Pancakes and PJs Birthday

Photography by **Photography by Jessica B** // Custom PJs by **Doloris Petunia**

The Twin’s 2nd birthday party was one of the most fun days of my life to date, which is a powerful thing to say, right? The MOST fun? Well yes! Last year I threw the kids 1st birthday, which was a Hip-Hop Themed Birthday party and I was panicked on how to keep the fun-train going, so when I came up with a brunch themed party aka Pancakes and Pjs – it felt right. If you haven’t noticed.. my kids get down at a brunch. I turned to the most creative people I knew to make it a reality aka the dream maker herself – Julie Savage-Parkeh of Strawberry Milk Events, who possesses more creativity in her left pinky than I do even if I tried really hard for a year and asked if we could host it at her super chic space – Studio Milk.

Pancake Stack Birthday Cake by Buttercream Bakeshop — Pancake Stack Birthday Cake by **Buttercream Bakeshop** // Photography by **Photography by Jessica B**

Julie masterminded the perfect balance of #vibey meets playful and whimsical that could be just as fun for the adults as it would be for the kids.

I asked for black and white, but Julie suggested popping it with some neon and I was very on-board. Last thing I asked was that the cake was a stack of Pancakes which I knew Buttercream Bakeshop would nail and… they did. Almost the whole day, people walked by it in admiration of how cool that stack of pancakes was while simultaneously wondering where the hell the cake was. It wasn’t until we sang ‘happy birthday’ that our guests put it together. Mission accomplished. Julie assembled the A-Team and went for it.

Photos Just Couldn’t Do Painted Fruit Mantle Justice // Planning and Design by Strawberry Milk Events // Painted Fruit Heirloom DC

Let’s start with the food, which had to be on-point because helllllo brunch-themed birthday.

Enter the best of the best in DC – Heirloom DC – who doesn’t just make delicious food, they style the F out of it so it’s cool. The food was so damn cute. Our guests were questioning whether or not they should ruin the food decor, ha! From mini avocado toasts to mini charcuterie slabs; individual omelette skillets, steak frites, one-bite crab with tiny fried eggs on top and of course a pancake station. The food was so good I still think about those steak frites, legitimately. The coolest part was all the extras that Vicky Theodorou – CEO of Heirloom DC did. THEY PAINTED FRUIT and my kids favorite items – SPOONS with some help from Atelier Ashley Flowers too!

Planning and Design by Strawberry Milk Events // Balloons by All About Balloons // Boxwood Shelves and Furniture by Social Supply Events // Bites by Heirloom DC

So setting the vibe is V V V important and Julie told me about The Social Supply aka the people who build and create the coolest sh*t you can think of. I will say this and they way overdelivered. I don’t know how I am going to have another party without a ball pit ! Every kid was in there and the twins hardly moved {except to eat their faces off in pancakes and cake} from it. The whole stage was set from lounge furniture to boxwood shelves to the Mimosa bar. There’s literally no limit to their creativity. It was like a perfectly orchestrated song. It all just flowed.

pancakes and pjs birthday - The Twin's 2nd birthday party — Photography by **Photography by Jessica B**

pancakes and pjs birthday - the twins — Planning and Design by **Strawberry Milk Events** // Ballpit by **Social Supply Events** // Photography by **Photography by Jessica B**

Can we talk about the balloon situation for a moment?

The twins LOVE balloons {or as they say balla}. All About Balloons made the most colorful masterpieces from the moment you walked in the doorway to exploding out of the fireplace to – wait for it – fried egg shaped balloons! I LOVED. The twins couldn’t handle their excitement.

Design by All About Balloons

I’m going to be honest here.

Every single dream of what I thought this would look like was exceeded exponentially. Oh my gosh the twins didn’t stop smiling the whole time they went 2 hours past nap time, which parents you will know that’s f-ing playing with fire! No tears! Only smiles!