We just celebrated my son’s birthday and can I just say? Being a boy mom is so fun. I’m constantly being pushed out of my comfort zone (haha!). I love learning about what he finds enjoyment, wonder and interest in. He is multi-passionate about many things – dinosaurs being one of them! I had a blast planning a dinosaur birthday party for him to celebrate turning the big THREE!
Planning a Dinosaur Birthday Party
I really love planning birthday parties for our kiddos. I will often start a pinterest board a month (or more) ahead of time to begin pinning inspiration. My only criteria? Everything needs to be simple. I like for the decorations and food ideas to be straightforward to avoid becoming a total no-fun stress ball. (Which does still happen when I’m cleaning before guests arrive #TypeAProblems. Keeping things simple helps tone me down?).
I was excited to find the 3-REX theme while scrolling for ideas! This theme could easily be adapted for any age (one dino-mite birthday, rawr-some 2, dino-four…). Check out some of my dinosaur birthday party pin ideas here!
Dinosaur Party Prepping
A few weeks before the party, a friend passed down a bunch of dinosaurs to us. They were in a yellow bag and I hadn’t looked through them until we started decorating the night before. As I was pulling dinosaurs out one at a time, I found a big red dinosaur that was heavy, gaudy and may I add – terrifying? I took one look at it and immediately thought we need to find this one a new home! My husband picked it up with boy-like wonder and assured me that it was “awesome” and my son would “love it“.
My son woke up to find the house decorated with dinosaurs the next morning. He did a quick scan with a big smile and then, sure enough, beelined for the red unsightly dinosaur. He does absolutely love it. I’m convinced we will now have this dinosaur for the rest of his childhood. I’m so happy he loves his new toy. It will only haunt me in my dreams, it’s fine.
Decorations for a Dinosaur Birthday Party
The dinosaur theme is fun because nothing needs to be too perfect. Uneven edges on the backdrop? Adds to the quirkiness! Plethora of colours? Adds to the charm!
I ordered a few dinosaur decorations from Pretty Day including: a big dinosaur balloon, napkins and cups. The selection is amazing and my inner party lover wanted to get so much more! I refrained for the sake of keeping to our budget. I also knew I could fill in with decoration items from the dollar store. That’s where I found the tablecloths for the backdrop, balloons, wrapping paper and tissue paper. Everything else was repurposed from around the house including the “3” silicone cake pan.
The backdrop is simply 3 tablecloths attached together and cut into strips almost to the top. I was originally going to cut out each strip, layer them and tie them on a string BUT I simplified because we left our decorating to late the night before. I like that the backdrop added a fun pop of colour! And yes, those are napkins on the walls. I saw someone decorate with napkins on the ‘gram and thought it was genius. Cute napkins hiding the balloon string and acting as wall decor? Sign me up!
Dinosaur Dinner Party Food
As I mentioned above, I like to keep food as simple as possible so that I can be present and enjoy time celebrating! We started off with afternoon desserts and then did simple charcuterie boards for dinner. I wish I had snapped a picture of the transition from dessert to dinner – but I didn’t get a chance (my husband reminds me it is because we were in the moment!). Check out my pinterest board for charcuterie inspiration. I simply ran with the “herbivore” and “carnivore” idea. Lots of fruit, veggies, crackers, cheese, meat and dip! It worked out well! There was something for everyone and it was so simple. I think I might just do charcuterie boards for every birthday from now on. It is super easy to adapt to any theme, looks great and makes for happy bellies!
Dinosaur Dessert Party Food
When it comes to cake, I’m not overly ambitious (haha!). We have some excellent bakers in the family and honestly? It’s just not totally my thing. BUT! When I found this s’more cake recipe I was sold. I loved the idea of adapting it for the dinosaur theme to be a dino-smore cake. It turned out really yummy (and passed my simplicity test!). My only recommendation is to make sure the graham cracker crumbs are really packed down and stuck together. If I were to make it again, I would add more butter to avoid the bottom becoming super crumbly. It is a little bit of a trickier dessert to eat (it’s just as sticky as a regular s’more!) but I’m really happy with how it turned out overall.
To compliment the cake, we also had mini eggs and marshmallows as “dino eggs”, yogurt covered pretzels as “dino bones” and banana chips as “dino scales”. I should add “making food puns” to my list of fun things to do!
Dinosaur Birthday Party For The Books
I loved celebrating my son’s 3rd birthday dinosaur style! It will go down in the history books with so much fondness. Dare I say, it was dino-mite? ROAR-some?
Sometimes I wish I could freeze time and be in these special moments a little longer. Another birthday gone by! It really is true what they say about blinking…🥺
Until next time!
