Bumble Bee Birthday Party

“Fun to Bee One” Bumble Bee Birthday

I had been planning Elle’s “Fun to Bee One” bumble bee birthday party in the back of my mind since she was 6 months old. It all came together beautifully and I wanted to share some of what made the “Fun to Bee One” party a success.

Before I dive in, let me stress that all of my parties are small space and small budget. I hope that can be an encouragement for some other families out there. Now, let’s get started.

Bumble Bee Invitations

First off, it was no coincidence that Elle was a bumble for Halloween. I took photos of her in her costume and then designed this invitation (I censored the time and place, because this is the internet after all.) The Bumble birthday party invites were printed on 4×6 photo paper at Costco for 13 cents a piece.

Bumble Bee Photo Collage

I decorated this old door with photos of the birthday girl. I made a pom-pom garland of yellow and black and picked up some scrap book paper from Hobby Lobby to use as a frame for the photos.

Bumble Bee Birthday Outfits

We didn’t totally coordinate, but I tried dressing the family in yellow and black.

SJ was also a bumble bee for Halloween so her outfit for the bumble bee birthday party was a no brainer.

DIY Bumble Bee Piñata

You probably spotted the piñata in the photo. This was one of my favorite parts. This is my 5th DIY piñata and I’m proud to say the whole concept was my own.

The body was made from a papier mache balloon covered in streamers. The antenna were from SJ’s bee costume. The face was simply card stock, marker, and googly eyes I pulled off of one of the kid’s art projects. The wings were a wire hanger with white panty hose. In other words the whole thing was made almost entirely from items found around the house.

I’ll admit, it wasn’t my best work in terms of functionality. The whole bee sort of dropped off of the string instead of gradually bursting open and flinging candy everywhere.

It wasn’t a total wash though. Would you look at those smiles!?

Side note, in the background you’ll see the compost pile I wrote a tutorial for a few months ago.

Bumble Bee Birthday Party Decor

The yellow gift bags were from the Dollar Tree and were used for gathering piñata candy. They also made good weights for the balloons and they had a wallet size print of Elle in them. So that was our party favor.

The party was buffet style, but I set the table anyway to make it look festive. Most of these paper products were from Amazon and since I had a lot of left over unused plates and decorations I sold it all for 20 bucks on Craig’s List. Score!

We served water or lemonade for beverages and the stripes on the lemons were colored with a thick black sharpie. I actually had a dream that we served lemon wedge bumble bees on the edge of a glass and that’s where the idea came from.

I found this little guy for a dollar at a yard sale over the summer and hung him from the ceiling.

Bumble Bee Cupcakes

The cupcakes were made with white cloud frosting tinted yellow and topped with chocolate sprinkles. The cupcake wrappers were from Amazon and they were so fun because one side was striped and the other side was bumble bee and bee hives. The bee hive side I used for the snack cups which were filled with Honey Comb cereal. Lastly, the cupcake stand was the cheap pink cardboard one that we have used over and over and painted black for Ezie’s batman party. This was the last use though. J made me throw it away. In all fairness, it was time. 

I think this busy little baby enjoyed her first birthday party and so far I’d say she’s proving that it really is fun to bee one.