on it for a day, and the name stuck.

Alexis loved that it felt a little western, a little feminine, soft and — most importantly — different.

And Y’all Cozy was officially born.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

FINDING THE FUN IN THREAD

For Alexis, part of the appeal is getting to create something without always having to start completely from scratch.

She can take a piece of artwork or an idea and watch it come to life through thread.

That feeling of seeing the finished product still gives her a sense of accomplishment.

But somewhere along the way, another motivation appeared.

Growth.

The more Y’all Cozy grew, the more Alexis started wondering what else might be possible.

What began as something small has now led her to work with major brands around San Antonio, make new connections and find herself in rooms she never expected to be in.

Her mindset has become pretty simple:

If I was able to do that… what else can I do?

That has become a huge driving force for both Alexis and her family.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“THERE’S ROOM FOR ALL OF US”

If you follow Y’all Cozy on TikTok, you’ll quickly notice something.

Alexis doesn’t just show off finished products.

She teaches.

Troubleshooting. Business advice. Embroidery tips. Things she learned the hard way.

And that is intentional.

Before she ever bought her first machine, Alexis spent weeks studying what other creators were sharing online.

She watched videos.

Read Facebook groups.

Looked at how people fixed problems.

Took in business advice.

She wanted to have some knowledge in her back pocket before the machine ever showed up.

Now she wants to return the favor.

As Alexis puts it:

“Gatekeeping keeps you lonely. Earning the trust of your community, however, gets you all rich. There’s room for all of us.”

And, as it turns out, people also think she’s pretty funny.

That hasn’t exactly hurt the TikTok growth either.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

LEARNING BY MESSING UP

Ask Alexis about the biggest learning curve and the answer is pretty easy:

Everything.

She had never run this kind of business before.

And as she jokes, most people probably don’t decide to start an embroidery business after learning embroidery for about two weeks.

But she did.

There have been mistakes, messed-up projects and plenty of troubleshooting.

And she believes that is exactly how you learn.

Not from the perfect pieces.

From the ones that go wrong.

She estimates about 90% of learning embroidery is troubleshooting.

But if she had to narrow the biggest business lesson down to one thing, it would be learning not to sell herself short — especially at a time when customers are already feeling the pressure of how expensive everything has become.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

THE “HAT QUEEN”

Alexis says people on TikTok have started calling her the “Hat Queen.”

She still laughs about it.

And hats have definitely become one of the products people associate with Y’all Cozy.

We can personally vouch for that one — Y’all Cozy has made hats for Helotes Life, too.

But Alexis doesn’t necessarily want to be boxed into one specific style.

She would like to do more western-inspired work, but she also enjoys company branding, holiday designs, fun custom pieces and the completely random orders that show up along the way.

For now, part of the fun is not having to fit into one single niche.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

WHAT’S NEXT FOR Y’ALL COZY?

Over the next couple of years, Alexis would love to work with more local businesses and brands throughout Helotes and the surrounding area.

The connections she has made have become one of her favorite parts of the journey.

But while embroidery will always be a major part of Y’all Cozy, Alexis sees enormous potential in continuing to grow her social media platform as well.

There is only so much embroidery one person can physically produce.

Eventually, there is a cap on the number of orders she can complete.

With content?

The possibilities are much bigger.

She also plans to bring back her popular Santa sacks, which were a big hit, and wants people to know Y’all Cozy can handle everything from a single custom order to larger bulk orders and company branding.

And don’t be surprised if you see her at more embroidery conventions in the future.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

SMALL BUSINESS ISN’T ALWAYS SMALL HOURS

There’s a joke entrepreneurs make:

“I didn’t want to work 9–5, so now I work 24/7.”

Alexis says it is painfully accurate.

Running a growing business while also trying to remain fully present as the mom of a toddler is stressful, rewarding and definitely not easy.

But she wouldn’t have it any other way.

The most meaningful part, though, is when someone chooses to spend their money with her.

Especially someone local.

“Trust isn’t given, it’s earned.”

Every order means someone trusted their hard-earned money with Y’all Cozy, and Alexis takes that seriously.

When that order comes from another Helotes business or someone in the local community, it means even more.

To her, it is proof that the community has her back.

And she tries to return that support whenever she can.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

FROM FEAR TO SOMETHING BIGGER

When Alexis’s son was born and she made the decision to leave her previous career, she and her husband thought they were simply losing an income.

That was scary.

Instead, the business that started during that uncertain period became something she never could have predicted.

She found support locally.

She found an online community.

She built something of her own.

And the response has been more rewarding than she ever imagined.

