Dinosaur Party Ideas
BY A PROFESSIONAL PARTY PLANNER
Dinosaurs make a great birthday theme for all ages—but remember to tailor these dinosaur party ideas to suit the age of your child.
Toddlers and younger kids up to five years old will probably prefer colourful dinosaurs that are less frightening, whereas older kids will want them to be as realistic as possible.
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i’m matt james
professional event producer
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01 Dinosaur Party invitations
Below are some suggestions for invitations to go with these Dinosaur party ideas:
ADVICE FROM A PRO
Matt’s tip
“I think it’s important to create a big first impression, which is why I always try to include some sort of 3D object tied to the printed invitation with ribbon.
This is a little trick that’s often used by professional party planners to make invitations stand out.
It doesn’t have to be anything expensive, just some cheap novelties, and you can use it re-enforce your party theme. For example, kids sunglasses or a flip flop for a beach party, a toy dinosaur for a dinosaur party, or an eye patch for a pirate party.
People just love to receive unusual invitations; it really captures their imagination and gets them excited about the party.
Click here to check out some examples of 3D object invitations from my party invitations page (opens in a new tab)”.
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Dinosaur claw Party INVITATION
These edible velociraptor claw cookies would make an amazing first impression as a 3D invitation, and they’re less than $5 each! Check them out here.
As these are so eye-catching, you could get away with just sending them out with simple homemade invitations printed at home on some textured brown card stock to communicate all the party details.
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MORE 3D Dinosaur Party INVITATIONS
Other ideas for 3D invitations include sending out plastic pith helmets, available here, and toy binoculars, available here, for the ‘Dinosaur Dig’.
Alternatively, use these foam dinosaur masks, available here.
I’d suggest creating a small ‘tag’ style birthday party invitations with all the party details on. Then tie each tag with ribbon onto the binoculars / masks and mail out in a padded envelope or box.
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PERSONALIZED Dinosaur Party INVITATIONS
There are lots of really nice birthday invitations available online that fit well with these dinosaur party ideas. These can be personalized to add your child’s name and some even let you upload a photo.
Check out all the options available from this supplier and also this one.
I particularly like this dinosaur egg shaped invitation, available here.
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02 DINOSAUR party drinks
Take pre-historic inspiration when designing the food and drink to go with these Dinosaur party ideas.
ADVICE FROM A PRO
Matt’s tip
“Always create a signature drink for your party—it’s one of the easiest things you can do to make your party unique.
If your party has a theme, think about what flavors you can use in your signature drink that will convey it.
Don’t forget about styling and presentation too. You could serve drinks in individual bottles, jars, or novelty containers, add your own labels, use themed ice cubes, decorative straws, or drinks picks, or add a simple garnish.
A sprig of berries or a single flower head on the rim of a glass can make a simple cocktail look really stylish”.
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VOLCANO PUNCH
Make Volcano Punch by combining 3 quarts of pineapple juice and 2 x 6 ounce cans of frozen limeade concentrate in a punch bowl.
When the kids are gathered around the table add 2 quarts of ginger ale to the punch bowl and a scoop of fruit sherbet to each glass for some extra fizz.
Serve them in these cute dinosaur party cups or you can have personalized ones made with each guest’s name. Check out all the options here.
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SWAMP JUICE
I love this recipe for Swamp Juice. It was intended for Halloween but it’s also perfect for dinosaur party ideas.
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DINOSAUR JUICE
Serve green colored milkshakes or this Key Lime-Banana Smoothie from Betty Crocker, which can easily be renamed as Dinosaur Juice. Serve them in these dinosaur party cups, available here.
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LAVA JUICE
Try this recipe for Sparkling Strawberry-Lemonade Slush from Betty Crocker or use any red berry juice and call it Volcanic Lava Juice.
Freeze some gummi dinosaurs, available here, into ice cubes the night before and add to each glass. When the lava melts the ice, the dinosaurs will float to the top of their drink.
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DINOSAUR ICE CUBES
Make your party drinks more interesting by using these fossilized dinosaur bone ice cube trays, available here.
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DINOSAUR STRAWS
You can also style your drinks with these cute dinosaur straws, available here (more designs available).
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water labels
Give regular water bottles a makeover with these personalized labels. Lots of different designs are available here.
