Dinosaur Explorer Birthday Party
Over the past year, Callen has shifted his obsession a bit from space robots, to Dino Bots. The kid has been consistent in his obsessions having a mechanical stuff as demonstrated by his previous birthday parties: Time Flies Vintage Airplane, Recycle Truck, Rescue Bots, Race cars, Space Robots. This year, I had a hard time finding Dino Bot specific inpspiration, but the Meri Meri Dinosaur collection too cute to pass up. When I suggested we have a Dinosaur Explorer Party, Callen was thrilled with the idea, and it felt a little refreshing to move away from vehicles this year!
Luckily we have been having some great weather, unusual for Western Washington in April, and were able set the party up outside so that he could have a few of his pals join him. (We are still taking Covid precautions in our county, so we feel fortunate for this option.)
Most of the party decor pieces were ordered from Meri Meri and some others picked up from Target and Amazon. Whenever possible, the products I used have been linked so that you can recreate this party look.
How fun are the Meri Meri disposable tableware!?! The dinosaur platters are really big and only come in a pack of four, so if we were having a party any bigger than this, I would have ordered a coordinating plain plate and just used these to serve some of the food. The napkins have a fun mix of dinosaurs and on off-white background which gives them a fun vintage feel. The T-Rex cups require a little bit of assembly and a bit of corrective folding from how they were packaged. For optimum look, I would unpackaged them a day or two before a party and might used a heavy book to flatten them. Even without that, they still look adorable and were SO fun for the kids to use. I used the gold Spritz disposable silverware from Target along with the Opal House candleholder and some faux greenery for a centerpiece.
The coordinating cake topper is such an easy way to transform a simple bakery cake to match the party theme in an easy and affordable way! I love how the tissue paper palm tree, brontosaurus and pterodactyl wings give it some fun dimension.
One of Cal’s birthday requests was “sleepover tents” as he called them. My husband helped me make a set of these tents with dowel and heavy canvas. They were easy to make and the kids had so much fun with them even though we weren’t exactly hosting a sleepover. Hopefully they will see lots of sleepover use in the future! Check out the tutorial from All Thrifty Things if you want to try and make your own.
The navy dinosaur letter board is part of Target’s Pillowfort collection and worked perfectly for this event and can be used in Cal’s play space after the party. I paired the Meri Meri gold tinsel banner and the dinosaur banners on top of the tents and then used lots of faux tropical greenery to complete the look by attaching it to the tents as well as on the tables. I added some party netting for texture and used the acacia wood serving pieces to contrast along with some pieces of plaid flannel that matched the color scheme. Since the kids were not actually sleeping outside, but just playing in the tents, I did not add mattresses but had some old throw pillows and simple white blankets I put in the tents for effect.
I found Haribo gummy dinosaur candy and packaged them in little bags and then tied them with these adorable print and cut thank you labels from Dani Bella Designs. These designs are easy to edit and can be printed at home. They even offer coordinating dinosaur invitations and party banner.
For the party backdrop, I tried to make my own fringe backdrop with vinyl tablecloths from Target and Dollar Tree. This project was fun, but took quite a bit of time. If you are not interested in making your own, Glam Fete is our favorite vendor for fringe backdrops and will create custom color and size designs for you. The “RAWR” balloons were from Target and then I added some navy, forest green and gold balloons to some of the balloons that came in the set to fit the colors to the rest of the decorations. I hung them in the gold 5 ft. balloon circle.
One of the biggest hits of the party were the inflatable dinosaurs! These fun blow up toys are add a lot of wow factor and fun for their inexpensive price. At the party, the kids hunted for them in the trees and they then ended up playing pretend with them, even beating one another over the head with them!
Cal hanging out in his tent as I finished setting up the party!
My very favorite piece in the Meri Meri collection are the adorable Triceratops party hats. They are well made, require very little assembly and are absolutely adorable. Janie models one before the party!
Each guest took home their own pair of toy binoculars, a dinosaur wind up toy, and a Crayola dinosaur themed activity pack that I found at Dollar Tree. Meri Meri also carries an adorable favor bag for the kids to take home all their treats! Check out the links below for product information.
One of the party activities was to Hunt for Dinosaurs and Dinosaur Eggs. Then each kid would get to adopt a dinosaur to bring home. Speckled plastic eggs were purchased at Easter and I removed the pink and purple eggs so the colors were believable Dino eggs that coordinated with the color scheme. I also picked up dinosaur figurines at Dollar Tree and hid them in our wooded area for the kids to find. We made boundaries so that they would all be found but it was a big hit with the kiddos. We had fun Dinosaur adoption certificates so the kids could name their Dino.
Here are some other Dinosaur Party Decorations we LOVE! Click on photos for links for purchasing.
