Every December I look forward to our Annual Pancake and Pajamas Party! We host a party for all of our friends and their kids, and this is our gift to them. We don’t buy them gifts, instead we host this party and for a morning, we fellowship and have so much fun. It is literally the highlight of my Christmas season, and I look forward to it starting in October. I plan out all the things and we always have a blast. This party started the year we moved into our current home. Our neighborhood had so many amazing families and I wanted to build new friendships! So we hosted this party and now here we are 5 years later! Neighbors have moved away, but they still come back to party with us, and new friends have been invited into the mix. Its quite the production, and I LOVE IT! Here is how I pull this thing off every year!
I always send out invitations
I think it’s important to send out an invitation to a party. This party started out as a party just for our neighbors, but has grown over the years to include a lot of different friends. I always send out a physical invite or an E-Vite. I design it in Canva and just pick a pre-made template to use. I make sure to include all the information on the card so everyone has a reference point back to what the plan is. I also send these invites out early! I send them out before Thanksgiving because I know that our calendars fill up, and I want to make sure all of our friends can make it. Last minute, Christmas plans do not work out.
I also love that this party is in the morning because a lot of Christmas plans happen in the afternoon, and this way you can do both. A lot of the friends that come over have plans that evening, and they come for breakfast and fun and then go home to prepare for the rest of their day. This party doesn’t last a long time, but it is a really good time!
Planning
I plan this party for the majority of the Christmas season. I start thinking about it in October and will start gathering supplies as I see them come available. It’s not a hard party to plan for, but this time of year I am budgeting for everything so I keep an eye on sales! For every party I include:
- a few fun decorations
- a QUALITY party favor
- good food
- some fun games!
To make that happen I have to make sure I gather things slowly, and stash them for the party. To make sure that this party doesn’t break the bank I watch sales like a hawk. I will have close to 18 kids at the party this year and all of their parents! Its going to be a crowded affair, but so much fun!
Decorations
My decorations are very few and far between. My house is not huge, so we need all the space for people! Plus my Christmas tree and decorations are right on par with the party theme! I will try to add a fun banner and make sure the house is nice and clean, but for the most part the decorations are sweet and simple. This year the big decorations are paper bag snowflakes and advent ornaments that my kids have made in homeschool! We have been making Christmas crafts to spruce up our mantle and they will be perfect for our party decor.
Short answer is, don’t over think it. The people you invite to this party, are the ones who don’t care about the decorations. They care about you, and are happy to be there, decor or not. It’s fun to have a few things but don’t stress if your decor is sparse. The happy faces will be decor enough.
Pajamas
Everyone wears pajamas to this event. One of our friends decks their kid out with pjs, a robe, and slippers! Its adorable. My kids are always in matching Pjs! But you can wear any kind of Pajamas. One year I hope to be in a feather duster, and kitten heels with a satin pajama set! (hopefully once the toddlers aren’t so hard to keep up with). Its a great excuse to wear your Christmas Pajamas a few more times, before they are out of season. But you can wear any type of pjs or even a sweatsuit! Just some comfy and don’t put to much thought into it!
Food!!
The party is called pancakes and Pajamas, and that is pretty much all that I serve. I get a giant bag of pancakes from Costco(I buy one a year. It last all year long), and all the toppings you can imagine and some bacon and sausage (We need some protein to counteract some of that sugar!). Thats it. I don’t do dessert, I don’t do eggs, or any other breakfast foods. This is very much a keep it simple party. I do have a friend that is gluten free, and a vegan friend so I do my best to accommodate them, but other than that you can expect some really killer pancakes! This also helps keep the price of the party low. Pancake mix and syrup is pretty reasonable, and as long as we have that we are good to go!
I do look for some fun toppings. This year we stopped at a Sausage store that we love (yes we have a sausage store) and we snagged some flavored syrup, and fun toppings! I love to shop small in this way! Its a great way to support some local peeps and have fun toppings for the party.
Games
We have a wide variety of ages, this year we will have newborns-6 years old, and the party doesn’t last long. So I try to limit it to just a few games as options if the kids want to play them. (and if its warm enough I will send them outside in the backyard to play). One of my favorite games to play is an indoor snowball fight. We have soooo many of the play snowballs and the kids have a blast throwing them at each other. We also do a gift exchange. We have done dirty Santa, drew names, and this year we are doing a book exchange. But for the most part the kids are so excited to see each other that they spend most of their time playing in the playroom and just hanging out. This is also one of those moments where I am thankful we live in a mild environment, because we can usually play outside as long as it isn’t raining!
Favors
I have done something different for favors every year. The first year I made everyone a Christmas Sensory Bin. It was a little much haha. In other years I have done a hot coco mug, sticker books, Christmas Ornaments, and this year everyone is getting a fun fabric wand! I always try to make the favor a quality item, because I don’t want to waste my money. I have a very long opinion on party favors. I never want them to be junky. I would rather total up what I would spend on all the cheap party favors, divide that amongst the kids coming, and spend that much on each kid for a better quality gift. I will actively look for party favors all year long. These I lucked into because the website was having a massive sale, and I got them all for $3 each! I want to make sure they get something they will enjoy year after year. Plus, I want it to be a sincere gift that says how much I love them. I will shop for these gifts all year long. I always manage to get lucky and find a killer sale on an item that I love right in the nick of time!
Pictures
The most important part of this party are the pictures. I have to admit I am the worst at taking pictures of this event, but I cherish every single one that I get. This party truly fills my cup and makes me so happy. So I love all the pictures I have with all the wonderful people who come to celebrate. It is always a super fun party, and everyone has a great time. I always tell my friends to take as many pictures as possible, but we end up having so much fun that we usually forget. I try to always capture a group picture of all the kids, because I love seeing how much they have grown over the years!
If you are looking for a fun Christmas tradition you will love this one. You could do so much to add to it, or take parts away and it would still be so much fun. You could host it with friends or with family. There are seriously so many opportunities here. We have so much fun, and I know you would too!
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