“Bee” prepared to be wowed by the BEE-utiful details of this charming Honey & Bee themed 2nd birthday party styled by Liz Archard from The Papered Nest!  The yellow, white and gray color palette of this super sweet party works wonderfully to convey the delightful innocence of a two-year old while adding an enchanting vintage vibe.

Liz was certainly a busy little bee preparing for this party. She used an abundant amount of handmade decorations including gorgeous homemade paper rosettes, decorative paper fans, hand-dyed doilies, DIY wooden cupcake stands and more. (Don’t miss the patterned cake pop sticks too…LOVE them!)

KEEP READING, honey…You’ll be buzzing for weeks when you see all of the bee-licious details Liz used to transform her yard into a stunning paradise for any bee lover. Warning: You may experience a breakout of hives from all of the sticky-sweet charm.

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Liz…

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Inspirations

I chose a Honey & Bee theme for my daughter’s 2nd birthday because ‘bee’ was one of her first words (other than names!). I decided on a Yellow, Grey and white color theme because I felt these color gave the party a soft vintage feel. After the 2 hardest (but fun!) decisions were made I started collecting goodies for months before the party!

Decor

It was a hot summer’s day so we set the party up outside. By using Honey & Bee elements I transformed our front yard into a Bees’ paradise! I tried to look at the yard as a whole as well as make features out of the food tables. Using compostable hexagon plates which I painted yellow, white and left some natural, I made a honey comb pattern that climbed the boundary walls. I also made bees from kraft circles and dyed doiles with trails made from stickers which I placed amoungst the honeycomb backdrop. I framed 3 of these behind the savoury food table to highlight the theme.

Food

I set up 3 tables, sweets, savouries & drinks. On the savoury table we had a honey tasting station as well as some honey and cheese pairings – there were a variety of ‘vesels’ to consume the honey along with kid friendly snacks, like fruit, popcorn & bite sized cheese. I anchored the back of this table with a vintage window I have had for years, decorated with some paper fans and handmade paper rosettes.

Dessert

I used the hutch from my daughter’s room on the sweets table to help display all the yummy treats. Where possible I tied the food together by sticking to either the honey/bee theme or the color scheme. Some treats included chocolate covered oreos with a honeycomb pattern, choc covered honeycomb, honey flavored rock candy, coconut cupcakes with honeycomb fondant toppers and sugar bees. My Mum helped me bake the beehive birthday cake and we topped it with a filagree number 2 lollipop. I displayed some of the cupcakes on mini wooden cupcake stands and dotted them around the table. I found wooden letters to spell out ‘honey bee’ and a vintage honey sign in the months before the party, so used these to help set the dessert table. I used more of the handmade paper rosettes and doilies to decorate this table also.

Beverages

I kept the drink table simple by just displaying all the glasses beside a beehive beverage dispenser. I used square Mason Jars with pewter stamped lids for the kids and the larger ball glasses for the adults. I decorated them with drink kits from our Etsy store (ThePaperedNest). In keeping with the Honey & Bee theme we served a Bees Kness cocktail and an assortment of Honey beers.

Activities

Because this was a party for a 2 year old and her friends I wanted some specifically kid only areas – the little ones seem to love that! So I used our umbrella with a misquito net to create a hive like area for the kids, where they could find toys, an easel and a bench wth activities. Each child got a bucket with a felt bee hat and activity inside. The activity was a wooden beehive cut-out which I painted yellow and sheets of stickers to decorate with – stickers seem to be an easy and entertaining activity for 2 year olds! The kids loved buzzing around in their bee hats! I also used these same cut-outs with the food labels on the tables.

Party Favors

There were favors for the Children and adults, the kids got a wooden honey pot and dipper along with some honeysticks, while the adults got a beeswax candle in place of the wooden honeypot. I used the kraft favor bag kits from our store which I decorated with a honeycomb patterned paper.

We all had a great day/night celebrating with family and friends & I had such a great time during the planning!