Brooklyn’s Pancakes and Pajamas Party

One of the biggest events for our family in February was Brooklyn’s 5th birthday. Five years old! It just sounds so big. When we started thinking of ways to celebrate her birthday, I knew that I wanted to have some sort of party for her where we could invite some of her friends. Last year, we had 2 small family parties, so I felt like it would be fun to have one big party with family AND friends, especially since our new house can hold a crowd of people more comfortably. I ran across the idea somewhere for a “pancakes and pajamas” party and instantly knew that it would be a hit with Brooklyn. She LOVES pancakes and is always asking if she can stay in her PJs all day ;) Of course, when I mentioned the idea to her, she was super excited right away. We kept things pretty simple to keep it as low-stress as possible (always a good idea when you have a baby who still isn’t sleeping through the night!), and we all had a great morning.

Now, tell me that’s not the cutest birthday party invitation! I am slightly obsessed with ordering invitations on Etsy these days. You can find so many fun designs for just about any party theme you could imagine. I love getting the digital file and being able to send it out however I want to. For this party, I emailed it out to everyone. $10 for the file and no extra money spent on printing, envelopes, or stamps. I’d call that a success! :)

I really didn’t do any decorating for this party. I used leftover paper products we had from previous parties and made a sign listing the food we were serving. The hardest part was getting the house “clean” (relatively speaking). Other than that, it was pretty easy!

Cici and Rae Rae helped by making the chile egg puff and spinach quiche, both of which were delicious! I made the pancakes ahead of time and reheated them on baking sheets in the oven. I thought they tasted just as good reheated as they did fresh! The yogurt trifle was really easy to throw together the morning of the party and was a healthier addition to the rest of the food :)

The first thing we did once everyone arrived was sing to the birthday girl!

Since we were serving brunch, I decided that having a regular cake might be a little weird. I’m sure Brooklyn would have been totally fine with eating cake at 10 AM, but she was definitely excited about her doughnut “cake” too :) We got Daylight Doughnuts for the first time, and they were delicious!

It took her 2 blows (and a little help from cousin Carter), but she finally got all of the candles blown out!

We invited several friends from church plus our families. We had a great turnout, and everyone seemed to have fun.

Time to eat!!

I loved seeing all of the kids (and even a few of the adults!) in their PJs…

Savannah loves her friend “Rufey” (Ruthie). I thought it was so cute how they were sitting together at the party.

We had folding tables set up in the study and the living room, so there was plenty of room for everyone to sit. It worked out great!

After everyone ate, the kids played for a little while downstairs and in the playroom. Paw was the favorite adult of the party because he played hide-and-seek and entertained the kids upstairs. Wonder where Brooklyn and Nathan are hiding? :)

The last thing we did before everyone left was have Brooklyn open her presents. She was so excited!

Look at that huge pile of gifts…she definitely has some generous friends and family! The first thing she opened was a gift from Aunt Jenn and Uncle Chandler–more craft boxes. She was thrilled!

New movies are always a hit…

One of the twins (Barrett?) decided to help with the gift opening too :)

Brooklyn has really enjoyed playing with this Melissa and Doug cookie set!

Cici gave Brooklyn this cute sunflower dress and made a matching hair bow to go with it. She’s so talented!

Brooklyn also got a ton of art supplies (markers, crayons, colored pencils, stamps, a new paper roll for her art table, etc.), another set of Picasso Tiles, and some new books. She was so excited that she and Ivey tried out the new markers right away :)

Brooklyn had a blast at her party and before it was even over, she asked if she could have a pancake party every year for her birthday ;) It was definitely one of my favorite birthday parties that we’ve hosted. The food was simple and yummy, and it was pretty nice to be able to leave the girls in their PJs that morning after they woke up. I didn’t go to much trouble decorating, but I think that made it even more enjoyable for me. At this stage of life, the less stress…the better! It was a great day!