Make and Takes Daily Fix

Make and Takes Daily Fix

Dinosaur Birthday Party Ideas

Posted: 18 May 2010 12:40 PM PDT

It’s a Dinosaur Birthday Party! They are big, loud, and stomp around, just like my son is on his birthday a couple years back! Check out a few of the fun things we did to celebrate his birthday Dino style!

Invitation: Make this fun dinosaur birthday party invitation. Cut out an oval shaped piece of paper. Cut a zig-zag down the middle of the oval to represent a cracking egg. Attach the two halves together again by one brad fastener at the edge. You can glue a dinosaur shape onto the back of the bottom egg. Write all the party details on top of the dinosaur or on the back, and children can open the cracked egg to see a surprise.

Dino Feet: Give each child a set of dinosaur feet. They can be worn during the party or given as part of the party bag at the end. These feet are made with craft foam. Download this printable pattern to trace onto the craft foam. Then attach little white craft triangles, using glue dots, for the toes. Dinosaur Foot Pattern

Food:

  • Dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets are an easy snack for the party
  • String cheese can be pretended to look like dino bones
  • Dinosaur Juice – Sprite mixed with mint chocolate chip ice cream

Cake: For our party cake, I placed a small plastic dinosaur on the top of each chocolate cupcake. But I also love these ideas for fun dinosaur themed cakes:

Games:

  • Tough Tail Attack – With this crafty dinosaur tail, have the child hold the straps around their waist. The other kids build a tall tower with blocks, then each tries to knock it down using their tough tail! For the tail, I stuffed a lot of plastic grocery bags into a large kitchen garbage bag. I then tied it around and around tight with yarn to form the tail. The straps of the garbage bag are what the child can hold around their waist.

  • Dinosaur Dig – Fill a large bucket with play sand. Bury enough small plastic dinosaurs in the sand before you let the children dig. Place the bucket outdoors or on top of a large plastic tarp to help catch any flying sand. One at a time, have a child use a sand shovel to dig for a dinosaur. Give each child a turn to find the hidden toys.

    • Host Your Own Dinosaur Museum – If your child collects a lot of dinosaurs, you could host an in-house Dinosaur Museum. It could be similar to this Rock Museum, and have some items for display only and some that are hands on.
    • Dinosaur Egg Match – Fill a plastic egg with a small dinosaur toy. Hide them around the room. Give each child a card that shows the design of their egg. Have them go on a dinosaur egg hunt, looking and retrieving only their specific egg.

    Party Bags: Fill some brown paper bags with treats for them to go home with. They can take the dino feet and small plastic dinosaurs they got from the party games as well. You can also make these cute Pipe Cleaner Dinosaurs that the children could take home.

    Any roaring and stomping dinosaur birthday parties at your house?
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    Dora Birthday Party Ideas

    Posted: 18 May 2010 02:20 AM PDT

    My little one has been on a Dora the Explorer kick for a few weeks now. Everything is about Dora and she’s always wearing some sort of backpack, it’s a-dora-ble! She’s having a Dora birthday party for her 2 year birthday and here are a few of the activities we’re doing.

    Invitation: Create a map as an invitation to give out by using a creme colored piece of paper. You can even crinkle it up to look like a worn weathered map. Write your party details on the inside, roll it up, and seal it with a sticker or ribbon!

    Dora’s Backpack: I made a little fabric Dora backpack for each child. I followed my own pattern sewing a simple square with the top open and sewing a half circle flap for the top closure. I drew Backpack’s face on the front as well. Here is a good draw string backpack pattern if you would like something to follow.

    These backpacks are filled with a few essential items. As we go along with our party they will pull out different things to help them on their path. At the end of the party, they will also serve as their party bag they get to take home. (The only way I could get my little girl to turn around to take the picture was to have her knock on the door!)

    It’s Adventure Time:

    We’re Off to Find the Arco Iris (rainbow): We start our party in our living room with the children catching bubbles or playing with balloons until everyone arrives. Once everyone is there, have the children look at our big map on the wall. It’s a white poster board with a map leading through our house, helping us find to Arco Iris (the rainbow). After we talk about our map, “saying it with me”, then we go on our adventure. They’ll travel over the red stepping stones to the Kooky Kitchen, then through the Silly Spider Web down the stairs to the Star Valley. Then climb up the stairs over Waterfall Mountain to find Arco Iris, our cupcakes!

    1st: We travel over the red stepping stones. These stepping stones are made with red paper and taped to the floor. But a few of the stones are missing and we need all of them to cross the path. Have each child look in backpack and find a red stepping stone to add to the path. Then cross the path to the next place (you should be entering the kitchen). For older children, add a number to each step and have the children put them in the right order to cross.

    2nd: They’ve made it to the “Kooky Kitchen”. This is where they’re going to eat their snack, helping fuel them for the adventure. To make it more of a “kooky” kitchen, have them eat on the floor on a blanket or turn the kitchen all upside down crazy. Have the children sip some lemonade and eat Cheese Stick Maps – string cheese looks Map!

    3rd: They travel through the Silly Spider Web. This is a yarn web tied around our stair case. The kids have to work their way around the string without getting caught.

    4th: Catch the stars in Star Valley. Have each child pull out a magnifying glass or telescope from backpack to help them find the hidden stars. Cut out 20 or so paper stars and tape them to the walls and hide them around the room. Have the children “catch” the stars. They can place their stars into their backpacks.

    Last: Climb up Waterfall Mountain to the Arco Iris. As the children are catching their stars, drape some blue fabric or plastic all along your stairs to resemble a waterfall going down the stairs. Have the children climb up the blue fabric or waterfall, to get to the kitchen once again. Once on top of the waterfall, they should find the Arco Iris, rainbow cupcakes on the table. Sing happy birthday and let each child pick out what color of the rainbow they are going to eat.

    We Did It Party Bags: To celebrate that “we did it”, each child gets to take home their purple backpacks filled with a few fun things. You can add fruit snacks, stickers, and a blue beaded bracelet.

    How have you celebrated Dora for a birthday party? Any fun games involving Boots, Tico, or Benny?
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