For Bode’s 3rd birthday, I decided we would have a casual PJ & Pancake Party for a few neighborhood kids (photo is from his party invite). Eighteen people ended up attending.
Evidently, I do not do “casual” well.
In the end, it was unavoidable. The few kids he wanted to invite were young, too young for their parents to leave (or rather, too young for me to want to watch them by myself). So, I invited the parents who, in turn, needed to bring their older kids.
Hence the ripe ol’ #18.
That said, it was one of the most casual, easiest parties I have ever thrown and I am convinced that parents over-think, over-plan, over-obsess and over-spend. In the end, kids just want a few key ingredients.
1) Pancakes & all the fixings (and some fixings that should never have been considered on a pancake).
2) Friends in PJs
3) Simple entertainment such as:
Best “Bed Head” Winner, Gavin
A sauna (otherwise known as a bouncy castle on a hot day).
4) Cake. Or rather, panCAKE (made by the birthday boy himself).
5) The Free-for-all (also known as opening presents)
Not to mention bossy sisters who do it for you.
6) The post-party party. Instructions: Just make, like, saaaaay 100 extra pancakes and have them sitting in the kitchen. This will ignite children’s creativity.
Or deviance.
Funny, I never realized how much pancakes resemble Frisbees.
Trust my kids to notice.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 