Search Past Posts

Blog Archive

Monday, July 2, 2012

Bumblebee Party {on a budget}: Avery's 3rd Birthday

Back in February I asked Avery what kind of birthday party she wanted to have this year.

Her response? Bumblebees.

Um, okay.

I asked her again on multiple occasions because, really, what kid asks for a bumblebee party? She was adamant about the theme. That and the fact that she wanted "all of her friends to come."

Well we couldn't invite all of her friends (our house just isn't all that big!), but we did invite a lot of her friends, and her party turned out exactly how she wanted it.


We decided to have an outside party at home. Since we live in Texas where summers are basically unbearable, that outside party needed to be in the morning.

We started off with breakfast (pancakes on a stick without the stick, breakfast cupcakes, and fruit salad {strawberries, blueberries, and bananas}). The kiddos got juice boxes and adults had to make do with water or tea.

(taken before the table was completely set up, but you get the idea)



Then the kids just got to play. There was a bounce house, face painting, and a BEEn bag toss in addition to our regular backyard amenities (haha!), which include a water table, fort/swingset, slide, and new trampoline.













Avery got her pink bumblebee cake as requested! It was so incredibly delicious with Blue Bell vanilla bean ice cream. We may have devoured the whole thing in one day. Give us a break though, we shared with lots of people.





Avery was so sweet and asked all of her friends to help her open her presents. Y'all. I was SO proud of her because it got crazy. We're talking kids up in her face, grabbing at everything, massive chaos crazy. She was so patient though and even told each friend thank you for their gift after she opened it. And boy was that girl spoiled! In addition to all of the great toys from her friends, NeNe and Pop Pop got her a trampoline (happy birthday to all of us, haha!), and Grandma and Grandaddy gave her an adorable table with chairs (that my mom painted!) and art supplies to keep her stocked for awhile!


We are SO thankful to all of our friends and family who came to Avery's party and made her day so special. She had an absolute blast, and it meant the world to us that so many came to celebrate her!


And because this blog is basically Avery's baby book, here's her party guestbook: Mom, Dad, and Landon, Grandma and Grandaddy, NeNe and Pop Pop, Aunt Carrie, Aunt Allison and Isaac, Uncle Nick and Aunt Brittany, Amy, Jacob (Ricky and Candace), Carissa and Ryan (Amy and Jason), Lily (Clint and Iris), Anne (Shannon), Hailey (Beth), Robert (LaDonna), JoJo and Samantha (Karen), Luke and Zane (Luke and Meagan), Emma, Jacob (Amy).


We kept this party very budget friendly. I did all sorts of Pinterest searches to find bumblebee party ideas, but y'all. People go way too crazy with their party planning. So I decided to forget that nonsense and just go with the flow. Which is actually quite freeing, go figure. It's not like the kids care about that fancy schmancy stuff anyway. For those interested in the breakdown, here you go.


Bounce house: borrowed from sister-in-law
Bean bag toss: made by mother-in-law
Face painting: mother-in-law
Cake: The Cake Guys (my mom had a coupon for a free cake, so we just had to pay $10 for the decorating)
Favors: Pinterest-inspired DIY, Oriental Trading and Dollar Tree


Food: Aldi and Costco
Custom Birthday Plate: Etsy (gift from my mom)
Canopies, tables, and chairs: borrowed from church
Photography: Allison Jean Photo (my super talented sister. Any good pictures on this post are from her.)