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03 dinosaur food
Of course, no Dinosaur party would be complete without a Dinosaur pizza, Pterodactyl Wings, dinosaur bones, Stegosaurus sandwiches and more. Here are some cute recipes I came across to give you some inspiration for your dinosaur party ideas:
ADVICE FROM A PRO
disclaimer
“As a professional party planner, I’m lucky enough to be able to collaborate with some amazing chefs to create menus for my events.
As I’m no chef myself, and cannot create dishes from scratch, I’ve searched the web for recipes that I think would work well for this party theme.
All credit goes to the talented people who have created these recipes, so please click through to their site for full details, ingredients, methods, and in some cases step-by-step tutorials”.
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dinosaur party foodscape
A lot of food markets sell dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets but go the extra mile and arrange them on a platter like this dinosaur foodscape created by Michelle at Muffin Tin Mom. It’s a great way to make the dish a bit more healthy by sneaking in some veggies.
She used broccoli as ‘low lying indigenous vegetation’, string cheese and spinach for ‘the tree’, grapes as ‘coconuts’, cheddar cheese as ‘the sun’, and dinosaur chicken nuggets as ‘Nuggetus Dinosaurus’. Don’t forget ketchup as ‘hot lava’.
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dinosaur POTATO RECIPES
Check out this recipe for cute baked potato dinosaurs (below left, from Love Potatoes). If you don’t want to serve these to eat, you could still make one or two as decoration to arrange on the corner of food trays and serving platters.
Another cool recipe is for these mashed potato volcanoes (above right, by BumblingB’s on food.com) which are the type of things you can get them involved in making. Have them sculpt their mash potato volcanoes and arrange their veggies while you make the lava sauce to pour over.
If you want a more substantial main course along a similar line, try these potato volcanoes with meatball sauce (below, from Love Potatoes)—or swap the meatballs sauce for chilli to make it a bit more like lava
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dinosaur wings and bones
Serve chicken wings renamed Pterodactyl Wings or coat Pretzel sticks with white chocolate and call them dinosaur bones.
Alternatively, check out this recipe for Tomato Soup with Boney Grissini (below, by Susan at Diamonds for Dessert) which could easily be renamed Molten Lava Soup with Dinosaur Bones. Serve the soup in shot glasses.
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dinosaur cookie cutters
There are various dinosaur cookie cutters available here which you can use to shape sandwiches.
You can also use the cookie cutters to make pizzas (see the examples below by Tonij.net). Or shape burger patties with them then add small triangles of cucumber along the back to resemble a Stegosaurus.
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dinosaur cookies
If you’ve got a steady hand use the cookie cutters to make dinosaur shaped cookies, fill a parchment cone with run sugar, cut a small hole in the tip and pipe a skeleton onto each dinosaur like these (below left, by Cookie Decorating).
Alternatively, you can buy similar skeleton cookies, available here.
Alternatively, you can also get a range of different personalized dinosaur cookies, available here, or these fun bone cookies, available here.
You can also shape bagels into dinosaur shapes like this one, below from Funky Lunch. (Technically this is supposed to be the Loch Ness Monster but you could easily pass it off as a Plesiosaur—a large aquatic dinosaur—to fit in with the dinosaur party ideas).
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DINOSAUR snacks
There are a number of dinosaur themed snacks you can buy to fill out a buffet table, such as these organic cheesy corn snacks, Cadbury’s mini dinosaur chocolate cookies, or these gluten-free whole fruit dinosaur cookies. All available here.
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dinosaur eggs
Here are a couple of recipes for creating dinosaur eggs. The first uses hard boiled eggs to create these amazing colored eggs with veins (below left, from Sara at Our Best Bites) whereas the other is for sweet dinosaur eggs using vanilla pudding and lime gelatin (below right, by Robin Werner on Taste of Home).
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Dinosaur sweet treats
For some more sweet treats try these fossil cookies (below left, by Martha Stewart) or for a younger kids birthday, these cute green dinosaur cookies(below right, by Robin Werner on Taste of Home.
These molten lava volcano cakes (below left, by Debbie of Wants and Wishes) are really cool, or if you want a more healthy dessert create a fresh fruit Stegosaurus using watermelon, strawberries, banana, and orange (below right by WGBH Educational Foundation).
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dinosaur bakes
This baking sheet contains 8 dinosaur shaped baking cups (below left, available here) which are perfect for making Dino treats.
