We love planning fun, detailed birthday parties around here… and we also love my husband’s inadvertent creation of Pancake Saturdays, that began as he was trying to perfect his (now perfected) pancake recipe.
One Saturday morning a few years ago, we were discussing with my daughters what kind of party they may want for their 7th birthday. Brainstorming – and vetoing sleepovers – led us to a morning party themed around what was literally right below our noses at the time. Well… and in our mouths. And a little bit on the floor (three kids, you know).
We spent several weeks months putting together what is to this day probably our favorite birthday theme ever. Enjoy!
The Decor
For any party we have that doesn’t pertain to a certain brand or character (and sometimes for parties that do!), we simply choose a color scheme to work with that we all like. For the Pancakes & Pajamas party, it was pink, yellow, green, and brown. Staying within a small group of colors allows for a lot of flexibility in what decorations are actually chosen, while still looking very put together.
Signs (for activities, centerpieces, etc), water bottle labels, food tents, and any other paper goods created to match your invitations and theme are really the easiest way to add a lot of adorable details. I swear, it’s my absolute favorite way to make a party look like it took a lot more work than it actually did! (Side note: I say that not from a place of impressing anyone. If you’ve been to any of our parties you know we don’t have elaborate entertainment and it’s just at our house. Rather, I love that it creates extra special photo opportunities and really, really love that my kids recognize these small things as acts of love. That may sound cheesy, but they really do appreciate the attention to detail that we, as a family, put into their celebrations.)
The Food
Fruity Pebbles made the most simple and adorable “sprinkles”
If ever there was a theme for which a party may have just a smidge too much sugar, I think it’s a theme centered around breakfast. Still, look how many fun options you have! (To clarify, we only had some of these…. :))
- Pastry Pops (donuts or pecan rolls on a lollipop stick)
- rice krispy treats (or any number of cereal treats made the same way. our favorite are fruity pebbles, but those froot loop ones turned out awfully cute!)
- “donut” bundt cake
- fruit kabobs/fruit tray
- Funfetti Cake Batter Buddies (or any of these fun varieties of cereal party mix)
- Sweet n’ Salty “bacon and eggs”
Two pretzel sticks + a dollop of melted white chocolate + a yellow M&M = my favorite kind of bacon and eggs!
- fruit and yogurt parfaits (including a build-your-own parfait bar)
- these adorable pancake cookies
- cereal buffet
- milk – of any or all varieties (and a coffee drink for any parents!)
Colorful paper straws in washed out Frappucino bottles are a favorite staple at our parties – too cute!
- and of course the main event…. pancakes (with all the fun toppings you can think of!)
The Activities
We had so much fun with the party activities! At first we wondered if we’d be able to come up with anything applicable… but I’m so pleased with what we landed on.
- Cereal Box puzzles
- Froot Loop necklaces
- “Pillowcase” (sack) races
- Egg-on-a-Spoon relay
- Pancake toss (PS…if I can hand stitch these little pancakes and glue on a dollop of butter, anyone can!)
- Bedroom door hanger craft
- … and because I’m a giant book nerd, I was excited to see how many books there actually were about pancakes! 🙂
Favors
There are tons of fun options for party favors for a Pancakes and Pajamas (or sleepover, breakfast, etc) party. We don’t usually do big goodie bags or anything, but try to opt for something practical but fun. These cereal boxes with “spoon straws” were a huge hit!
Other options I’ve rounded up:
- Cereal Lip Smackers
- Sip-a-Bowl (bowls with straws – a childhood staple!)
- Mini Nail Files
- nail polish
- Sleep Masks
- Pillowcase Craft kits
- Kids’ Pancake Turner
What else would you have given or done at a “Pancakes & Pajamas” party? We still talk about this one, and maybe need to do it again! 🙂
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