For my 30th birthday this year, we wanted to have a big party and of course, I like a good theme, so since Melissa actually means “honeybee” in Greek, and Wyatt and I have special significance to bees as a symbol, a BEE-Day bash seemed like the perfect fit.

Wyatt also had the amazing idea of doing a giant charcuterie spread for food. It’s my favorite date night or special occasion food and I already eat way more cheese than most people probably would ever expect or find normal. So, we bought Sam’s Club out of cheese (just kidding-sort of), Wyatt baked a BUNCH of homemade sourdough (the BEST!), and we had some meats and my favorite accompaniments. Then, we asked people to bring their favorites cheeses or charcuterie style snacks too.

Oh, and for drinks, Wyatt made a batch of homebrewed beer (Yes, he bakes bread and makes beer and builds me things and fixes our cars. I married UP, friends!) and we had a fun signature cocktail inspired by my favorite drink, a honey ginger moscow mule, plus water and lemonade for those who aren’t on the “hard stuff.”

We mixed up the honey syrup, ginger, vodka, and lime juice and had them in my awesome beehive beverage dispenser we got on a vacation several years ago (here’s a similar one that is so cute! ) ready for people to add the finishing touches to as they poured their own refills. I typed up the instructions and we made sure to include a warning that the mixture contained alcohol!

Here’s the recipe we used for the cocktail base:

• 1.5 cups honey + 1.5 cups water (mixed on low heat to make a simple syrup)
• 4 ounces ground ginger (We used one of these to make it super quick and easy)
• 1 cup lime juice
• 2 cups vodka

Mix those together and strain out the ginger chunks if you’d like (or not if you want rustic). Then you just have guests mix it themselves by filling their cup with ice (to the top!), then halfway up with the cocktail base, and the rest of the way with either ginger ale, ginger beer, or lime flavored club soda, depending on your budget and their preferred amount of ginger and sweetness per drink. (For instance, I normally use ginger beer for Moscow mules…but the price point for a large group will be a LOT lower with ginger ale.)

Just remember to have them fill the cup with ice BEFORE they fill it halfway up with the cocktail base or they’ll get a lot more per cup than I’d recommend! 😉 

Anyway, back to the party details.

My father-in-law picked a bunch of wildflowers for me to make some table bouquets from. And they were perfect! And yes, I had that cute vintage cheese box already. It holds trivia cards that are fun conversation starters.

My goal was to have a lot of activities to keep people playing and talking…without spending a bunch of money. So, we went simple. I also created these cute little honeybee joke cards and printed them to put on the tables. Then, Will and I worked together to create a couple sets of honeybee tic-tac-toe by painting some rocks we had.

Will had so much fun helping me paint them, and did a great job with the big yellow stripes while I added the details.

We did this entire project in about an hour plus some extra dry time between the layers of craft paint.

After I painted them, I sprayed them with two coats of clear gloss to protect the paint from chipping off, and so far, they are looking as good as new after being played with a few times.

I used the cute little cloth bags that came free with orders from Minted as the game board and storage for the rocks.

And, I couldn’t resist grabbing this super cute Honeybee Tree game for the tables, too. (Less than $20 on Amazon with free shipping right now!)

We’ve already played it a bunch of times since the party with Will and I know it will be a favorite for awhile. He loves it and it’s a quick game which is nice. (Right, parents?)

I also set up a basket with bug spray with another cute little sign. We had fans going and citronella candles so it wasn’t too bad…but it was still good to have.

We also had yard games and sidewalk chalk and bubbles for kids and adults. But honestly, most people ended up just sitting and chatting, which was fine with me.

Back to the food, because that was truly one of my favorite parts.

We used our giant counter in the basement and covered it with brown craft paper so I could label things with sharpie and give tips on my favorite suggestions for pairing the dips and sauces and other extras with the cheeses. Everyone seemed to have fun trying new cheeses and playing with the accompaniments.

Yes, we had meat (smoked ham from a favorite local BBQ place and some other charcuterie norms like salami prosciutto and such. And bread for people who wanted to make a sandwich, or just spread it with butter and honey like I do. Oh, the sourdough deliciousness.

We invited people to bring some new things to try and ended up with a huge spread of deliciousness. Someone even brought a chocolate fudge cheese for the dessert table! I’d never had that before! (And may not again-ha!-but it was fun!)

And of course, we had honey for people to take home as a little thank you, with a cute little sign on the jars.

I found these affordable honey sticks from Wal-Mart and they were such a fun little detail with the little mason jar wrap I created and printed!

All in all, I was so pleased with how everything turned out. It was hot (but not crazy hot once the sun set, plus we had three big shade tents and a couple of big fans to help) and the hay bales weren’t perfect, but with the boards on top to make benches and then the quilts and blankets, they worked really well and were free (borrowed from my dad’s farm).

Once it did get dark, Wyatt had string lights on the tents that provided some festive glow.

I didn’t get very many photos of the actual party at all because I literally didn’t pick up my phone the entire time. Which was sort of the point I think, right?

But, my sister did manage to accidentally capture the only photo of me from that night, in the top right corner of the background of this shot, mid conversation with friends and surrounded by people who love our family and who came to celebrate the life I’ve been blessed to live over the past 30 years.

It was truly a sweet night!

And just for fun, because I think this party turned out so cute and I’d love to help you throw some fun BEE-day parties, too, I’m offering all of these BEE-day party printables for FREE!

They’d be just as cute for a little kid party, too! It doesn’t have to BEE a 30th bash! 😉

Just click here to leave your email and get access to the FREE download for all 14 designs. And email me at melissa \at\ lovinghere.com if you have any questions! Thanks for joining us on this fun journey and for helping me celebrate 30 trips around the sun!