PJs & Pancakes: Birthday Party Fun with Fisher Price Little People {plus Pumpkin Pancake Recipe}

Fisher-Price sent me on a mission to check out their new Little People First Birthday site. Now everyone in this family is well past their first birthday, but that didn’t stop us from having some Fisher-Price style fun. My kids, yes even the seven year old, still love their Little People and play with them frequently. Browsing through the party planning suggestions I decided a PJs & Pancakes party would be the perfect way to brighten up a dull winter afternoon.

Seriously if I was planning a first birthday party, PJs & Pancakes would be the way to go. I remember how much time my girls spent in their PJs as infants, and how many utterly adorable little pairs of footie PJs they owned. I think the pajama idea makes the whole party low pressure and super cute.

The fact that it was only a faux birthday didn’t stop my kids from loving the adorable Little People themed “Happy 1st Birthday” colouring sheets I printed out. We also printed out and assembled a PJs & Pancakes banner. The kids had fun helping me put it together, the seven year old helped with cutting out triangles while the four year old manned the glue stick. The banner was simple to assemble and the end result looked great. For a real first birthday party, I think this would be a fantastic way to get older siblings involved.

Instead of a pancake shaped cake we opted for pancakes. I mucked around and created a Pumpkin Pancakes recipe that I would happily have feed to my girls on their first birthdays. Low on sugar and salt, and packed with pumpkin goodness, these thick cake like pancakes, which taste a bit like pumpkin pie, are a relatively healthy treat. My very picky little one asked for seconds and told me she’d like these instead of a cake for her upcoming fifth birthday, so I’m calling them a success. (The recipe is at the end of this post if you want to give them a try).

To go with the pancakes I put out bowls of cut strawberry, oranges and apples. To up the fun level we used cookie cutters to cut star and moon shapes out of the centre of each pancake. The little stars and moons made for a cute decorations to pile on the plates, and my kids were ridiculously excited to eat them.

It’s a good thing Little People wash up so great, because syrup, sticky fingers and playing at the dining room table all made for a bit of mess.

Of course what’s a good party without tunes? The night before I spent a bit of time search for kids songs and made up a pancakes and PJs themed playlist. Once the pancakes were all gobbled up we cranked the music and had a very energetic pajama dance party. Overall this was super fun way to spend the afternoon together with my girls, and I suspect we may be having more for-no-real-reason-at-all parties in the near future.

Pumpkin Pancakes for Your Little Pumpkin

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree (aka 1 full 14oz. can)
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbs coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
1 tbs maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk

Directions
In a large bowl mix together all dry ingredients, the flour, baking powder and spices. Then add the wet ingredients.

Note that it’s easier to mix everything if you’ve already beaten the eggs before adding them. Also I used coconut oil, but if you don’t have that unsalted butter, or any vegetable oil should work.

Mix everything together until it is moist and doughy throughout. Try not to over mix. Now let it sit for about five minutes. The end result is a very thick cake like batter.

Using a large spoon scoop the batter into a preheated frying pan that’s been lightly greased with unsalted butter. About two big spoonfuls did the trick for me. Use your spatula to smooth the batter into a pancake shape.  Allow the pancake to cook for 2-3 minutes on medium low. You’ll know it’s time to flip when the sides of the cake are cooked enough to be solid. Flip and cook for another about another two minutes. Then transfer to a plate and repeat until you’ve got a stack of very thick cake-like pancakes.

This recipe makes about 8 medium sized pumpkin cakes. These could be made up the earlier in the day, or even the night before, and stored in the fridge, stacked with wax paper between each layer. To reheat simply pop in the frying pan on low until warm throughout. Serve with maple syrup and fresh fruit.

Disclosure: This post was brought to you by Fisher-Price, however, as always, my words and opinions are my own.