Honey Bee Birthday Treats

Since we are still allowed to send treats in for birthdays (yippee!), my daughter wanted bee cupcakes. We were worried the Pringles wings wouldn't make it down the hill in my bicycle basket without breaking, so we waited to put the wings on after we arrived at school. 

A Party Fit for a Queen

A queen bee, that is...

It's hard to believe my baby just turned eight. She really doesn't appreciate being called "my baby," but that's what she'll always be - my sweet little girl, even though she's not so little any more. Second grade has been a good year for her. She's developed into a great thinker - whether it is mathematical problem solving, spelling patterns or reading fourth grade level books - she does a super job. Each day she is getting better at controlling her temper and remembering that it's more important to be a good friend than it is to get your way all the time. I'm so proud of her. And I love that even though she's eight, she still wants me to tuck her into bed every night.

For her party, I made the bee dress and our friend, Miranda, whipped up that adorable crown - Her Majesty didn't take off off all day. You should have seen her face light up when she saw her place at the table. Plus we tried to call her things like "Your Majesty," "Your Ladyship" and "Your Highness" pretty much all day long. Each time we did it we got the look, but I know she secretly loved it.

We know quite a bit about bees 'round here, so Her Royal Majesty laughed heartily when she noticed that all the female party guests had name cards, while the male's place cards simply said, "Drone." She even told her brother  she was going to kick him out of the house after the party. He so didn't appreciate that...

About a week before the party she managed to find my stash of party goodies and noticed the bottles of Diet Vernors in the tub. She smiled to herself and said,"It's going to be nectar, isn't it?" Guess I'm not as clever as I thought...

However, borrowing the yellow hexagon pattern blocks from school and raiding our Honey Bee Tree game for free table decorations was quite clever. 

And, of course, what bee themed party would be complete without one of Grandpa's favorite candies?

As usual, Allen made the cake. (He found it here.) He made a few changes and described his result as, "A complete fail," but I disagree. It looked cute and was really good, though I don't think it was sweet enough for the Queen. (Allen says that if he made it again he'd decrease the amount of cocoa by one or two tablespoons, and increase the amount of sugar in the pastry cream. That said, it was delicious with my coffee this morning.) In the cooking department, I got off easy this year. K requested chicken nuggets, french fries, green bean casserole and honey buns for dinner. As a rule we do not eat chicken nuggets and french fries at home  - ever. But what the Queen wants on her birthday, the Queen gets.

In the end, my little honey loved her bee themed birthday dinner. Since she was happy, I was happy. And, luckily, in the end, she decided not to kick her brother out of the house...

Find free bee party printables here, here, here, and over here. The garland I used came form here.  Some cute bee fonts can be found here and here. I found the background of my nectar labels here and the little bee here.