Bumble Bee "Bee-Day" Birthday Party

I chose a bumble bee theme for my little one's 2nd "bee-day" party. It was a huge hit with both the little ones and the adults. A bee theme would also make for a great baby shower theme ("mom-to-bee"). Below are some pictures from the party with the details. Bright yellow and black and white graphic prints were the palate for this bee theme party. I ordered some simple party supplies and embellished them to give them a custom look. I also made a graphic bee-day banner using scrapbook paper from Michaels in coordinating colors. I purchased stencils (in the past I've printed them from online but that requires the extra step of cutting out the printed letters), traced them onto the scraps of paper after cutting the squares for the background. I was able to make the banner weeks in advance so setup was a snap.

For the invitations, I ordered these great "buzzing bees" cards from Paper Culture. The cards, as listed, are just notecards (i.e. name listed as the only text on the card). I had a designer at Paper Culture add invitation-style text, and changed the color from purple to hot pink. (Note: some designs at Paper Culture and others cannot be changed due to agreements with the designer so be sure to inquire first). I also added a picture to the back of the invite - the little miss was dressed as a bumble bee for Halloween so we had a great picture to go with the theme. I ordered matching thank you cards. The cake was by far my biggest project. I made the bumble bees out of marzipan tinted with yellow food coloring, painted the lines with black gel food coloring and used sliced almonds as the wings. I'll do a detailed how-to post later this week. They were a project but I was able to make them 3 weeks in advance so they were easy to just add to the cake right before the party. I used wire from a cake decorating store to make the bees swarm the top of the cake. I added a few gluten-free options to the dessert table, including teff brownies and yellow and dark chocolate bumble bees. For the favors, I wrapped chocolate bees in cello wrap and tied them with yellow bows. I printed labels for the favors - "Thanks for Bee-ing Here" - from an Avery template online (I used a houndstooth border, added a bee graphic from Avery's gallery and added text). The little ones at the party also received cute Skip Hop Bumble Bee Straw Cups.

I used a bumble bee rubber stamp to add a little something to store-bought yellow paper cups. The stamp also came in handy for "Bee Mine" Valentine's Day cards from the little one.

I made bumble bee antennas using black fabric headbands, black and yellow pipe cleaners and black sparkly pom poms. I made a special pair for the bee-day girl with larger gold pom poms, which were a little more floppy due to the extra weight, but still very cute. I set up a honey and cheese pairing, which was beyond delicious. The pairings included aged cheddar with lavender honey, Roquefort with clover honey, and taleggio with truffle-infused honey. The latter was my favorite - an amazing combo if you like truffles. The rest of the menu included a mix of foods with bee-inspired colors and honey flavors. I served black bean and mango salsa with yellow corn tortilla chips (recipe will be in a future post), honey wheat pretzels with honey-mustard dipping sauce, stingers (breaded chicken tenders) with a honey-pecan BBQ sauce, baked beans, stinger slaw (cabbage, carrots and orange slaw with a mild chipotle vinaigrette), BBQ chips and dill pickles. Check out my bee theme party board on Pinterest for more bee party ideas. Resources: Yellow tissue balls Black tissue balls (the assembly is not as easy as the yellow) Bee stamp - Michaels Cake supplies - NY Cake