Wednesday, April 4, 2012

First Bee-day: Bumblebee Brunch



I had the best time planning my son's First Birthday (or Bee-day as I prefer to call it) party!!!! My chandelier over my dining table launched the whole theme as it looks like a bee-hive, of course coupled with the irony that kids can have honey after they're one...who could resist that theme?! Some of these items could be super cute for just a springtime or Easter party! I have SOOOO many DIY projects at play here I think I about drove my husband, Mom and Grandma crazy with them all....as I did put them to work! I'll try to break down the projects:





Invitations: Just cardstock. I designed them in photoshop using images found online (such as the green honeycomb and black outline) I then added a Martha Stewart bee for a 3D touch!


Mimosa Charms: Same ol' cardstock and photoshop. Used different theme oriented images to distinguish each glass. Punched a hole at the top and tied a ribbon around....Voila, Mimosa charms!

Bees on Beehive Chandelier: These were a labor of love from my Mom, Grandma and me. (Thank you ladies) These cute little bees are made of black and yellow pom poms (3/4") hot glued together. Next, we wrapped floral wire around to be able to attach them to the chandelier. Last, we hot glued the wings which were just cut from wax paper. These turned out amazing! We had a couple flying away from the "hive" These were on spirals that were supposed to go on the cake to hold my fondant bees....but my fondant bees were too heavy...oh well!
Beehive Cake: This was some work! But, so worth it! The big beehive is a 5 layer cake. I set out to make it from scratch but later gave in to Betty Crocker. To make the big beehive and mini (smash cake) I used 3 yellow Betty Crocker Cake mixes and 1 Milk Chocolate Betty Crocker cake mix. The icing was also Betty Crocker Whipped Buttercream. Delicious! I baked 3, 9" yellow cake rounds and 2, 9" chocolate. I leveled the cakes stacked them yellow, chocolate, yellow, chocolate, yellow (to give a beehive stripe effect). I used just a little icing between layers. Next, using a bread knife, carved the towering cake in to the shape of a beehive and added a crumb coat of icing. I tinted the icing slightly with ivory icing color and whipped it to help double in size. I piped the rounds using the rope tip by Wilton...believe was #99. Did all this the same for the mini cake but used 2 rounds of 4" cake pans and only used yellow cake.

Fondant Bees: I wish I could lay claim to these cute little things, but alas, I cannot. I found a YouTube video on how to make these and they came out just like they look in the tutorial. I had no experience prior to working with fondant or any of the cake decorating tools. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOX79uoN_vo

King Bee High Chair Sign: Just cardstock cut in circles using a compass and the letters are leftover adhesive letters from my DIY Closet Divider project. I just weaved ribbon to join them all.

Pennant: I just used fabric scraps incorporated into the party, cut them into triangles, hemmed the edges and joined with a handmade bias tape.

Menu: Bee-nana Bread, Honey-Nut Cheerios, Honeycomb cereal, Chicken Biscuits, Sun-dried Tomato Baked Brie served with crackers & grapes, Sausage Cups, Flower Tea Sandwiches (PB&J, Egg Salad), Bee Wings (Baguette with goat cheese, pine nuts, green onion & drizzled in honey), Fruit Bees (Blackberry, Pineapple ball...using melon scooper, Blackberry on skewer) We also had a Nectar Station where ice water was served with sliced lemon and lime rounds and you could find Milk, OJ and Mimosas.


Honey Favors: I ordered these from http://www.ebeehoney.com/honeyfavors.html They were fantastic to work with! Received them really fast! They came undecorated. I just put fabric over the top and tied them off with some twine adding a cardstock note that read "Thanks for buzzing by"

Wheat Grass Center Pieces:  I grew the wheat grass myself in cheap terracotta pots I got from Home Depot. The wheat grass was from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E7QYNG/ref=oh_o04_s00_i00_details We started the growing process about 9 days before the party. This would really be a cute center piece for Easter with either eggs or bees in the grass. The bees in my center piece are the fondant bees stuck on a bamboo cooking skewer I got from my local grocery store.

Crochet Bumblebees: I originally wanted to make these in addition to a soft beehive the kids could put the bees in the beehive....but that was a sewing flop so we just had these in a basket for a 1-year-old friendly game of putting the bees in the basket. An older guest (4 yrs old) tossed them into the basket at different distances. I found this cute free pattern here:  http://www.crochetspot.com/crochet-pattern-baby-bumblebee/



Little Boy Bow Tie: I had my heart set on my son wearing a preppy yellow bow tie....I could not find one in ANY of the stores! The only place I found them in abundance was Etsy...but not the right fabric...and a bit overpriced. Lucky for me I found this great tutorial! http://papernstitchblog.com/2011/03/29/diy-craft-project-how-to-make-the-cutest-boys-bowtie-in-time-for-easter/

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