Alternatively, you can use these cute fossil baking cups (below right, available here). Each one has a different 3D dinosaur ‘fossil’ at the bottom just waiting to be excavated.
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dinosaur cake pops
Alternatively, you can buy dinosaur, volcano, and dinosaur egg cake pops, such as the ones below. Check out all the options here.
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dinosaur cupcake toppers
If you prefer to just decorate regular cupcakes, there are lots of different toppers available including personalized ones and these cute baby dinosaur ones. Check out all the options here.
In addition, you can also buy edible fondant cupcake toppers—either cute ones for younger kid’s birthdays or Jurassic World style ones for older kids. Check out all the options here.
There are also several different designs of dinosaur cupcake wrappers which you can use to add to the decoration. I particularly like these delicate die cut ones (below left, available here) with the dinosaur silhouettes running around the edge or these handmade style ones (below right, available here).
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Dinosaur candy
There’s lots of dinosaur candy available which is an easy way to fill out a dessert table with extra treats. These include gummy dinosaurs, available here, or these dinosaur lollipops, available here.
Alternatively, you can buy candy by the color, available here, to tie everything in with your dessert table color scheme.
….Or make your own chocolate dinosaurs or Jello wigglers with these molds, available here.
Alternatively there are various personalized dinosaur treats available, such as candy bar wrappers, available here, and lollipops, available here.
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The Secret Life of Food
Finally, if you haven’t already got Clare Crespo’s excellent book The Secret Life of Food then I highly recommend it. It’s packed with lots of kooky recipes for kids from someone who regularly plays with her food.
This dinosaur dip (below) —carved out of an acorn squash, zucchini, okra, and pickling cucumbers and served with vege palm trees (see video below)—is a sure fire way to get kids eating their vegetables.
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04 dinosaur birthday cake
Whether you’re making a birthday cake from scratch or just decorating it, below are some suggestions to go with these dinosaur party ideas:
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dinosaur cake pans
If you want to bake your own birthday cake, there are a couple of different pans available that would work well with these dinosaur party ideas. Check out all the options here.
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dinosaur cake toppers
If you’re no cake decorating expert, you could just use one of these personalized edible images and roll it out into your birthday cake. There are several different images available here.
…Or go for a personalized topper, such as the one below available here, or an dramatic edible fondant topper, available here.
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05 dessert table styling
Below are food styling and presentation tips to help you decorate in keeping with these dinosaur party ideas:
ADVICE FROM A PRO
Matt’s tip
“I always think it’s a good idea to concentrate the majority of your decorations around a buffet / dessert table as this will create a focal point in the room.
Party decorations often have to compete with existing room decor, so they can get a bit lost if spread too thinly. I think you’re far better off creating one really well themed feature wall that everyone’s eye will be drawn to.
You can then use a few general decorations around the rest of the room to tie everything together.”
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dinosaur DESSERT TABLE
To create a dinosaur dessert table like this one, follow the steps below.
Create a backdrop using dark brown burlap by the yard, available here, then hang a section of reed fencing, available here, in the center to add some texture. You can buy quite large sections of reed fencing for under $20. If you’re on a budget and cant afford to use both, just choose one or the other. Then positional some potted kentia palms at each end of the table to add some tropical foliage.
You want to keep everything quite natural looking with a palette of browns, greens and stone. So either use a textured green fabric, such as burlap, as the table cover or a stone color burlap sprinkled with some of this scatter grass, available here, for extra texture.
Dress the table with clusters of small garden rocks and lots of ferns and other house plants to create a pre-historic landscape.
Use a mixture of square and rectangular white plates to present food on. I recommend these disposable premium plastic plates, available here, they’re great value and look really stylish.
Then line each plate with one of these plastic tropical leaves, available here, and arrange some small plastic dinosaurs around the plates and over the tabletop.
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dinosaur centerpieces
For a centerpiece, use one of these large inflatable dinosaurs, available here, there are lots of different types available and they range from approximately 2 – 3ft tall so they’ll make an impressive centerpiece—or just scatter them around the table.
I always like to create some height with a dessert table display, so that everything isn’t all on the same level. This inflatable Pteranodon, available here, would look great hanging from the ceiling on one side of the dessert table to help fill the space between the table and ceiling.
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dinosaur banners
Frame the scene by hanging a personalized banner, such as the ones below, above the dessert table. Some of these can even be personalized by adding a photo of your child. For realistic dinosaur banners like this one, check out this supplier.
