Pancakes and Pajamas Theme Birthday Party

I was scrolling through some of the photos from Natalie's December birthday yesterday and realized that I never shared last year's party with you all! So, forgive the major delay, but today I'm showing off some pics from her 8th birthday party. The theme was Pancakes and Pajamas and we hosted it in our home last December. This is how we threw a budget-friendly party at home for our eight year old:

Including my own girls, this party maxed out at seven little girls. We live in a smaller, 1970s colonial, so allowing Natalie to invite every child from her class just wasn't going to work.

She invited five friends, and they each wore their favorite cozy pajamas! They had the most fun playing in our dress up trunk and putting on fashion shows.

(Invite from Party Invites and More --highly recommend!) 

Party Decorations and Food:
I bought some standard party decor from our local Hobby Lobby so that I could reuse them for future parties. Easy peasy!

The cake was from the grocery store, and I didn't serve ice cream because of all the sugar from breakfast. Drinks were water, orange juice, or milk. We used my mother-in-law's mini mason jars for cups with cute purple and white chevron paper straws. Also served were fresh fruit, vanilla yogurt, and granola. Sides were dished out from a vintage tea cart I got from my Nannie's house a few years ago. We also had whipped cream, flavored pancake syrups, chocolate syrup, classic maple syrup...and frozen pancakes from the store.

Hear me out...I had a baby just a few days earlier. There was no way I was going to whip up dozens of pancakes for this party. I wisely purchased some frozen pancakes in bulk. My mother-in -law cooked them in her oven and brought them to the party for me, wrapped up on a platter. The girls never knew the difference!

Favors:
Favors were the most adorable pajama cookies from a local baker. She was even kind enough to deliver them to my door when I told her I had a c-section and couldn't drive. If you're local, message or email me, and I can give you her information. Each girl also got to choose a nail polish to take home.

Party Activities:
We opted to do a small craft as the girls arrived instead of games. I purchased inexpensive white pillowcases from WalMart and the girls used Elmers Paint Pens to decorate their pillowcases however they wanted. That kept them busy for some time...it was wonderful! After Natalie opened her gifts, the girls had fun with her spa set and painted each other's nails until it was time to go home.

Side note: I was inspired by similarly themed parties from Tatertots and Jello and Hi Sugarplum. Thank goodness I did some early shopping and prepping, because I ended up giving birth to baby #3 via c-section just a few days before the party. And, to complicate matters, the whole fam rushed the baby to the E.R. in the wee hours the morning of the party (which kicked off the whole dairy-free-milk-protein-sensitivity drama).

We returned home just in time for me to pump, feed the baby, haphazardly apply some make-up, and complete the party food prep! So while the girls loved the party and had a blast, it was clearly not a fantabulous, Pinterest-worthy, jaw-dropping, styled party. But that's not why I threw it; so I'm okay with that!

For other party ideas I've shared:

• Barbie Party
• LaLaLoopsy Ballet Party at the Studio
• Hello Kitty Party
• American Girl Party at the American Girl Bistro
• Tinkerbell Ballet Birthday Party
• Cinderella Birthday Party
• Little Mermaid Birthday Party
• Sesame Street Birthday Party
• Budget Princess Party

What's the most fun party theme you've ever planned?

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