While I’m in the season of caring for a toddler and infant, I wanted a simpler planning experience for our toddler’s 3rd birthday. I took a look at her food interests and pancakes came to mind right away especially since she loves having breakfast for dinner on Thursday nights. In addition to pancakes, pajamas are the next best thing. So, without a doubt, Pancakes and Pajamas became the theme and it was fabulous. I received so many compliments from other parents on how they loved being able to show up as a family in their pajamas or cozy apparel. If your little one loves pancakes or you desperately need simple fun party ideas, this blog post is for you.

My husband and I designed this invitation together. If you would like a copy to edit, reach out to me over on my 

 We planned the party to start at 10:30 for it to end in time for parents to go home for afternoon nap time.

This cake was time consuming in the evening, but it was all worth it. For time reference, I baked it late on a Thursday night and the party was on a Saturday morning. I used three 8 inch round pans and purchased 2 of the Pillsbury Funfetti Cake mix with candy bits. Rotating through three pans allowed me to keep baking while one or two pans were cooling. With the two boxes, I was able to make 12 ‘pancake’ layers, but ended up using 10 out of those 12 layers. 10 layers was a great height and enough to serve 27 with leftovers.

I followed the cake mix directions and poured enough to cover the bottom of an 8 inch round pan. The goal is to make it look like a pancake, so it’s okay if one layer is thin and another is fatter. I used 1 and ½ of a 2/4 measuring cup to pour the batter. Then, I set a timer for half of the time it says on the box and kept an eye on them for any golden brown color.

2 Boxed Pillsbury Funfetti Cake Mixes, follow directions on box

8-9" round pans (we used disposable pie pans)

You may need to adjust it based on how much you are using.


On the day of the party, I applied the frosting in between the layers. When that was completed,I put the leftover frosting in a ziplock bag and cut the tip to add the ‘whipped cream’ on top of the cake. If you don’t want to make the frosting, you could get away with purchasing the whipped cream frosting at the store. I skipped adding a ‘syrup’ glaze because I didn’t have the time to do it and I thought it looked great without it.

Pancake Decorating, Table Coloring, books and free play

I am a huge fan of adding structured activities to a party in addition to free play.   Pancake decorating was a hit. The kids loved decorating  and eating them. 

Before flipping pancakes, place a 6 inch lollipop stick just above the middle of the pancake batter. The stick helps kids be able to grab the pancake while decorating and eat it in a fun way too. In little cups, I added cool whip and sprinkles. I chose cool whip because it has very little sugar in it and kids need to save the sugar intake for the cake. (: Each cup had a kid’s spatula type spoon to spread the cool whip on the pancakes. The last step is for them to decorate. Another idea is to create colored cool whip by adding food coloring. I absolutely love these trays from IKEA. I use them for so many things

I ordered 18” X 175” white kraft paper and taped it to our table for the kids to color. My husband wrote Pancakes and Pajamas in bubble letters and used our daughter’s pajamas as a guide to draw pancakes, coffee mugs, fruit, etc. I also used this white kraft paper to label the food on our countertops. For $17, you get a party activity, decor, and coloring activities for months.

I planned to have this for the adults and kids, but our printer wasn’t working. Of course, it appeared in our printer after the party.  You can put it in a clear frame and print the name tags on sticker paper. I’m sure everybody will love it!   I'm thinking ahead for my son's first birthday. I'm  thinking  milk and cookies. It would be fun to have a cookie version of this.

I gathered birthday and pancake themed books around our house and went to the library to check out more. Here is a link to the 

 I came up with for the party and month of the party.

For breakfast in a blanket, I cooked sausages the night before and wrapped them in crescent rolls in the morning. I followed the directions on the crescent roll packaging for baking. After baking, they were topped off with butter and cinnamon. As mentioned earlier in this post, I used white Kraft paper on the countertops to label the food.

chocolate milk, white milk , orange juice,  water and coffee

 from IKEA  to use   for this party and future parties.  They are very good quality for $5 each.   

My husband wore a cozy shirt and shorts (even though it’s winter, he loved being able to wear shorts to a party!)

These were simple favors that matched the theme to put together with my daughter. She loved putting the items in the bags. She especially loved the leftover cereal boxes. 

Pancakes and Pajamas Birthday Party 

Throughout my pregnancy, we worked hard to create a safe and cozy space for our baby. We browsed Pinterest for hours, read the 

 by Simone Davies and Juanita Uzodike, painted, refurbished furniture, and hung materials. A few weeks before Ella arrived, we finished her nursery. In this blog post, I'm sharing the details of the nursery along with our reasons for some of those details (Links are found at the end.)

At home, we implement most of the Montessori philosophy. One of the foundational principles of Montessori philosophy is order.

In our baby’s surroundings, there needs to be a place for everything, and things needs to be in their place. The baby’s days and activities need to be predictable. We can help them by creating oorderly environments and developing routines and cues that will help them anticipate where they are or what comes next. We can make a place for everything — starting with a place for feeding, a place for sleeping, a place for physical care, and a place for movement and playing. 



To help our baby with order, we provided physical landmarks or points of reference in Ella’s nursery for physical care, sleep, and movement. (On a side note, landmarks can also be a song and scent). 