For younger child-friendly ones like these, check out this supplier and also this one here.
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DINOSAUR sTand ups
If your budget permits, there are a couple of huge 6ft T-Rex stand ups would add a really dramatic element to your decorations. I would position one of these to the side of your dessert table. Check out all the options here.
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dinosaur backdrops
An alternative idea for a dessert table backdrop, which would definitely be a big hit with older kids, would be to use one of these large photographic backdrops, available here. It will also double as a photobooth backdrop later.
You could probably get away with pinning it to a wall, but if you throw parties regularly you might want to think about investing in one of these cheap photography backdrop frames which you can pick up for around $30. Check them out here.
The great thing about the support frame is that you can use it again and again to create different backgrounds for dessert tables by hanging fabric, tissue pom poms, or streamers (as shown below using a backdrop support frame).
You can blend the edges of the photo backdrop by using these tissue paper or jointed palm tree decorations, available here.
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dinosaur wall decals
There are also a number of wall decals you could use to create a dessert table backdrop. Some can be personalized with the birthday boy or girl’s name, while others have a cool 3D effect. The great thing is that most of these are re-usable so they can be re-positioned to their bedroom wall after the party. Check out all the options here and also here.
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06 food styling & presentation
Below are some suggestions for how to style and decorate the dining table in keeping with these Dinosaur party ideas:
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food presentation
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07 table styling
Below are some suggestions for how to style and decorate the dining table in keeping with these Dinosaur party ideas:
ADVICE FROM A PRO
Matt’s tip
“If it’s a kid’s party, don’t feel as if you have to shy away from using movie / cartoon character-branded tableware.
I see a lot of kids’ parties that are so immaculately styled they look more like adult parties. It’s obvious the parents have designed it for themselves, rather than their child.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a professional party planner it’s to design the party for your audience, not yourself.
The reality is kids want their favorite characters to have a strong presence at their party; they don’t see this as too commercial, for them it’s just fun.
Obviously, it’s important to get the balance right, so don’t go overboard. Character plates and cups work well if combined with a solid color table cover and napkins”.
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dinosaur table styling
To dress the table in keeping with these dinosaur party ideas, I would suggest creating a simple prehistoric landscape that runs down the center of the table. Keep everything earthy and natural by using a palate of sandy beige, green, and browns.
Start with a stone /sandy beige colored table cover, available here.
You could use something like burlap which has a nice rustic texture.
If you want to add some contrast, lay a dark brown table runner over the top of this so you have a darker section running down the middle of the table. If you can, use a runner with some texture such as wicker or bamboo, otherwise you could just use some dark brown burlap (below); the same suggested for the dessert table above.
Then arrange a few potted ferns running down the center of the table and sprinkle some scatter grass and garden rocks.
If you’re not using burlap for the tablecover, use these straw placemats, available here, to add some texture instead.
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dinosaur tablescape
Instead of the usual approach of having a centerpiece, think of this as a ‘long and low’ arrangement so add lots of plastic dinosaurs to the landscape running down the middle of the table.
If budget permits you could buy a large volcano craft kit and use this as a centerpiece. You’ll want the ‘mega volcano’ kits, available here, as these are larger. Most of them come with an empty vessel for you to add baking soda and vinegar to simulate an eruption.
Alternatively, for a budget option you could use these small dinosaur stand ups, available here, for a centerpiece in an among the ferns and rocks.
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dinosaur centerpieces
If you prefer a more traditional centerpiece, their are lots of different options available. Check them out here.
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dinosaur tableware
This range of dinosaur birthday party plates, cups and napkins, available here, would work really well with the table styling ideas above. The color scheme echoes the natural palette of stone, green and brown.
Personally, I prefer some of these less obvious designs—some of which can be personalized. Check out all the options here.
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dinosaur table decorations
Scatter the table with this cute dinosaur confetti, available here, and place one of these dinosaur treat holders, available here, at each place setting.
Finally, hang a dinosaur mask, available here, or one of these plastic prehistoric pith helmets, available here, on the back of each chair so that every child has one to wear.
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08 dinosaur party decorations
Below are tips and recommendations for general decorations to go with these Dinosaur party ideas:
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entrance decorations
I always think it’s important to create a good entrance to a birthday party. It’s the first thing your guests will see so it will set the tone for all your other dinosaur party ideas.
