I’m the first to admit that for me planning kid’s birthday parties is both exciting and dreadful. I love thinking of creative ideas and activities for the party but I worry about the dollars spent and whether or not it will go well- I can’t help myself, I’m a worrywart! Â My son just turned 6 and requested a dinosaur birthday party. Actually he requested a “Jurassic Park Party “but since the movie came out what seems like eons ago, there really isn’t that much themed merchandise available. Plus I’m a little more aesthetically uninclined to pick up themed plates, banners etc…so of course I’ve spent countless hours coming up with dinosaur party ideas with one requirement in mind: EASY!
I’m happy to report that the party was success! Despite several panic attacks, we pulled it off and I wanted to share our quick and easy activities and decorations for those of you looking for some jurassic inspiration!
6 Year Old’s Dinosaur Birthday Party
Activities:
- Dinosaur Bone Dig We have a large planter around our orange tree that we filled with sand and use as a sandbox. Since kids love to dig I enlisted my children to hide dinosaur fossil skeletons in the sand. The day before the party I raked and wet the sand so it was a little crusty on the top. The day of, I threw out some kid’s sand shovels and trowels and let the kids dig to their hearts content. The “Dig Site” was decimated by the end of the party!
- Volcano We have another freestanding sandbox where we molded the sand into the shape of a volcano. I put our larger plastic dinosaurs around the volcano. Then we took empty water bottles and created eruptions using this Wizard’s Brew recipe (excluding glitter) and red food coloring. I gave each child who wanted a turn their own bottle to make the volcano erupt. I could only keep this up for about 20 minutes but the kids went nuts for it. They especially liked seeing the dinosaur figures get washed away in “lava.”
- Dino Themed Crafts I set up a small children’s table with two self-directed crafts: Color Scratch Dinosaurs and some dinosaur sticker books. I didn’t monitor it’s success but I saw quite a few girls walking around with the scratchers by the end of the party.
- Dinosaur Eggs I used this recipe and idea from Play Create Explore. This was the only activity with some planning required. I saved my used coffee grounds for about two weeks to make the eggs. My daughter, Clara, and I pulled these together in advance of the party, she had a lot of fun molding them into patties. I painted half of them white to make them a little more distinguishable from dirt but then ran out of time to finish painting! We hid these in a planter with a sign labeled “Hatchery.” My son brought his friends over at one point to the hatchery and within minutes the kids had found the eggs and cracked them open to reveal the mini dinosaur hidden inside. Another success!
- Piñata When the kids started going a little bonkers with all the free form activities we reeled them in for Piñata time. Piñata’s are perfect when you need to control the chaos!
Decorations:
- Masks  We had an assortment of Dinosaur masks for the kids to wear and take home. I loved the color on these and they were very inexpensive. The kids enjoyed wearing them.
- Inflatable Dinosaurs I had a few inflatable dinosaurs around the yard including this beast of a T-Rex. The only issue I had was quick deflation since every child wanted to pounce on it!
- Signs We cut some large dowels I had from another party and I threw together some simple signs using free dinosaur fonts I found online.
- Simple Flowers We have a large yard with many, many flowers and herbs. I never do flower arranging but thanks to Pinterest I felt the desire to throw some last minute bouquets around the party. I used old jars and picked a variety of flowers, plants, and herbs for the arrangements. I particularly liked this borage, rose, and sage arrangement. Trust me this will take you a few minutes to throw together.
Food & Favors
- Chow With a newborn I knew I couldn’t spend time on food so we ordered sandwich platters, had chips and dip, watermelon, and of course cake. Fancy cakes can get pricey so we ordered a cupcake cake (no slicing, plates, or utensils needed) from Ralphs, asked them to make water, a beach, and land from the icing, and had them put some small plastic trees on top. Then we added some plastic dinosaurs I picked up at the dollar store for the final effect. Definitely a money saver!
- Favors I purchased dinosaur lollipops at Oriental Trading Company for the party-leaving-bribe, ahem, I mean party favors…..I also let kids take home their masks, piñata treats, and any dinosaurs they had collected throughout the day.
After two hours of party time I was toast, but spent the next day recovering with a smile!
Play Create Explore says
The party looked amazing! Thanks so much for including our dinosaur eggs in your post 🙂 Painting them was a great idea 🙂
Ana Dziengel says
Thanks Jessie! They were a total party hit!