As I mentioned in last week’s post on the DIY dinosaur-shaped crayons, we went with a dinosaur party for Sawyer’s 2nd birthday party (or as Sawyer says, “dino-daur, raaaaawwr!”). This was such a fun party, and I’m excited to be able to share the details with you today to help you plan your own dino birthday party. You’ll want to save this post, as it includes everything you need to plan a dinosaur birthday party, including dinosaur theme party supplies and decorations, dinosaur party food ideas, how to make dinosaur goodie bags party favors, dinosaur party games and activities, and free dinosaur party printables.
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Dinosaur theme party supplies and decorations
The party color scheme was brown, green and khaki, so I used that for the dinosaur party decorations DIY inspiration. Here are details on our dinosaur theme party supplies and overall décor. You can also click here for my planning and inspiration board on Pinterest.
This is the welcome sign we had on the front door (I’m sharing this as a free printable, too; details on the dinosaur party printables are at the end of this post). It brought in the party color scheme and some of the motif we used for different decorations throughout the party.
I created this dinosaur birthday banner art myself, and used brown craft paper for the background. Sorry for the horrible backlighting in this photo!
We used some live potted plants from IKEA for décor (these mini palms fit in with the dinosaur party theme really well), along with Tolsby frames as sign-holders for our RAWR printable (update: these frames are no longer on sale at IKEA, but you can get some in bulk on Amazon here). I also got a few extra khaki colored plant pots to use as the utensil holders.
Utensils and paper goods were all biodegradable, eco-friendly products. I was able to find a big party pack on Amazon that wasn’t that much more than similar non-eco-friendly budget party packs. This set accommodates 20 guests, and this one accommodates 50. This way we felt better about ourselves, and BONUS – they coordinated nicely with the brown and khaki color scheme. Here are the napkins we used.
Dinosaur party food ideas
For our dinosaur themed party food, we separated the food out into categories: carnivores and herbivores. The carnivore menu included Lil’ Smokies pigs in a blanket, chicken taquitos, meatballs (see my Crock Pot Party Meatballs recipe here), and dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets.
One of the dinosaur birthday party food ideas we did was halving heads of green and red cabbage and hollowing them out to create decorative bowls for sauces and dips.
Dino nuggets are a must-have dinosaur themed party food.
The herbivore menu included veggies, fruit, chips and guacamole, and pita chips with hummus.
Of course, we can’t forget the oh-so-important third category for these dinosaur party food ideas: desserts! As we like to do (Grayson loves helping roll out sugar cookie dough and using cookie cutters to make the shapes), we used dinosaur-shaped cookie cutters and my go-to recipe for Classic Sugar Cookies to make dino sugar cookies.
More dinosaur birthday party food ideas: I dipped pretzel sticks in white candy melts to make “dino bones,” and used candy eggs (M&M’s and Whoppers – worked out nicely that this party was the day before Easter) for “dino eggs.” We also set out a bowl of gummi worms.
What party is complete without cupcakes? Instead of making cupcake toppers (I usually DIY some cupcake picks), I found this pack of 72 mini vinyl dinosaurs on Amazon to use as toppers. The extras also were a great bonus for the favor bags.
Beverages were ice water and “swamp juice” (Green Gatorade… copying something I did for Grayson’s jungle-themed first birthday party for this dinosaur themed party food idea).
Party favors – Dinosaur goodie bags
For the dinosaur favor bags, to continue with our color scheme, we used these paper lunch bags from Amazon, and clipped the DIY dinosaur goodie bags together with a wooden clothes pin and a “RAWR {Thank You}” sign. Note the little dinosaur toys that I found at the dollar store in each of the IKEA plants.
Dinosaur treat bags bag components (all from Amazon except the crayons that I made – though the supplies and wrapping for the crayon project were also from Amazon): dinosaur bubbles, dinosaur tattoos, mini vinyl dinosaurs leftover from the cupcake toppers, dinosaur lollipops, play dough with a DIY “Thank You” label, and a set of dinosaur crayons. Click here to read my blog post with instructions on how to make the dinosaur shaped crayons.
Dinosaur party games and activities
One of the dinosaur party games was a “dino dig.” This was really fun! I set up a bucket with some play sand and small paint brushes from Home Depot, along with some plastic sand shovels. In the sand we buried genuine dinosaur fossils (you can actually purchase these by the pound from Amazon!) and some toy dinosaur bone fossil toys. This was a combo of an activity and more party favors with the treasures the kiddos (I mean, the little paleontologists) found. I definitely recommend this if you’re looking for dinosaur themed birthday party games.
Look at the birthday boy (on the left) having fun in the sand while his big brother (on the right) carefully dusts off a fossil! And yes, this is him having fun. He’s notorious for his mean mug photo face, but trust me when I say he was having a great time.
Dinosaur party printables
All the dinosaur party printables are available in this post here. These printables are free, but I would appreciate a follow for @fabeveryday on social media (you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram) in return. If you post pictures of your parties, please tag @fabeveryday in them so we can see what you do! Finally, if you blog about your party, please link back to fabeveryday.com in your blog posts to credit the printables and inspiration.
Another fun party for my boys with a lot of personal touch! Even though Grayson’s birthday is 7 months away, the kid is already starting to plan his theme (planning early? He’s not my child or anything…). It is currently a combo of Iron Man, Paw Patrol, and dragons. We’ll see how that comes together if he doesn’t change his mind before then!
More kid’s birthday party themes:
- Anime-Themed Birthday Party
- Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania At-Home Watch Party
- Bendy and the Ink Machine-Themed Birthday Party
- Classic Nintendo Birthday Party (Mario Bros., Zelda, Kirby and More)
- Clifford the Big Red Dog Birthday Party
- Construction-Themed Birthday Party
- Despicable Me / Minion Birthday Party
- Dinosaur-Themed Birthday Party
- Disney Cars Birthday Party
- DIY Escape Room Kid’s Birthday Party (with lots of escape room puzzle ideas)
- Dungeons and Dragons Birthday Party
- Emoji-Themed Birthday Party
- Kid’s Ice Cream Social Birthday Party
- Safari Themed 1st Birthday Party
- LEGO Movie-Themed Birthday Party
- Minecraft-Themed Birthday Party
- PAW Patrol Party Ideas
- Pokémon-Themed Birthday Party
- Power Rangers-Themed Birthday Party
- Rock and Roll Birthday Party
- Silent Disco Party (Fun 13th Birthday Party Theme)
- The Legend of Korra and Avatar: The Last Airbender Party
- Thomas the Train Birthday Party (with Free Thomas and Friends Birthday Printables)
- Tiger-Themed Birthday Party Planning Ideas
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