I was looking through old parties and came across my son’s 1st Bee day – one of my very first themed parties that I had ever held.  It was (and still is) my FAVORITE first birthday theme.  I am excited to get to help my sister in law plan it for my niece’s first birthday in June.

I just had to revisit these party photos from Jen Carver (Banner Events) that we shared over a year ago.  When we transitioned from our old blog to the new andersruff.com, some of the pictures got a little messed up, so I just had to repost! (Party details following in Jen’s words)

Thanks so much, Jen, for sharing your special BEE day with us!  Read below for the party details (in Jen’s words)…

The Bee Day invitation and coordinating printable tags and decor are available in our shop.

***

How The Party Came to ‘Bee’:

Hanging in our front entrance hall is a vinyl sign which reads:

Be Grateful
Be Smart
Be Involved
Be Clean
Be True
Be Positive
Be Humble
Be Still
Be Prayerful

As a mother, I’ve naturally reflected many times on all the things I hope my little Max will grow up to do and be. Knowing this celebration marked his first major milestone, I thought a “bee” theme would be most appropriate for not only celebrating who he is already ‘bee’-coming, but also to record our hopes and words of wisdom for what he is yet to ‘bee’.

The Party Buzz:
Once the theme was decided, I immediately started looking for gorgeous bee themed party printables and fell in love with Pierson’s First Bee-Day Party (and accompanying graphics) by Anders Ruff Custom Designs (my #1 go-to graphics designers!). After all, throwing a gorgeous party is all in the little details, and these ladies already have ya covered!

Adorable bee themed invitations (customized by Anders Ruff) showcasing our little ‘bee-day’ boy to ‘bee’ were sent out inviting guests to buzz on over to the Carver hive for a celebratory ‘bee-bee-que’.
The guest list consisted of an intimate group of our closest friends who arrived to a spread of various ‘bee-bee-que’ themed dishes and yellow, black & white themed dessert tables & beverage bar sure to please both old and young alike.

Lunch Spread:
Sticking with the ‘bee’ theme, our lunch spread included: ‘bee-bee-que’ chicken burgers, baked ‘bee-ns’, ‘bee-bee-que’ chips, bowtie chicken Caesar salad, & fresh fruit all served on coordinating bee paper goods.

Dessert Table:
I have to admit, styling the dessert tables is my favorite part of event planning! With party guests aged from 1-60, we served up a variety of sweet treats. Some of my favorite details included:

*Bee cake pops (So amazingly delicious and made by Pop.o.licious)
*Two tiered yellow cake with butter cream frosting & fondant bees (Kristin Dyer Cakes)
*Banana Chocolate Brownie Trifle Shooters (using my new push up pop containers!)
*Chocolate covered pretzel rods & marshmallow pops
*Apothecary & candy jars filled with: Spring Oreos with yellow cream centers, yellow rock candy, lemon suckers with Anders Ruff party circles, black licorice, black & yellow gumballs, banana salt water taffy, banana Now and Laters candy
*Custom designer sugar cookies which coordinated perfectly with Anders Ruff graphics from the incredibly talented Allyson Jane.
*Lindt Chocolate Truffle cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting (cupcake toppers from Anders Ruff)

Beverage Stand:
We kept things light and simple with lemonade and water to drink. However, simple doesn’t mean plain and boring!  We dressed up water bottles & glass bottles with Anders Ruff printable beverage wraps & added straws and party flags for some extra festiveness.

Entertainment/Activities:
Photo booths are all the rage at parties these days, and our guests had so much fun picking from a wide variety of props (homemade faux mustaches, lips and/or eye glasses, as well as hats & accessories) and posing for pictures using oversized frames & homemade chalkboard & dry erase board thought and speech bubbles. It kept the kids & teenagers entertained for hours! Even the adults had fun striking a pose!

Our guest ‘sign in’ area consisted of adorable printable coordinating bee themed cards (Anders Ruff) attached to a banner with clothes pins. Guests were invited to leave “wordzzzz” of wisdom for our little bee-day boy. These will all be put into his baby book for him to look at when he is older.

Party Favors:
Guests were thanked for ‘buzzing on by Max’s bee day party’ with an invitation to ‘take some sweets’ home with them by filling up adorable yellow treat containers. Each family was also presented with a sweet little honey bear to take home. In addition, each child took home yellow mini containers of bubbles.

Favorite Details:
There is something about homemade details that I just adore! My good friend Monica Bradshaw of Sook Ee Designs designed & sewed Max’s custom outfit for the party. Using some of the coordinating Anders Ruff patterned papers, as well as miscellaneous supplies I made some high chair bunting and a little birthday hat to match Max’s adorable outfit. It added the extra cute factor during his birthday smash cake photos & was that touch of homemade that I enjoy adding to all my events.

A few of my other favorite details are the little party drink flags, (also made from Anders Ruff honeycomb printable paper), black & white striped straws and polka dot balloons.

***
Vendor Credits:
Styling and Production: Jen Carver of Banner Events
Custom Invitation & Party Printables: Anders Ruff Custom Designs
Photography: Mi Vida Photography (party photos) & Jennifer Wilcox Photography (birthday invitation photo)
Custom cookies: Allyson Jane
Custom outfit: Sook Ee Designs
Cake: Kristin Dyer
Cake pops: Pop.o.licious Cake Pops
Cupcake liners & stripe straws: Hey Yo Yo
Polka dot balloons: Party City
Candy: Oh Nuts! http://www.ohnuts.com/ & Party City
Cupcake stands/baskets: WalMart
Push up pop containers: JBPrince
Yellow treat boxes: Walmart
Photo booth props & high chair bunting: handmade using Silhouette
Party hat: handmade