I feel like this is one of the first times I have actually gotten the time and headspace to plan and celebrate Grayson’s birthday! The weeks leading up to his birth were crazy! You can read about that here! Then last year we were readjusting getting back home after yet another surgery for Justin. So it was so nice to actually be able to plan and fully celebrate Grayson!

Birthday Theme

I searched high and low on Pinterest for ideas for his birthday theme. I kinda hate the overdone themes. Last year we did a circus theme because honestly, our life was a darn circus at that time! This year winter seems to never be leaving so when I stumbled on the BEE-day birthday party idea I loved it! Was it a bit girly, maybe. But I think everyone enjoyed the spring feel of our house last week! We had over 30 people over which I think was about the full capacity for our new house! I got everything except for the flowers off amazon, and I’ll be linking those at the end if you’re interested in recreating something like this!

Food

I was going for easy food so we did a build your own sandwich bar, mac and cheese, and potato salad. I also did a veggie tray for an appetizer that went over great. What I loved about the menu was all the veggies for the sandwiches could be precut. I just used pre-sliced deli meat, though I did separate the slices and roll them to make it easier for people to get it on their plates. The mac and cheese I made earlier in the afternoon and just stuck in a crockpot! My mother in law brought the potato salad, so all I had to do was set everything out when everyone got to the bee-day party! I premade the cupcakes on Sunday and kept them in the freezer until the party started on Thursday. Those cupcakes were so tasty! I topped them with the cutest honey suckers and actual honeycomb, along with some cute sugar honey bee candies!

Build Your Own Sandwich

• Bread
  • sourdough
  • wheat
  • white
  • rolls
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Cheese
  • Cheddar
  • Pepper Jack
  • Colby Jack
• Spinach
• Smashed Avocodos – mine were too soft to slice
• Meats – all either Kraft or Hillshire
  • Rotisserie Chicken
  • Turkey Brest
  • Roast Beef
  • Black Forest Ham
  • Hard Salmi
• Sauces
  • mayo
  • yellow mustard
  • hot mustard
  • butter
  • some other fancy mustard- I can not remember but don’t really feel the need to go find it in my fridge not many people tried it.

The one thing I will warn you about for the sandwich bar was that it was a slow process. I warned everyone when we got started and we only sent 3-4 people into the kitchen at a time. It’s times like these I wish I had a huge island in my kitchen to make it flow a bit easier but it worked. When I win the lottery I’ll expand my kitchen, add an island and marble countertops! 🙂

Punch

The punch I made was super tasty, I got the recipe from the Mama Loves Food blog. Super simple recipe too! Just ginger ale, white grape juice, orange sherbert, and frozen strawberries and peaches for garnish! Check out Mama Loves Food for the full recipe.

Decorations for a Bee-Day

Like I mentioned the only birthdays I had found on Pinterest with the BEE-day theme were for girls. Think queen bee. But I wanted to keep it as boy as I could, think barefoot running through the grass just enjoying the sunshine on your face, and grass between your toes! I found these super cute blue buffalo check table cloths that were perfect to balance out the yellow and grey balloon arch. Which is still above our buffet because I keeping it spring-like inside until it actually is spring outside!

Balloon Arch

So I made my first balloon arch for a photo shoot this fall. Now I’m totally hooked! I want to use them for everything. There are two things that make this soo much easier.

1. balloon pump – don’t skip this one
2. balloon arch ribbon

You could totally use fishing twin and a needle to thread the balloon ties through but the arch is pretty cheap and creates a really nice full arch!

honeycomb backdrop

I had found a few ideas on Pinterest where they had made a backdrop out of popsicle sticks. Since we have white walls I decided to paint the popsicle sticks to make them pop and give the theme a bit more masculinity. This was a perfect backdrop for taking photos of Grayson’s cupcake smash the day after the party. Because in complete honesty I did not take a SINGLE PHOTO during the birthday party! Mom and photographer fail! I’m gonna fib and say I was waiting for better light the next afternoon because it was just about dark by the time the party started, but now you know, and that’s okay!

Taking it all in

At the end of the party before everyone left I just stood back in the corner of our dining room and just soaked it all in. Every single person there at that party has been praying for our family over the past two years. They prayed for Grayson before they knew his name. When throwing elaborate birthday parties, it’s easy to get sucked into the comparison trap. This party was something so needed not just to celebrate Grayson turning two, but also to thank those close to us for keeping us in their prayers, and all the other things they have done to support our family these past two years! We were also blessed to get to celebrate with Grayson’s Great Grandma Gerda. She was back from Minnesota for a week and we were pretty excited to show her the house and celebrate both Grayson’s birthday but also grandma Gerda’s. She will be 94 next month! I did think to grab some photos the day before the party when she stopped by to visit, so those are at the end!

Hope this inspires you to throw a Bee-Day birthday party for your little boy! If you do I would love to see it!

Sources

• Balloons
• Balloon Pump
• Balloon Arch Ribbon
• Table Cloths
• Popsicle Sticks for background
• Paint for popsicle sticks
• Honeycomb
• Cupcake liners
• Sugar Candy Bees
• Honey Suckers
• Honey Sticks
• Flowers – Dragonfly Floral and Gift – Tioga
• Black Frame Vase – hobby lobby knock off of magnolia brand ones.

Happy Birthday my sweet little man! It’s crazy to see just how much you have grown up in the past few weeks. You have truly been such a ray of sunshine for so many since before you were born! My little waiting room buddy!

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