If you’ve been around here at all, you know my son Don is dinosaur obsessed! So when it came time for him to pick his party theme, it was obvious it’d be a dinosaurs birthday party! I dove into it- I tried to make it special and use items we already on hand. It was such a fun party and I’m excited to show the details that made it special.
Last week, we took Don to Disney World for his actual birthday and had a great time. I made sure to pack cupcakes so we could sing to him and had some great presents to open. But still, whenever anyone would ask when his birthday was, he explained it hadn’t happened yet since the party was a week later.
Don and I have worked together to design his parties since he could give me input. Now, he doesn’t feel like it’s his birthday unless there’s a party. Which is fine by me since I love throwing them! I thought I would share some of his party in case you have a dinosaur lover in your life too.
Dinosaur Gift Guide
1 jurassic world action figure / 2 sticker book / 3 clay set / 4 dresser pulls / 5 backpack / 6 night light / 7 action figures / 8 water bottle / 9dinopop-up book / 10 pajamas / 11 dig kit / 12 lego dino
ONE
Jurassic World Action Figure. Don is super obsessed with dinosaur action figures. Especially the ones with cool movable parts. This one can move its head and flap its wings through some buttons on its back. But what he loves the most is the traceable feature! You can scan the little chip with your phone and it tells you all about the specific dinosaur and a little video of what it would look like.
TWO
This sticker book. Don has always loved sticker books, so dinosaurs are no exception! This one is cool because it’s reusable. Meaning, he can peel the stickers off and on as many times as he wants. Also, there are a bunch of different scenes to choose from. Sticker books are always one of our favorites for keeping him entertained in the car or at a restaurant.
THREE
A fun clay set. Pretty much every kid loves playing with clay. But if your kiddo is also dinosaur obsessed, you might just blow their mind with this dino clay set. 😂 I love that they get to see what the skeleton looks like before they put the clay on. Then they can even put it on display with all the other dinosaur things they probably have.
FOUR
Dinosaur dresser pulls. Dresser pulls are a fun place for kids to add something they love to their room. We wanted to add some to Don’s dresser, but the pulls are a little too wide to switch out with anything standard. If you go for this gift, I would definitely recommend getting measurements before you purchase!
FIVE
A dino backpack. Kids always like bags to haul their treasures around with them! And what better way to do that than with a dinosaur backpack? But what I love about this one is that it’s not very expensive. And it’s super lightweight, so it’s good for a day at the zoo or going for walks to the park.
SIX
A dinosaur nightlight. Most little kids like having a night light in their room. So if your kid loves dinosaurs, they’ll really enjoy this one! It’s cute enough to be a little piece of art for your child. But it’s also not a “scary” dinosaur, so it wont spook them at night.
SEVEN
Dinosaur action figures. Don LOVES playing with his dinosaur toys, and we actually have a special bag for them that we bring everywhere with us. He loves taking them out to play every chance he can get. So, these are an easy win for a dinosaur loving kid.
EIGHT
A dinosaur water bottle. You better believe we have a dinosaur water bottle at our house lol. It’s fun to have every day items like this in a theme that kids love. And what better way to get a dino loving kid to stay hydrated than with a cute water bottle?!
NINE
The ultimate dinosaur pop-up book. I secretly like pop-up books almost as much as Don does. And this one is a pop-up encyclopedia with everything kids want to know about dinosaurs. So if your kid is obsessed about knowing every. single. dinosaur name like my son is, this one will be a hit!
TEN
Dino jammies. How cute are these dino jammies? In my opinion, they could work for a boy or a girl! Also, they come in sizes for babies up to bigger kids, so there’s sizing for everyone.
ELEVEN
Fossil dig kit. Something that Don literally never gets tired of is digging up fossils! He got a few of them for his birthday, and he just can’t get enough of them. If your kid loves dinos, they’ll enjoy digging up these fossils!
