Parker & Jolie’s 2nd Birthday | Pancakes and Pajamas
Ever have those kind of days where, after the fact, you continue to relive it over and over in your brain? Just thinking over the festivities of that day and every detail that made it special..
The first time I ever did this was for my wedding. I was awake all night and unable to come down from the high of the ceremony and the amazing reception.
I did this again the day that the girls were born. I could stop staring at them – all night.
And I did it again last night.
This weekend was one of those times. I couldn’t stop thinking about what a great time with weekend was – with our closest friends and family there to share it with our family of four, to celebrate our baby girls Parker and Jolie.
The theme started as Pancakes and Pajamas. After scouring Pinterest, it turned into ‘If You Give a Pig a Pancake”. AND then I made the transition to polka dot everything..
So, in the end, these 2 year olds’ birthday party was a mesh of all those things.
And I am so proud of how everything turned out:)
Invites went out the first week of November and shared the theme and colors of purple, pink, and gold – and also instructed the guests to wear their favorite jammies. I was ELATED when our sweet adult friends showed up in their flannel pjs and slippers.
These sweet 2 year olds had a BLAST. Last year they were overwhelmed. Cried through eating anything. Cried through the singing of Happy Birthday. Cried through the ‘cake smash’. Parker wouldn’t leave my lap. Jolie stayed close to her BB. It was sort of a mess. After everyone was gone, my girls turned into their normal selves and inhaled every last bit of food I put front of them.
This year was much different.
They knew this day was coming and was so excited that it was finally here!
“Is it your birthday today??”
enthusiastically nodding and bawling some form of the word ‘birthday‘.
“How old are you? Are you TWO??”
“TWOOOOOOOO”
My little BFF’s couldn’t have a better partner to share this young life with.
Their actual birthday was the day of the party, so it made turning 2 extra special!
the D E C O R
I kept the decor and menu simple. I found myself to be SO thankful for that at midnight on Friday night before the party.
A real stack of confetti pancakes with cake icing to blow their two candles out while we all sang ‘Happy Birthday’
The guests got to their choice of strawberry or vanilla cupcakes with buttercream icing, confetti sprinkles, and gold glitter dust.
the M E N U
The party was early in the day (10am), so breakfast was served! A full Pancake Bar with all kinds of toppings to decorate your buttermilks.
Fruit salad, smoked bacon, and maple chicken breakfast sausage were also served.
REAL maple syrup
I had a half second thought to go IHOP style and offer several different flavored syrups.. and then I came across the idea of flavored butter after Ashley had pinned it to our secret board and I decided I loved that idea much better
Piggie Punch was served in 16oz glass milk bottles and paper straws.
Chocolate milk for the kiddos and mimosas for the adults
My children were again overwhelmed, but really loving having all of their little friends and familiar adults around. They ate a little here and there, but really.. they saved their appetites for all the sugar.
H A P P Y birthday to Y O U
We had practiced blowing out the candles beforehand, so I knew this wouldn’t be an issue and they would love it!
Jolie blew out her candle before we could even get Parker close enough. I have pictures with Jordan’s hand over her mouth! So hilarious!
We sang. We jumbled their names (because some said Parker and Jolie, while others said Jolie and Parker) and then they blew out the candles with so much delight.
Watching their joy over such little things makes my heart want to explode. 
party G U E S T S
Our babysitter, Dana – we ADORE her! When she walks in the door, Mom and Dad cease to exist.
Auntie and Uncle J
Our sweet little friend Lucas pulling game on Parker. She isn’t buying it. Look at that stone face.
Our other little friend Ayla sharing her cupcake. This little girls talked about the cupcakes from the moment she walked in the door – so sharing was huge and oh-so-sweet!
We decided to attempt a picture with all the babes
SO many outtakes, but all of them were my favorite because someone of doing something uber precious.
I am personally a fan of the top right.. Landon was busy busy with his cupcake and had zero interest in hopping up on that couch with all the ladies.
Baby Juliette (the newest member of our Supper Club crew)
Jacob (just two weeks younger than Parker and Jolie)
Fridge Face Parker
More of the stone cold. She was so tired and coming down off of syrup, icing, fruit.. and now Smarties we were bribing all of the kiddos with to stay seated.
Cousin Kendall (four months younger than the girls)
Silly Jolie!
Sweet Lucas! Love this kid
Miss Ayla
Baby CeCe (Lucas is her big brother)
Gentry (Aylas’ oldest sister)
The is the best of family pictures – and I sort of adore it. My girls are so happy. I am so happy.. and none of us are looking at the camera. Perfection.
