Just Jen: August 2012

I can hardly believe my baby girl is already a year old! I had decided months ago to do a honey bee theme for her party, so I had plenty of time to work out the details in my head. I have to say, I was really happy with the way it turned out!

I designed her invitation and used this envelope from Paper-Source in a lovely shimmery gold - just like honey!

I made a paper mache beehive with a balloon then layered cut strips of tissue paper on the outside using double stick tape. It could have been a pinata, but since all our guests were such wee ones, we skipped that. I wanted to hang it above her cake, but it didn't make sense to just have it suspended in mid air. It really needed to be hanging from something...like a tree branch...just like on her invite. I should get extra credit for consistency, right? :)

So I made her a tree! "Andie's Birthday Tree" as Jack calls it. It took an entire 30 ft. roll of craft paper and a whole day, but it was definitely worth the effort! (I probably could have used another 10 ft. or so to beef up the trunk at the bottom, though). I had a lot of moral support during the process - Jack kept telling me what a great job I was doing. That and the Olympics kept me well entertained. I twisted and wrinkled the paper to look like branches and hot glued leaves cut from scrapbook paper. I hung the entire thing with fishing line tied to the railing around our loft above, so attaching it to the wall wasn't necessary. The bees were made from yarn and threaded with fishing line, swarming around the hive and flying all around the room above our guests' heads. At the last minute, I decided to attach her monthly chalkboard pics down the trunk with little clothespins.

Now, I have come to the realization that I am not a baker. But I wanted to decorate her cupcakes myself, so I had Market Street bake them plain with the icing on the side. I was inspired by these cupcakes on Pinterest, and with a little YouTube research, I figured out how to make petals with icing using Wilton decorating tip #103. So easy and fun with the oreo centers! The fondant bees were a little time consuming (I made 40 of them), but not difficult at all! It's kind of like working with really soft clay.

I wanted something special for Andie's cake, so I took a chance and baked it in my giant cupcake pan. I figured it it didn't come out perfect, it's not like she was going to tell anyone. :) I kind of over-filled the bottom so it would be taller. Once it cooled, I flipped it upside down and used the domed part of the cupcake on top, shaping it with a knife to create a beehive shape.

It was definitely an experiment, and I was a little nervous about how it was going to turn out. I was very happy with it, though and she was too! She made a pretty good dent in it and wasn't showing any signs of slowing down when we finally had to take it away. :)

I made her little queen bee headband along with matching bee headbands for all her little friends to wear. I honestly didn't expect them to be worn much as little ones tend to be fickle about having things on their heads, but they all kept them on for most of the party, and they were TOO CUTE.

Jack kept with the bee theme, but in the most manly way with his Transformers Bumblebee tee. Yes, that is cupcake icing on his shirt. :)

The other food consisted of lemonade and 2 snack mixes - one for the babies and one for the big people. The baby snack mix was made up of Multi Grain Cheerios, Gerber Graduates Puffs, and Gerber Graduates Yogurt Melts. The other mix was honey roasted peanuts, golden raisins, Butter Snaps Pretzels, and Honeycomb Cereal coated with white chocolate and peanut butter. Yummy!

The favors were honey sticks from Desert Creek Honey.

It was pouring rain the day of her party, but it was sunny and happy inside! I had so much fun putting it together for my sweet girl. Special thanks to my patient husband who I kind of maybe flipped out on about 15 minutes before the party was supposed to start because the carpet still needed to be vacuumed... He always saves the day. And thanks to my sister for staying over the night before to help me put the finishing touches in place (and distract the kids). And of course, thanks to all our special guests! We are so happy you came!!

You can find my entire party inspiration board on Pinterest here. There's a lot of great stuff there that I didn't get to use!