It doesn’t have to be anything too elaborate—these dinosaur footprints, available here, leading up the path to the front door should be enough to get everyone excited.
Alternatively you could use a personalized yard sign (such as this one, available here, other designs available) or one of the personalized banners mentioned previously.
Or you could use one of these huge air walker balloons, available here, or one of the inflatable dinosaurs mentioned previously.
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dinosaur cave entrance
If you do want to make something a bit more special use a camping tent or play tunnel (available here, which you can pick up for around $15) to create your own dinosaur cave.
Line it with brown butchers paper and draw on some cave paintings, scatter some sand across the floor, and arrange some rocks, bones, and house plants along each side. Then stick some of these glow in the dark dinosaur stickers, available here, on the inside of the tent / tunnel.
If you don’t have a tent or play tunnel I’m sure you could make something similar using large cardboard boxes or by draping some cheap brown fabric. If the tent you have opens at each end, position it near the entrance to the party so guests have to crawl through the cave to get inside.
You could also download some dinosaur sound effects from the web, connect a small speaker to your iPod, hide it behind a plant inside the cave and leave on repeat. Alternatively, use one of these cheap motion-activated voice recorders, available here for around $20, to record your own dinosaur sounds.
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life-size cut outs
Another fun way to great people near the entrance to your party is to print a life-size cut out of your child, available here, dressed in a dinosaur costume. These are surprisingly cheap at around $20.
You can also add a motion-activated voice recorder, available here, which means your child can pre-record a short welcome message that plays automatically every time someone walks past the cut out.
For the best dinosaur costumes, check out the range here.
Alternatively, use the voice recorder with a large inflatable dinosaur, available here, at your front door.
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dinosaur eggs
Lay a batch of dinosaur eggs by covering balloons with papier-mâché (like the ones below filled with treats, by Leslie from The Gingerbread Mom).
When dry, pop the balloon inside then cut in half in a zig zag pattern so it looks like they’ve cracked open. Paint them in light green colors and use a marker pen to draw veins on the outside. Then arrange them on small beds of straw and dot them around the party.
For older kids fill them with some green slimy goo and leave a trail of dinosaur footprints walking away from the egg so they appear to be freshly hatched.
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dinosaur cutouts
If your budget permits, there are some great dinosaur cutout stand ups, available here, to dress the party. Kids will love these and play with them long after the party—or you can use them to decorate their bedrooms.
When arranging stand ups, these work best when blended in with some plants or poking out of bushes if your party is in the garden.
Alternatively, use inflatable dinosaurs, available here, if you’re on a budget.
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dinosaur signs
Use these cutouts and printables, available here, to signpost different areas of the party.
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balloons & streamers
To decorate large areas use bunches of balloons, but stick to a palette of brown, green and sandy beige (use metallic gold) to keep everything looking natural. Bunches of solid color balloons always look best when you use three different colors; using two colors gives a harder candy stripe effect. Check out all the balloons available here.
Likewise, crepe paper streamers, available here, in the same colors are a cheap and easy way to fill in larger areas and tie the whole room together with the same color palette. Hang them from a light fitting in the center of the room and then extend out to the perimeter wall working your way around the room.
Again, alternate 3 colors when using these otherwise you end up with a candy stripe effect.
Don’t forget to mix in some dinosaur shaped mylar balloons, such as the ones below, available here.
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09 dinosauR party costumes
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dinosaur dress up
Getting dressed up is a great way to add ‘human theming’ to your tea party. There are some really cute dinosaur costumes, available here, to dress your little one up.
Also, if you have a family pet check out some of the really great dinosaur costumes for dogs, available here. Invest in one of these and your kids will have their very own dinosaur running around their birthday party.
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10 Dinosaur party games
Check out my separate Dinosaur Party Games and Activities page for more dinosaur party ideas.
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11 Dinosaur party favors
For birthday party favors, there are lots of cheap little dinosaur themed novelties that kids will love, such as dinosaur paddle balls, bubble wands, and pocket volcanoes. Check out all the options here and also here.
If you prefer something a little more special, check out these miniature dinosaur eggs, available here, that crack open to reveal a personalized message.
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dinosaur thank you notes
Don’t forget to follow up after your birthday party with thank you notes. This supplier has the nicest range.
related content
more party themes
Hit the ‘Read More’ button below to check out some of my other party theme ideas.