A F T E R party
Everyone left about 1pm, and Jordan and I attempted every which way to get our house back in order. The girls finally laid down for a nap – crashing hard the moment we turned on the sound machines. I laid down and slept with them – 4 hours later we were all awake and starving!
Jordan and I decided to get dressed (like out of our jammies) and head out for dinner with just our family of four.
After dinner we took the girls to pick out their birthday present from Dad – a goldfish!
At least that was our intention. We walked into Petsmart with the intention of getting 2 seventeen cent goldfish and a plastic bowl for $4.99. After expressing our desire to the fish expert at the store, he explained that we needed 1 gallon of water for every inch of fish.. basically – unless we were setting up a 10 gallon tank with a filter, yadda, yadda, he wouldnt recommend getting the goldfish.
Okay. So. What do we get?
$52 later (after getting everything we ‘needed‘) we welcomed one brightly colored Beta fish to our family.
Super low maintenance fun and the girls really love getting to feed him:)
I still can’t believe the weekend is over. It went by so quickly.. but it only seems fit for how fast this year has flown. My house looks as if nothing was out of the norm this weekend. It doesn’t look like there were 28 people playing, chatting, eating, and celebrating together.
Although. The huge number 2 balloon is still floating, and the glitter ‘Let Them Eat Pancakes‘ is still hanging on the mirror in the kitchen. I can’t bring myself to take those down just yet.
They match so well with our hot pink and purple Christmas tree.
I couldn’t have asked for a better celebration of life for these two.
Happiest Birthday my growing girls!
invitation + all printables: CKfireboots
mom + mini hair bows c/o sparkles for eden (instagram shop)
mom + mini jammies: hanna andersson
birthday hats c/o royal boutique shop
‘let them eat pancakes’ banner and cake picks: little dovie
tassle banner c/o project paper
polka dot garland: fanciful chaos
birthday cake pancake recipe: baked by rachel
cake stand: william sonoma (similar)
custom personalized confetti: the confetti bar
wooden scoops: sucre shop
piggie punch: taste & tell blog
glass milk bottles: webstaurant store
paper straws: jazzy apple gal + dill pickle picnic
stuffed animal piggies: amazon
December 8, 2014
WOW your 'simple' decorations are still incredible. Every party you throw is so tastefully done and adorable. Your little ones are so precious, watching my baby get big is breaking my heart but reading about all the sweet things your girls so gets me so excited for what is to come!
WOW your 'simple' decorations are still incredible. Every party you throw is so tastefully done and adorable. Your little ones are so precious, watching my baby get big is breaking my heart but reading about all the sweet things your girls so gets me so excited for what is to come!
What a perfect party for your sweet girls!!!! XOXOX
Love reliving this through the pictures! XOX!
The party looked absolutely perfect. I'm getting a little choked up!! I'm so excited to see my little girl go through these moments and can't wait to feel the joy you felt watching your girls enjoy their day!!! 🙂
Hi Amber, just wanted to let you know you forgot to wipe out the address and phone number on the invite in the 8th picture 🙂 The party looks amazing and Parker and Jolie are so so adorable!!
this is absolutely perfect! so so impressed! Helene In Between
All looks so amazing!!
love love love! I've said it before and I'll say it again…sometimes I think we share a brain! 🙂 Happy 2nd birthday little babydolls! Enjoy this next year! xo
Hi Amber! I've been following you and your girls for a little over two years now and I feel like I know you guys…and I have to consciously remind myself that I don't so I don't seem like a stalker! But I just had to tell you what an adorable party this was! So, so very cute…loved every little bit : ) Happy 2nd Birthday to sweet Parker and Jolie!
Ok, so you know how sometimes pictures don't do justice? These pictures are amazing! They convey just how adorable, colorful, and thought-out they each were. We had so much fun. I really love all the pics of the kiddos and the fish?! So cute!! We had a blast…thanks for hosting such a fantastic bash!
I love this idea! So cute!!
ooooommggggg this is THE CUTEST party idea EVER!!! I just love it!!
You're so creative!
xoxo
Sarai
Looks like the day was a great day for you all! I love the theme! Pier 1 has the cutest pink pig ornament that would be great to symbolize their 2nd birthday!
OMG I am just seeing this and am SO in love with this party and your precious girls! So a) I am totally going to have to copy for the girls and b) you are going to have to come help me!!
The CUTEST little party – love all the details and sparkles and sprinkles x