This past Sunday we threw a party for G-tot’s 2nd birthday and the theme was dinosaurs. A few weeks before I decided to throw a party, G-tot, JQ, and I went to visit my mom and stepdad in Rockford, Illinois. In Rockford is a quaint little museum called the Burpee Museum of Natural History. There in the Burpee museum is a 21 foot restored skeleton of Jane the tyrannosaurus rex. It is the centerpiece of the museum and G-tot was quite taken with it. Since our visit there has been lots of talk about the dinosaurs he saw with Grandpa and G-Gi. G-tot LOVED the dinosaur. So, when I decided at the last minute to throw a party, a dinosaur theme seemed like a natural fit.
As an artist and a glutton for punishment I couldn’t just go out and buy invitations and decorations. No, no, no…I had to make them all myself. All within a two week time period. I threw together the invitations the morning I needed to get them into the mail and starting plotting the rest of the dino related goodness that afternoon. The ideas were plentiful but my budget was near obsolete so I had to be extra crafty in my execution.
It all started with crafting the dinosaur coloring books and didn’t stop until the night before the party when I thought of making signs that related to the food. I was out of control! It was fantastic and the details did not go unnoticed by my guests. I had so much fun planning and creating for the party. Next year I think I’ll start a little earlier. Shall we have a look at all the party goodness?
In each favor bag I put:
A coloring book. Inside are 8 pages of dinosaur outlines for the kids to color. The pages are stitched along the spine with a small piece of hemp thread.Finished dimensions: 5.5 x 4.25 inches
Four crayons tied with green, brown, and tan patterned ribbon.
A package of 5 “dinosaur eggs”. The eggs are Cadbury mini eggs put in tiny 2 x 4 inch cellophane bags which I stapled the custom label to. The font is Baby Kruffy.
A Grow a Dino capsule in a little bag with a custom label. I found the capsule in a package of 12 at the hobby shop for a couple of bucks and split them up into individual bags. The font I used for these is Bada Boom.
A small plastic dinosaur—also found at the hobby shop in a larger package of 14.
I put all of those items in large cellophane bags and shut them with the silver twist ties included with the baggies. Had the twist ties not been included I would have used the ribbon that I used to tie the crayons together.
I had several extra dinosaur egg packages that I put together for the older kids and the adults. I put all of the finished favor bags and the extra dino eggs in a basket that had some confetti made out of construction paper lining the bottom. I had originally planned on using the confetti in the bags but JQ pointed out what a huge mess that would be and in the end it didn’t add anything to the bags.
For decorations I printed a bunch of small dinosaur tracks and a few large (between 2 and 3 feet) dinosaurs and hung them on the walls. G-tot didn’t know about these until the morning of his party and was fascinated with them when he woke up that morning and saw them hanging on the walls. With each one he noticed he would exclaim, “Another dinosaur!” When he saw that there weren’t any in the kitchen he turned to me with his arms in the air and said, “No dinosaurs in the kitchen.”
While picking up supplies for the favor bags I found these wooden 3-D puzzle sculptures for a dollar. I picked up two but only the one got put together for the party. He stood watch over the food table (which I forgot to take a picture of with the actual food on it). I also made two signs at the last minute for the food table. One that said “Carnivores” that was put near the “meat” food and one that said “Herbivores” that was near the veggies and fruit. For those that are interested, that’s cilantro in the brown pot and parsley in the blue and cream pot.
The week of the party I was out shopping and found the perfect shirt for G-tot to wear. The best part? It was only $4.99. Score!
When I mentioned that I had decided to go with the dinosaur theme, my mom mailed me a Wilton dinosaur pan that she still had from when my brother was a toddler. It had to be around 16 years old and was still in perfect condition. I was a little nervous about unmolding the cake but it was easy as could be. A little awkward to frost, but I managed. I also made a 9 x 13 cake in another flavor to ensure we had enough. They were both delicious.
Everybody had a good time and all the kids were really well behaved. My mom and stepdad even drove in from Rockford for the festivities. It was a packed house and when the last guest left I was as ready for a nap as G-tot was.
The end.
