Pancake Day is upon us. Okay, it's a little later than previous years (the big day is on Tuesday 1st March this year), and you can have pancakes whenever you please, but we see the day as a big celebration.
Pancake Day always arrives 47 days before Easter and this year marries up with a brand new month and the start of Spring.
To celebrate the wondrous day, we've selected our favourite pancake GIFs that we will be using on social media/sending to our loved ones all day long.
Normally when we want pancakes, we don't get pancakes
Nobody judges you for eating all of the pancakes ever
Well, fine. Some people might. But they're the sort of people that aren't worth a single spoonful of batter anyway.
We can have as much golden syrup as we gosh darn please!
When else do we get syrup in abundance, eh? NEVER!
We can live the whipped cream dream
Syrup not your thing? Roll on the whipped cream, in all of its creamy white glory. Calories can take a hike for one night!
Everyone can have a go
Sure, we might not all be the best pancake flippers in the world, but there's no harm in trying, is there? It's all about having a go, as our grannies would say...
And everyone can enjoy themselves
There are NO frowny faces on Pancake Day.
Well, mostly everyone
But even the grumpy people look good when supping on pancakes. It's some sort of weird science thing - we don't understand it either!
We are actually encouraged to play with our food
LOOK HOW HIGH WE CAN FLIP IT!
And, sure, sometimes it doesn't go to plan...
But that's what memories are MADE OF, we'll have you know!
Most importantly of all? Nobody is rejected
It doesn't matter how badly your pancake attempts go, someone is guaranteed to eat them. Because it's PANCAKE DAY, yeah? It's the one day of the year when you can get away with serving a lumpy and burnt piece of batter - so long as you cover it in delicious toppings.
Essentially, it's a day of acceptance and eating. And we really like that.
Why do we have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday?
Lent, particularly when it was practiced more widely and strictly, marked a time to eat simpler food, and give up things like sweet, rich and dairy ingredients. What's better to use up all of those ingredients than using them all for pancake batter?
The day before the season started was therefore the ideal time to make pancakes as a means to use up leftover eggs, milk and sugar.