Where we provide physical care for Ella, there are 3 animals placed in black frames. These framed animals serve as a landmark for her changing area. We chose black frames because of babies' attraction towards high contrast objects. The height of them is not too far from the table because 0-3 month old babies can only see 8-12 inches.

Instead of picking a theme for the nursery, we focused on picking colors that would benefit our baby at an early age. We chose black and white for the main colors of the nursery because babies can see tones of black (blurry tones) and research has shown that looking at high contrast objects is beneficial towards a baby's cognitive development. These black dots serve as a landmark for her place of sleep. We decided to place 500 black irregular dots on the wall. We ordered a thousand, but we noticed quickly that applying a thousand dots would be too busy. So, we used five hundred of them instead. It ended up being the perfect amount, and it was actually a very therapeutic activity. Here is a 

To create a movement area in the nursery, we took off the closet doors and used that space for it. At almost 3 months old, the physical landmark for her movement area is her 

.  As she grows in the coming months, the mirror near the floor will be a landmark for this area. It is the Nissedal mirror from IKEA. When Ella starts to crawl, we will need to cover the corners with a soft material.

As of now the nursery does not match a complete Montessori style. We are considering swapping the crib with a floor bed. Since Ella is already rolling over, we are considering making room for a changing station on the floor. Having her up high makes me a little nervous even though we use the changing mat buckle. On the sides of the closet , Bennett plans to build a shelf for Ella’s activities (you can see the empty spaces in the photo above). At the appropriate time, we will add a bar in front of the mirror to offer her the opportunity to stand. When Ella is able to stand up, we will move the clothing rod lower for her to pick out a clothing item. When we make any of these changes, I’ll post updates over on my instagram along with a blog post. For now, you can see the full nursery in my 

 and find many of the details below(We swapped the brown chair with a different one. See below).

Montessori Landmarks in the Nursery

I love everything about Fall especially pumpkins. In the Fall, you can find me eating pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin dip, pumpkin cookies, and many other delicious pumpkin foods. When my best friend Megan found out about baby Frazier, she immediately brought up the idea of doing a pumpkin themed shower. Megan worked with a wonderful group of ladies to plan an amazing and beautiful baby shower (Thank you ladies!!!) In this post, you can see and read about the Pumpkin themed décor, games/activities, and food. 

The only thing I assisted with was designing the invitation with Bennett. It was so much fun to do this with him. My sister Rachel watercolored the pumpkins and leaves for the invitation. I love how it turned out!

All the decorations were beautiful! My friend Rachel put together this amazing Little Pumpkin display. We used it as a photo backdrop for our photos with family and friends. 

My mother-in-law made these a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e boy and girl pumpkins. We ended up using them as props for our maternity photos the following day. 

 (I wore this to the baby shower and for maternity photos.) I absolutely love getting dresses from Pink Desert. 

These pumpkin succulents made a beautiful addition to the tables as well. Everything was SO beautiful! Each guest took a succulent pumpkin home. We encouraged them to take out the succulent and plant it in a small pot. 

I absolutely love this activity! I can’t wait to see all the notes written by our family and friends as we change all those late night diapers.

Ham. Prunes. Carrot. Squash. Kiwi Banana. Bennett closed his eyes, I fed him, and he guessed the baby food. He did extremely well! This game made us, and our guests laugh! If your husband is willing to eat baby food, it’s the perfect game for your baby shower.

 were a beautiful addition to our pumpkin themed shower.

The following activities were at our shower:

We have plans to put together all the advice and wishes for baby sheets in a book to keep forever. Maybe, I’ll include an update of how it turns out. (:

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Pumpkin-Napkins-Decorations-24-Pack/dp/B099KDBB55

The pumpkin flavored food items were Pumpkin Chili, Pumpkin Dip, Pumpkin pretzels, Pumpkin cookies, and Pumpkin brownies. Hot Apple Cider was the perfect drink to go along with all of these food items. They also placed out more food that wasn't pumpkin flavored. Everything was super delicious! 

My face hurt from smiling so much at the baby shower. This was my very first ever shower, so it was even more special. We are so excited for baby Frazier to meet everybody God has placed in our lives. 

Our Pumpkin Themed Baby Shower 

A few years ago I was introduced to CJLA, and I fell in love with their clothes instantly. You can mix & match all their pieces. If you love a good capsule wardrobe, they can hook you up with high quality capsule pieces.  Also, I'm a huge fan of supporting my country by purchasing products that are made here. A lot of CJLA's pieces are made in Los Angles which is amazing. If you don't know about this business, you need to do yourself a favor and check them out. You will not only be supporting an amazing business, but you will be joining an uplifting community too. 

Since I'm a CJLA girl living life in CJLA clothes, they asked me to share my most-loved Saturday spots in and near Milwaukee on their blog. If you live in Milwaukee or will be traveling there, you should definitely check out these spots.

Featured on the Carly Jean Los Angeles blog

Comments:

More Stories

Pancakes and Pajamas Birthday Party

Montessori Landmarks in the Nursery

Our Pumpkin Themed Baby Shower