Pajama Playdate!!

Browsing Pinterest, and supporting my addictive habit of party and play date planning, I came across a cute theme for a little girls' birthday celebration: a pancake and pajama party.  I loved the idea of having breakfast food and a pajama play date.  Breakfast is the most popular meal in our house; I get my little man to help me mix up pancakes and we sit around on weekends and enjoy a relaxing breakfast together.  So although I don't see myself throwing a little girl's birthday party in the near future, I decided I would find a way to incorporate this theme into a play date.

Here are my rules for a great playdate: (I should admit that I don't always follow my own rules, but these come from my experience of attending some pretty amazing play dates with my little boy.)
1 - Have a fun theme
2 - Have an activity that can be adapted for both boys and girls of various ages
3 - Allow time for free play - kids want some structure, but also use the time to let them burn some energy in the hopes of a nice, long nap later
4 - Be clear if you want the other mommies to bring something or if you are supplying all snacks and drinks
5 - Limit the attendees.  Too many kids can equal chaos, so keep it small and intimate.
6 - Be ready to scrap your entire plan if something changes.  Just like parenting, hosting a great play date will require you to be flexible!

While these are my top 6, I really and truly believe that any mom who opens up her home to others for a play date needs to be applauded and appreciated.  Cleaning the bathrooms in preparation for company alone deserves a round of applause!

For our Pajama playdate, I asked all parents and kiddos to come in their PJ's.  Roll out of bed and come right over for breakfast and playtime.  As I don't have any PJ's for myself that are not either full of holes or 2 sizes too big, I decided I should treat myself to a new pair. I took my son to Target with me to get a new set of sleepwear.  (Although I did go to Target with only this on my list, I did end up spending more than $100 before I left.  Seriously....is anyone able to go into that store and only walk out with 1 thing??!?) My little man had planned to wear his Batman pajamas for the party, and was THRILLED when he spotted a matching set for me.  Swept up in his excitement, I agreed to get Batman too....and then noticed that we were in the Junior's section.  I bought the PJ's hoping that there was a chance that I would be able to fit my fat ass into them!

I opted to do a breakfast instead of snacks, and some moms offered to bring food too.  We had a pancake buffet with a variety of toppings, waffle sticks made with strawberry greek yogurt, egg and cheese sandwiches on whole grain rolls, fruit salad, muffins, donuts, cookies, and yogurt parfaits.   I also had milk and juice for the kiddos to drink.  I found flavored milk straws too, which was a neat treat for everyone. I decorated the food table with a quilt, sheets, and a pillow so it would look like a bed too.

After breakfast, the kids played, and then we got to our activity.  I bought white pillow cases for each child, and then found different fabrics with kids TV shows, themes, or cartoon characters.  I sewed strips of fabric at the opening of each pillow case, and then use a fabric marker to trace matching character/theme pictures on the pillow cases.  The kids all had fabric markers, and got to color their pillowcase of choice.  Confession:  the moms enjoyed the craft as much as the kids.

Two hours later, everyone was ready to go home after a very fun start to the morning.  I loved this playdate theme....and all of the leftover pancakes!