TWELVE
A Lego dinosaur kit. Honestly, I can’t count how many Lego dinosaur sets we have at our house anymore. Don loves them oh so much. After he puts them together, he keeps playing with it. So, it’s a gift that will last for a while
party invitations
This year, I went with a super budget friendly ($3) Dinosaur party invitation. The design is from a seller on Etsy and it came with information for how to edit it to personalize it. It actually ended up being super easy to edit it. Then, I ordered it through Shutterfly. They have an option to mail out the invite for you for a few dollars so that’s what I did.So easy and affordable!
dinosaur party backdrop
I wanted a big look for the backdrop to the party. For this party, I’ve been trying to make more sustainable choices and so I choose decor that could be re-used or recycled. My biggest goal was to not use any one-use plastic. SO, I pulled out me Cricut and cut our the ROAR letters out of card stock and a million leaves.To be honest, I wish I had cut them out bigger, but they’re still cute!
It’s a little hard to see, but can you spot the mini party hats I put on his dinosaurs too? These are all my son’s toys that he plays with everyday! We even made a big party hat for his large stuffed dino.
diy dinosaur birthday cake
When I was in my early 20’s I used to take cake decorating classes and I loved it. I’m not super great at it anymore, but this cake doesn’t really illustrate my past skills- ha. Part of decorating cakes is having the right supplies and when we moved, those stayed behind.
BUT that means that anyone can make this cake with any supplies! I grabbed a round cake pan and baked a store bought boxed cake mix. I threw it in the freezer so that I didn’t get crumbs everywhere and then frosted it with store bought chocolate frosting.
Then I had my son put on mini dinosaurs and trees however he wanted. I’m really proud of myself because I didn’t try to art direct his decisions- lol. I am not a control freak (which I repeated as I wanted to make those little dinosaurs perfect).
To finish it off, I sprinkled on Butterfinger pieces that I’d crumbled up. Simple, but still cute!
digging pit
The main party game or activity we did was a digging pit. Ever since my son was little, he loved digging. I thought it’d be fun to make him an area he can use after the party. For the actual night, I hid some fossils that I bought on Amazon. My son LOVED finding them and using the little chart to see what he found.
We made the digging pit by buying a beverage container at Home Depot and filling it with play sand. I made a little sign to go over it. Again, not to fancy, but special enough to feel fun to my son.
food
For the main food for the party, I ordered pizza. But for snacks, I found dinosaur themed food. Which was actually really fun to do! Triceratop treats was Mike and Ikes. It was fun to see my son so into this- he’d say “the red is apples, the green is plants” so cute!
For the one healthy thing at the party- grapes for dinosaur eggs. I put most of the treats in these cute scalloped bowls I found at Target. Don’t they kind of look like an open egg?
In case you’re not up to date on dinosaur lingo, coprolite is fossilized dinosaur poop. Aka, Raisonettes.
For dinosaur claws, I found Bugles. It’d been years since I’ve had these. But I figure they’re fun for kids since you can put them on your fingers.
And last up for food, prehistoric punch. I just put peach soda in a pitcher. Easy and delicious. Is it just me that loves everything peach flavored?!
free printable
I thought it’d be fun to offer the food and digging pit labels from the party available as a download! If you’d like these free printables for your party, just put your information in below and they will be automatically emailed to you!
the party
For the party, we threw it at night so our friends with jobs could attend. My little sister and her husband were in town from Canada and got to attend too! It was a small gathering, but we had a great time!
Before anyone arrived, Don was jumping up and down with excitement! Is there anything better than seeing your kid super happy?! We opened presents right when everyone arrived since it was a low key party and what kid wants to wait? Everyone gave Don some great dinosaur presents. Thank you to our friends and family for your generosity and making his night.
We talked and played and ate, it was really nice. Don stayed up super late since we all had a great time and I didn’t have the heart to send him to bed in the middle of his party. My brother in law played cars and dinosaurs and digging with Don and it was so sweet. Seeing your kid get loved on is the best.
I can’t believe I have a five year old now. Celebrating him and making him feel special is one of my favorite things. Happy birthday Don!
