All Things Dinosaur

Josh turned the big 5 this past week, and on Saturday we had our official celebration. First thing in the morning, he opened his gifts from Mama and Papa in Texas. He got to use his new bat at Tball that morning. While he and Daddy were at the game, the other two kids and I went to the park to set up the dinosaur themed party. Josh has a real love of dinosaurs. He knows many of their names, and whether they are carnivores or herbivores. He loves non-fiction books about dinosaurs, and so when I started planning a birthday party for him, I knew it needed to be all about dinosaurs. We spent a couple weeks planning, preparing, and anticipating our Dinosaur party.

When the kids arrived, I had them decorate a paper bag that I'd sponge painted a dinosaur on, with dinosaur stamps and stickers. That would serve as their goodies bag. Everyone got to wear and take home dinosaur masks, also. I also made Dino foot print sponges, and painted a table cloth to go along with our theme.

Our first game was a relay race. The kids all donned the dinosaur feet I'd made out of cereal boxes and craft foam. They had to put on their Dino feet, and carry a 'dinosaur egg' on a wooden spoon to the base, and then turn around and come back to pass off to the next person.Some of the kids found it easier if they held their egg in place...

Max figured out that he could go faster if he walked on his toes.I thought the dinosaur feet turned out really cute, and even though they didn't last past the party, it was totally worth the effort.

For our second game, we had blown up balloons with dinosaur figures inside them. We tied the 'dinosaur eggs' to the kids' legs, and they were supposed to pop the others' balloons. Unfortunately, the game went a lot faster than planned, because the balloons kept popping on the grass. Some of the kids were pretty upset when they had their balloons popped, as well.

I think Carly had the right idea of holding her balloon off the grass until it was time to get started.

We took advantage of the sand pit at the park, and had a dinosaur dig. Before our guests arrived we buried dinosaur toys in the sand, and then everyone had fun being paleontologists, digging for dinosaurs.

For our last activity I got a dinosaur pinata. The kids all took a couple turns hitting the dinosaur before it cracked open.

We had some real sluggers at our party.

It's funny to watch kids run after candy. The sight of candy on the ground really makes them swarm.

I made chocolate cupcakes with frosting I dyed orange, per Josh's request. He loves chocolate, and his favorite color is orange. On top of the frosting, I dyed coconut to look like grass, and placed a dinosaur figure on top.

Grandma Tess let us borrow her dinosaur candle holder, it was perfect.

Josh loved all his gifts.

He was very excited to have so many people come to his party. I was glad we had such a fun turn out, since he'd been looking forward to this party for so long.

The whole crew in all their dinosaur glory. Everyone got to take home a dinosaur mask, dinosaur stamp, dinosaur finger puppet, the dinosaur figures they found in the sand/balloons, stickers, pencil, and a dinosaur egg with grow capsules inside...all things dinosaur.