How to Throw a Bee Party on a Dollar Store Budget

Planning a bee birthday party or baby shower? I've got you!

When my oldest son turned three, he was insistent that he was going to have a bee birthday party!

And you know me, I'm a huge fan of pollinators in general and even bees so I was game.

This is a full comprehensive look at my son's third birthday party - including some brand new things like a free downloadable invitation template and activity ideas!

To keep out party under budget, we made a lot of things ourselves and used items that were available from the dollar store. In fact, very few of the items we used to pull the party together didn't come from the dollar store!

Bee birthday party or baby shower ideas for families on a budget

Bee Party Invitations

For the bee party invitations, I designed simple yellow, black and white invitations in Photoshop and had them printed at a 4x6 size to hand out to his friends. 

If you're planning a bee-themed party and need invites, I have these available now as a free personalizable download! (download bee party invitations here)

Bee Costume and Bee Accessories

For his bee party, K wore a bee shirt we made for the occasion. 

It actually didn't have wings yet (those came later to turn it into a Halloween costume) but it was super fun to wear.

See how to make the bee shirt / costume here.

We also had bee headbands for his friends to wear.

(we just attached these Bumpy Chenille Stems to some headbands leftover from the Panda Party)

Bee Party Food Ideas

To decorate the food table, we hung up yellow and black tablecloths vertically against the wall as well as covered the table in a yellow table cloth with a black table skirt. 

We added bees from the teaching section of Dollar Tree to the backdrop. On the table we had...

Bee cake pops

Making these bee cake pops was an adventure to say the least!! See my post about the Bee Pops here.

A bee birthday cake

My son also insisted on having a regular bee cake to go along with the cake pops. 

A cake with a similar design that we saw on display at Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts is really what inspired the whole party.

Learn how to make a bee cake here - it's really easy!

Bee Pudding Cups

For a snack, we had striped bee pudding. 

To make it, I just layered vanilla pudding (dyed yellow) and chocolate pudding (dyed black) in clear cups from the dollar store.

For a healthier twist on the same idea, you could use yogurt instead of pudding.

Bee Themed Food Table Accessories

We wrapped water bottles with yellow duck tape and added black stripes using electric tape to fit the bee theme.

We also served an assortment of fresh veggies, crackers, cheese, apple slices and dip on black and yellow plates.

We also added black stripes to a yellow silverware holder using electric tape.

Bee Party Activities

"Build a Bee" Activity Station

I purchased Jointed Paper Bees as well as assorted pom poms, chenille stems and googley eyes. 

I found the little yellow tubs to hold the supplies at Dollar Tree. 

I had a glue gun available for big kids (and for adults to help with) as well as white glue. 

In retrospect, I would have just gone with a couple bottles of Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue and skipped hot glue all together so an adult didn't need to babysit it.

"Color a Bee-utiful Picture" Activity Station

For the bee themed coloring station, I printed off a variety of bee coloring pages and set them out with tubs of crayons so kids could color their own bees. 

Just Google "bee coloring pages" for lots of great options.

Bee Hunt

For the bee hunt, we made a small army of bees from leftover Easter eggs (you can also just order bags of Yellow Easter Eggs here). 

Each of the kids got a personalized bee bag to collect their bees in as well as take home their other party favors. 

See how to make Bee Hunt bees here.

See how to make striped party favor bags here.

Bee Party Favors

Everyone got to take home a personalized (reusable) bee favor bag. 

We were also able to use the bee bags on the bee hunt.

See how to make reusable bee favor bags here.

Each child got to "adopt a bubble bee" to put in his or her bag.

See how to make "bubble bee" party favors here.

They also got to keep their bee hunt bees (and the goodies inside)

Learn how to make bee hunt bees here.

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Overall we had a great time!

I won't lie, though: it was a ton of work up front! 

Huge props again to Niina for humoring me and my crazy bee party vision. 

She literally spent hours with me making bee hunt bees and bee pops and the bee cake and....the list goes on. 

I get worn out just thinking about all the stuff we did! 

None of it was hard - just time consuming. Be sure to start working on your party projects a few weeks ahead of time to avoid a crazy last minute scramble.

About the Author:

Carissa Bonham is a lifelong crafter and mom of two creative boys. The owner and lead writer at Creative Green Living, she won the Craftys Award for the "Best Craft Blogger" category in 2016 and the ShiftCon award for "Best DIY Blogger" in 2018.

Her creative pursuits don't stop at crafts - she is also the author of the hardcover cookbook, Beautiful Smoothie Bowls (Skyhorse, 2017) and several ebooks. Her projects have been featured in magazines like Kids Crafts 1-2-3, Capper's Farmer and Urban Farm Magazine. Follow her on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter or join the Creative Green Living community group.

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