Her advice to anyone thinking about starting their own creative business is simple:

There will be days you want to quit. Don’t.

Work hard.

Make mistakes.

Ask questions.

And make friends with the other women and small-business owners around you.

Because as Alexis has learned firsthand, there really is room for everyone.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

HELOTES LIFE BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

We love telling the stories behind the businesses that make our community what it is.

When you support a locally owned business, you're supporting the people, families and dreams behind it.

A huge thank-you to Alexis Dean and Y’all Cozy for letting us share their story — and for being part of the Helotes community.

Know a local business with a great story?

We’d love to hear about them.

📧 [email protected]

Who's going to Randy this weekend?! 🤠🍻

I'm jealous! Y'all have fun and send some pics! 📸

🎶 Live Music This Saturday at W**e 101! 🍷

Looking for something fun to do in Helotes this weekend?

Join Annie O Moss featuring Johnny Murphy at W**e 101 for an evening of great live music!

Enjoy a mix of rock, blues, and a little bit of country too! 🎸💙

📅 Saturday, October 10
⏰ 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
📍 W**e 101, Old Town

Grab some friends, enjoy some w**e, and support live local music right here in Helotes!

Another great addition to our Helotes Life Weekend Guide! 🎶

🏈 Football Sunday at VFW Post 7108! 🇺🇸

Looking for somewhere to catch some football this Sunday? Head over to VFW Post 7108 in Helotes for football, food, and good company!

🌮 This week's potluck theme is MEXICAN! Bring your favorite Mexican dish to share with everyone!

🍻 Drink Special: $15 buckets of Miller Lite!

📍 VFW Post 7108
8795 FM 1560 N, San Antonio, TX 78254

Come out, enjoy some football, bring a dish, and support our local VFW!

🏈 Who's your team this Sunday? Drop it in the comments! 👇

🏈💙💛 FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS ARE CALLING! 💛💙

The lights are bright, the Panthers are ready, and it’s time to bring the HEAT! 🔥🐾 Pack the stands, bring the noise, and show them what Panther Pride is all about!

💚 HELOTES LIFE WEEKEND GUIDE 💚
October 9–11, 2026

📣 WANT TO BE THE OFFICIAL HELOTES LIFE WEEKEND GUIDE SPONSOR?

Put your business in front of thousands of local residents every weekend! We're opening up sponsorship opportunities for our popular Weekend Guide.

📩 Interested? Email us for more information!
[email protected]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🎃 Spooky season is officially here, Helotes! 🍂

The pumpkins are out, fall activities are picking up, and Randy Rogers Band is taking over Helotes with TWO nights at Floore's! 🎸🍻

We've also got live music at Stetson, a big race through Old Town, pumpkin patches, local shopping, family activities, and community fundraisers!

Here's what's happening right here in Helotes this weekend!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📅 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9

🍂 Helotes Mercantile Fall Pop-Up
⏰ 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
📍 Triana Parkway, Helotes, TX

Stop by the charming vintage horse trailer and shop vintage treasures, antiques, home goods, seasonal florals, furniture, décor, and curated clothing!

A great opportunity to shop small and support a local Helotes business!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🤝 Community Day of Service
⏰ 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
📍 Falcon Bank
12002 Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023

Help support local families and students! Falcon Bank is collecting blankets, dog food, canned goods, and nonperishable food items.

Free to participate. Donations appreciated!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🍧 Kona Ice at the Pumpkin Patch
⏰ 2:30 PM – 6:30 PM
📍 Helotes Hills United Methodist Church
13222 Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023

Grab a Kona Ice, check out the pumpkins, and kick off spooky season with some family fun!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🎸 Randy Rogers Band LIVE! Night One
⏰ Doors open at 7:00 PM
📍 John T. Floore Country Store
14492 Old Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023

Randy Rogers Band is taking over Helotes this weekend! Two nights of great Texas country music!

🎶 Cameron Allbright at 7:30 PM
🎶 Josh Meloy at 8:30 PM
🎶 Randy Rogers Band at 10:00 PM

🎟️ Tickets: liveatfloores.com

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🤠 Rick Reyna LIVE at Stetson Helotes!
⏰ 9:00 PM
📍 Stetson Helotes
11881 Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023

Get those boots ready! Enjoy a Friday night of live country music, dancing, and cold drinks!

🎟️ $5 cover starting at 9 PM.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📅 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10

🏃 Battle of Hillotes Half Marathon, 10K & 5K
⏰ 7:30 AM – 12:00 PM
📍 Old Town Helotes
14391 Old Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023

Runners will take on the hills of Helotes! Come participate, cheer on the runners, or enjoy the finish-line festivities!

