"Have a roarin' good time"
The Lil Man turned 4 last April and every time I look at his birthday party photos they make me smile - so I just had to share! He had so much fun that he has requested another dinosaur party for his 5th birthday party, but I'm currently trying to talk him into something different. Wish me luck because whenever I suggest something he still sounds like a toddler who says 'no' to everything. This is going to require some creative parenting in order to get my 4 year old to think that an "Under the Sea" party was HIS OWN idea….am I dealing with a grown man?!? He has been obsessed with killer whales since he was 2 so I don't think it should be too difficult to sway his wants……we'll see.
I am a HUGE fan of Etsy and tell everyone about it when I have a chance. In order to make his party unique I tried to find as much as I could on Etsy. So I started off with his invites from Dimple Prints as well as the cupcake toppers.
Here he is enjoying his 4th cupcake. Ooops….I mean 4th frosting top. He only eats the frosting J.
A birthday boy needs his special outfit and, once again, Etsy delivered. Happy Family was a joy to work with and our family went all out with the theme....hence the cheesy matching! Although, I must say, as long as we don't wear them all at the same time we still wear the shirts (except me because it was a maternity shirt). I might have to order a new one!
Then we had table decorations. We placed buckets and shovels with the children's names on all the tables along with some dinosaur fossil replicas we found at Michaels.
Lil Man and his friends then went on a dinosaur dig. They took their buckets with them and went looking for their own designated area to dig for dinosaur fossils. Each one had a dinosaur egg and dinosaur fossil hidden in their area. I found the dinosaur eggs at Michaels and when you place them in water a dinosaur is "born". The dinosaur fossils were found at Oriental Trading. And my dinosaur diggers needed some official looking badges to enter the dig area J.
And the biggest hit of the party was the volcano. I wish I would have taken photos of it while I made it, but I was running short on time and just needed to get it done. Here's a quick summary of how I did it…..Find a disposable aluminum pan with sides on it to control the mess when the volcano erupts. To form the shape of the volcano I used some plastic bowls and cups and secured it with duct tape. Make sure the top has a shallow bowl so that it will 'erupt' and run down the sides. I used a small plastic cup that I cut in half so it wasn't so deep. I then added some paper mache to the outside to help form the shape. After it was dry I painted it with some brown paint and added sand and rocks. Each kid had a few chances to make it explode. I had a mini shot glass size cup I would fill with vinegar and a few drops of red food coloring and then the kids would pour that into the volcano that had about 1-2 tbsp of baking soda in it. Get lots of vinegar and baking soda because it will be a hit! I thought I had more than enough, but we ran out.
After some running around and opening presents the kids were off with their parents and their handy dandy gift bags.
If you are planning a dinosaur party I hope our party sparked some ideas to make it a hit!
Be inspired, get creative, and have fun!
I've linked this party over at Under the Table and Dreaming
