Pancakes & Pajamas Birthday Party

Hello again!

If you're like us, you're enjoying spring break which means you're still in your jammies and eating leftover pizza for breakfast.  For reals.

I am finding time between slices to be slightly productive and managed to share these pics from the most recent birthday in our household.  The youngest member of the Hernandez crew turned 7 this month and we had a Pancake & Pajama Party to celebrate.

(Clearly we're VERY fond of staying in our jammies around here).

Here's the invite I designed.

I used Paperless Post this year, which was new for me.  Invitations are important to me because they set the tone for all the décor and I usually prefer mailing out an actual paper invite, but when I saw I could upload my design and get it to my guests without ever leaving my house (or getting out of my jammies....are you seeing a theme here) I was sold.

This cake.

Seriously.

It. Was. Huge.

We're talking 20 POUNDS of chocolatey goodness.  My brilliant baker of a mom made this masterpiece and it definitely stole the show.  All the kids (and parents) wanted to touch it and couldn't believe it was real.  Oh, and no big deal, but she hand painted it.  Yep, she's just that good.

There she is.  The birthday girl, wearing the jammies the inspired all the décor.

These tassel garlands are so inexpensive and easy to make.  Love that!!

(Sidenote: in hindsight I wish I would've ironed the tissue first....live and learn)

The sun was really bright and shining through the front window so it's a little hard to tell, but what you're looking at there is a 14 foot 'bed'.

In my living room.

For 16 crazy 7 year olds to sit at.

Did I mention I served the parents mimosas??

Here's a better shot of the 'bed' that I made. 

Per the birthday girl's request I kept the tabletop décor to a minimum.

"It's a bed, mom".

Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever you say birthday girl.

I made the honeycomb ball tassel decorations too!  I followed the tutorial from Sweet Lulu Blog, it's super easy!  Thanks gals!

I made this bunting using 6 pictures of Bella, one from each of her past birthdays.  It was so bittersweet to see her growing up right before your eyes.

The spoon, fork and knife clothespins were a Michael's clearance find.  Whoop whoop!  They weren't the right color, but I fixed that is no time with a can of gold spray paint.

"Pancakes are basically cookies you eat in the morning".

Amen.

See that cute little Utensil Box??  Did you know I sell those on Etsy?!  Well the rumors are true, I do.  And you should go check my store Kelso Road!

Joe's Donuts.

I have an obsession.

I used a roll of craft paper to cover the counter and wrote on it to label all the food items.  It looked really cute and was super easy to clean up.  Win-win.

Pink lemonade and a DIY Iced Coffee bar.

I made these cute table overlays and the yarn pom poms for the corners.

How is she seven??

It's just not right.

This puts just how massive the cake was into perspective a little.  And also shows how the kids were finding it harder and harder not to touch it. ;)

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what happens at the end of a great party.

It's not good.

Someone take that knife away from me.

Seriously, though.  Everything went SO GOOD and we all had the best time!

Can't wait for next year!!

A GINORMOUS THANK YOU to Heather of Heather Fitch Photography for the superb photos, you rock girl!

Thanks for reading!

I hope you'll come follow me on Instagram and Facebook.

Have a fabulous rest of the week!

 :)  Jessica

A Chocolate Tree For Miss B

If in the past 6 months you’ve visited our house, saw us at school, ran into us at the grocery store or bumped into us in the public bathroom, then you’ve heard this:

 “I’mGonnaHaveAChocolateTreeAtMyBirthdayISoEsscited!!!”

 Translation? Yes, please.

 “I’m going to have a chocolate tree at my birthday!  I’m so excited!”

Believe it or not, my now 3 year old has been saying that for over 6 months!  After being inspired by her L.O.V.E of chocolate and a specific episode of Dora that involves a singing and dancing chocolate tree, the ‘Chocolate Tree Birthday’ was born.

{Don’t worry; I worked some bacon in there too.  For those of you that know the birthday girl, you know what I’m talking about}. ;)

M came to my rescue again.  I told him about my ideas for this chocolate tree that I’d been dreaming up.  The plan was my take on those vinyl tree decals for walls that have shelves you can hang where the branches would be.  We took that concept and tweaked it a little.  We made the whole thing out of wood and made it free-standing.  First I made a tree shaped pattern and traced it on the plywood.  He did the cutting, then I got to painting.  The end result was perfect.  How could we tell?  When the birthday girls saw it she squealed “is that my chocolate tree”?  Yep.  Perfection.

 Add 26,573 lbs. of chocolate candy, cake pops, cupcakes, milk and birthday cake, and you’ve about summed up the party.  I hope you enjoy all the pics…….we only took OVER 500.  Ridiculous, seriously ridiculous.

Here she is in all her glory.  I used the tree to display cake pops {I glued paper flowers onto the sticks to
look like blossoms on the tree}, Hershey Kiss acorns and chocolate dipped strawberries.

This was the drink station.  We served up ice cold milk {both plain and chocolate}, some
chocolate wine for the mommies and daddies and good ol' water.

I added "milk mustaches" to the straws that coordinated with whatever flavor milk you were drinking.

The chocolate/vanilla swirl marshmallows looking lovely under a glass dome.

I got these for M.  I think they are beyond nasty, but he loves them so here they are.

I used the paint stick crates {made for this party} to add some different heights to the table.

Cute lil' minis.

The GORGEOUS cake my mom made.  Her talent disgusts me.

A giant, we're talking 24X36, photo I had printed of the birthday girl.  I mounted it to a sheet of styrofoam insulation and finished off the edges with some brown satin ribbon.  Keep scrolling down for better pics of it.

Yes, you read that right.  Bacon, toffee and chocolate.  It was actually REALLY good.
The white apothecary jar on the right was made with an old pickle jar, a Dollar Tree
candlestick and a wooden finial!

I just love the cake.  Found the 'B' at Michael's.  Glued some wooden skewers
to the back and BAM! instant cake topper.

I designed these subway style prints and mounted them to foam board.
They looked great over the drink station.

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl.  Love you.

She had a great time and, are you ready for this, is already talking about her next birthday!  She's telling anyone and everyone that she's having a red birthday cake.  Hmmmm......better get to planning, only have 360 days till she turns 4! :)

Have a great rest of the week and thanks for reading!