Annabel turned 5 on Sunday, and we hosted her birthday party that morning. It was such a success, so much fun for her, her friends, and yes, even ME, that I wanted to let you all know exactly how to replicate the best 5th birthday party ever! Best of all, you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars or weeks of planning time to pull it off.

We started with a theme–and to be honest, I’m not exactly sure how this theme came about, except for the fact that my daughter loves, absolutely loves, pancakes. So she wanted a pancake party. Sounded pretty simple to me, so I went with it. I did some internet research, and low and behold, did you know that I am not the first person to come up with the idea of a pancake party???? Can you believe I’m not THAT ingenious? Historically actually, in the United Kingdom, pancakes are traditionally eaten on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, which is also known as Pancake Day, so that people could eat up all of their rich, fattening foods before Lent (betcha didn’t know that either!).

So here’s how YOU put together your very own pancake party:

1. Invitations: Have your child help create invitations in the shape of pancakes, or at least color a pancake on the back.  We invited the children to dress in pajamas and to bring a cuddly doll or animal with them.  It’s crucial to keep the guest list short if you’re having it at your home.  We had 10 kids total, including the birthday girl and her brother.  That was pushing it, but it worked out okay.

2. Timing: We scheduled our pancake party from 10:30 -noon. That way, it would be “brunch-ish” and I didn’t feel obligated to serve the parents any food. Plus, if any kid didn’t actually eat, I wouldn’t feel guilty that they’d go to bed hungry. SHORT birthday parties are key. No kid needs any longer of a party, and after an hour and a half, the natives get restless.

3. Activities: Here is where the theme got creative. These activities were fun, easy to pull together, and allowed for some together time and some down time, too.

• Coloring table: I like to have an activity for kids to participate in as they arrive, so we’re not waiting around for everyone for the party to officially start. I printed out free coloring book pages of pancakes and breakfast foods, photocopied them, and set up a table with cups of crayons. As kids arrived, Annabel and I directed them to the table, and most enjoyed coloring the simple picture.



• Games:  Once everyone arrived (about 15-20 minutes into the party), we headed outside for some fun pancake-themed games.  First, we did a pancake race.  In two relay teams, the kids walked/ran with a pancake on a spatula around a cone and passed it off to the next person.  Next, we did a pancake toss.  The kids paired up, stood close to each other, and tossed a cold pancake to their partner.  Then, I instructed them to take one step back.  And so on.., until the winner was the pair who could stand farthest apart and still catch the pancake!  Lastly, we did a sack race, again in relay teams, using pillowcases.  This game was clearly the favorite, as kids kept lining up again and again to play.



• Down time:  In between games and other activities, I was okay with kids running around my yard, playing with toys outside, or playing in our living room.  I made the kids’ rooms off-limits, as I didn’t want mass chaos or a massive clean-up.



• Pancakes!:  What’s a pancake party without pancakes?  I set my dining table the night before, and each kid had their own place setting, complete with four small plastic cups filled with:  pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, and chocolate chips.  They decorated their own pancakes, I poured the syrup, and my husband came around with a canister of whip cream, making happy faces or flower shapes.  (several moms pointed out that we could use the leftover whip cream for jello shots later, but that’s a different party!)  This activity was so much fun to watch.  The kids personalities really came out.  Annabel piled all the toppings on and waited for everyone to watch her dive right in.  Heather cut her pancake into four pieces and decorated it symmetrically.  Luke ate his toppings and pancakes separately.  Rachel put nothing on her pancake at all but gobbled it up nonetheless.



• Drinks:  What was really nice was that the other moms helped to pour our drinks–apple juice, orange juice, or milk.  I also made a fresh pot of coffee for the parents, which went over surprisingly well.
• Cupcakes:  Okay, I know, after all of that sugar in the pancake eating, who wants more? THE KIDS!  I made (from a mix) very small yellow cupcakes and frosted them with cream cheese frosting, to stick with the brunch theme.  We sang “Happy Birthday” to Annabel, and then we all washed up from the stickiness.



• Story Time:  To conclude our party and our theme, we congregated on the couch and on pillows on the floor with our dolls/animals for a pancake-themed story time.  Annabel and I had a ball going to the library in the preceding weeks seeking out pancake-themed books.  There really are a lot of choices!  Our favorites, and our chosen two, were Hey, Pancakes by Tamson Weston and Mr. Wolf’s Pancakes by Jan Fearnley.



• Party Favors and time to leave!:  The story time was a great calming activity at the end of the party, and it also brought them all together in order to hand out party favors and send them on their way!  We gave out socks to each child (they got to choose from a pile).  I bought them at the Target dollar spot, and the kids seemed to really like them.  I always hate getting a bag full of crap and plastic toys, so I thought the socks would go over well with parents, too.  The kids left smiling and everyone said they had a good time.

4. YOUR preparation to-do list: Do you want this hour and a half to run smoothly and be enjoyable for you, too?  Here are some tips…

• Buy or make invitations a month ahead of time.  Send them out three weeks prior to the party.
• Shop for paper goods and food the week before the party.
• The week of the party, visit the library to check out story time books.
• The night before the party, if you have a partner, divide and conquer (if not, this can easily be done by one person after the kids are in bed.)  Set the dining table, set up a separate coloring table or area.  Set out your pillowcases and spatulas for the games.  Put a bowl of party favors by the front door.
• Cook the night before! I can’t stress this enough.  If you’re trying to make pancakes the day of the party, you’ll be stressed yourself.  My husband cooked the pancakes (a wheat blend mix).  He made 6 small ones for the games, and 15 larger ones for eating.  Store them in ziploc bags or a foil-covered container in the fridge overnight.  It took him a good half hour to 45 minutes to do all this, and you don’t want to be cooking and cleaning up your kitchen on party day.  (Hint:  to warm them up for the party, place them on cookie sheets and warm them in the oven for 10 minutes).  I made 24 cupcakes from a mix (which was the easier cooking task), and I used store-bought cream cheese frosting, too.
• The morning of the party:  do a quick clean up of your house, eat your family’s breakfast outside, on the floor, anywhere but the table you set last night!  Fill the small plastic cups with the pancake decorating goodies.  Warm the pancakes while the kids are playing the games.
• Be sure to designate someone to take pictures!
• Get dressed in your jammies and enjoy the birthday party!

I hope that your child’s birthday party is as much of a success as mine was.  Any questions, comments, paid requests for birthday party consultations?  Please comment below.  And happy birthday.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 9:19 pm and is filed under K-5, Motherhood / Parenthood, Preschoolers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.