🎟️ Registration: scallywompus.com

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📣 O'Connor Cheer Clinic
⏰ 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM
📍 O'Connor High School, AMP Building
12221 Leslie Rd, Helotes, TX 78254

Young cheerleaders can learn from the O'Connor cheer team and participate in a special performance opportunity!

🎟️ $40 per participant.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📸 Family Photos at the Pumpkin Patch
⏰ 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
📍 Helotes Hills United Methodist Church
13222 Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023

Pumpkins, fall colors, and family memories! A great chance to capture some seasonal photos.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

✨ 11th Annual Dealing for Duchenne Gala: Rhinestones & Dreams
⏰ 6:00 PM – 11:00 PM
📍 Pedrotti's Ranch
13715 FM 1560 N, Helotes, TX 78023

An evening supporting CureDuchenne, featuring casino games, food, drinks, raffles, and silent and live auctions.

🎟️ Tickets and sponsorships: cureduchenne.org

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🎸 Randy Rogers Band LIVE! Night Two
⏰ Doors open at 7:00 PM
📍 John T. Floore Country Store
14492 Old Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023

Round TWO! Randy Rogers Band is back for another huge night at Floore's!

🎶 Hank Weaver at 7:30 PM
🎶 Sammy Arriaga at 8:30 PM
🎶 Randy Rogers Band at 10:00 PM

🎟️ Tickets: liveatfloores.com

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🤠 Jay Martinez LIVE at Stetson Helotes!
⏰ 9:30 PM
📍 Stetson Helotes
11881 Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023

Keep those boots on! Another great night of live country music, dancing, and Saturday night fun in Helotes!

🍻 Saturday drink specials available!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📅 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11

🍖 Reese Bros BBQ Sunday Lunch & FREE Family Dance
⏰ BBQ begins at 11:00 AM
📍 John T. Floore Country Store
14492 Old Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023

Come hungry! Enjoy Reese Bros BBQ, available until sold out, followed by an afternoon of family fun!

💃 Free dance lessons begin at 3:30 PM, with live music starting at 4:30 PM.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🍧 Kona Ice at the Pumpkin Patch
⏰ 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM
📍 Helotes Hills United Methodist Church
13222 Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023

More fall fun at the pumpkin patch! Kona Ice will be on-site, and the first Candy Counting Contest winner will be announced Sunday!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🏈 Sunday Football Specials at Stetson Helotes
📍 Stetson Helotes
11881 Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023

Catch some Sunday football with cold drinks and game-day specials!

🍺 $15 buckets of select domestic beers
🍺 $18 buckets of select premium beers
🍺 $20 buckets of select beers and seltzers

🥃 $4 green tea shots!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🎃 ALL WEEKEND LONG

Helotes Hills United Methodist Church Pumpkin Patch
📍 13222 Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023

Spooky season wouldn't be complete without a trip to the pumpkin patch! Stop by for pumpkins and fall memories, with special activities happening throughout the weekend.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🎉 COMING UP: A NIGHT OUTSIDE OLD TOWN!

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17

Looking for something different to do in Helotes?

Join us at Josabi's for a night of comedy, live music, bingo, and more!

A great excuse for a date night, a night out with friends, or just something fun and different right here in our little town!

💚 Proudly hosted by Helotes Life and Josabi's!

🎟️ BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW at stubtree.com!

Come out, have a great time, and help us make this event a success!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🎃👻 LOOKING FOR MORE HALLOWEEN FUN?

Spooky season is in full swing, and there's a TON happening around Helotes this month!

Be sure to check out our PINNED POST for a huge collection of local trunk-or-treats, Halloween celebrations, fall festivals, and other spooky events happening throughout October!

There's plenty of fun for the whole family!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

💚 SUPPORT LOCAL. EXPLORE HELOTES. MAKE MEMORIES!

From Randy Rogers taking over Floore's to pumpkin patches, local shopping, BBQ, and community events, it's shaping up to be another great weekend in Helotes!

🎃 What's everyone getting into this weekend?

And as always, DID WE MISS SOMETHING?

I'm sure I missed a TON of stuff this weekend! Putting this week's Weekend Guide together on my phone, so bear with me! 😬😂

If you know of any events, live music, fundraisers, garage sales, pop-ups, or anything else happening around Helotes, PLEASE DROP THEM IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

We want to support as many local businesses, organizations, and neighbors as possible!

📲 SHARE this guide with your friends and neighbors so everyone knows what's happening around town!

Thanks for helping us keep Helotes connected! 💚

Helotes Life
🌐 HelotesLife.org