• DIY PROJECTS
  • VINTAGE
  • HOLIDAYS
  • Parties
  • Free Printables
  • Recipes
  • Keep the Faith
  • Children’s Literature
  • Chickens

Have a Little Faith Blog

Creating all things with love & a little faith

  • Home
  • Blog
    • DIY Projects
    • Vintage
    • Holidays
    • Parties
    • Recipes
    • Free Printables
    • A Little Faith
    • Chickens
    • Children’s Literature
  • About
  • Faith
    • Mission Trips
    • Worship Ministry
  • Contact
  • Disclosure

A Roarin’ Good Dino Party!

October 19, 2016 by Katie Anderson Leave a Comment

Earlier this month, my “baby” – aka my youngest son – turned 5 years old. Just this fact alone is enough to make the white hairs on my head start to multiply! It literally seems like it was just yesterday that I was bringing him home from the hospital, and now here he is, a big 5-year-old boy already. I know it’s cliché, but honestly, time goes by like the blink of an eye when it comes to raising children!erik-baby-to-fiveThis year my son really wanted to have a dinosaur party. Lately he’s been showing such an interest in science – he loves anything to do with rocks, fossils, space, etc. This party was a chance to get to show the fun side of dinos, and not so much the scary, meat-eating side like those Jurassic Park movies! Actually, one of my son’s favorite movies about dinos is The Good Dinosaur, and so I tried really hard to go with that “good dino” theme!dino-party-main-photoThis was also the first year we let him have a kid party, where he got to invite all his little buddies from school and the neighborhood. Yes, we did have 10 little boys running around our house all at one time, and no, nothing ended up broken! Yes, they did get hyped up on chocolate cake, but at least they got to expend all that energy running around outside playing the fun dinosaur games I had planned for them!

dscf6238

It was a really fun party, and here’s the details in case you’d like to re-create this one for your little dino-loving dude!

Games

We lucked out and had a gorgeous day for this party – good thing too since I had planned 3 games they could play outside in the backyard for a good chunk of the party…

  • Game #1 – Digging for Dinos:
    This game involved me filling a small plastic kiddie pool with dried beans and burying a dozen mini dinosaurs in them for the kids to dig out using plastic spoons, shovels & cups. I borrowed the beans from my aunt, who used to teach preschool, and bought a package of little dinos from the Dollar Store. I think kids this age just really like to dig in anything! It’s a sensory game and the kids really enjoyed it!
    dscf6227
    dscf6242
  • Game #2 – Feed the T-Rex:
    I took one of our wooden bag game boards and fitted over the top of it with a large piece of colored poster board from the craft store. Then I traced around the circle opening, cut it out and drew my meanest looking T-Rex face around the opening to look like a ferocious mouth. I even cut out white paper and glued them to the inside of the circle to look like sharp T-Rex teeth! The object of the game was simple – the kids just had to try to get as many bean bags as they could into the T-Rex’s mouth! Feed the T-Rex!
    dscf6223
    dscf6225
    dscf6240
  • Game #3 – Dinosaur Red Light, Green Light:
    For this game, the kids first had to dress up like little dinosaurs using some paper dinosaur masks I found in the Walmart party section, and regular paper party hats that they used as little dino tails! They were so cute dressing up in their dino outfits! Then they all stood back in a line and waited for my oldest daughter to call out, “Red Light, Yellow Light or Green Light” to get them to stomp forward in dinosaur fashion! If somebody didn’t stop on the “red light” they had to go back to the starting line and start over – which led  to fits of hilarious laughter from each dino in disguise. They probably played this game the longest, lasting a good 15 minutes!
    dscf6234
    dscf6249dscf6251
    dscf6254
  •  Game #4 – Pin the Horn on the Triceratops:
    This was my only indoor game that we played to kind of wind the kids down a bit after coming in from outside. This is your classic spin-off the “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” game, where each boy had a green horn with their name on it that they had to try to stick the closest to the actual spot it belonged on the Triceratops – all while blindfolded! Some of them actually got pretty close!
    dscf6260 dscf6437

Activities

We found time to fit one activity/craft into the party as well. The kids each made their own pet dinosaur to take home with them! I had found a package of wooden dinosaurs at the Dollar Store in their craft section and thought this would be a fun project for the kids. They each glued a pair of googly eyes to their dino, then colored him in with crayons and decided on what its name would be. I was pleasantly surprised at how each boy really took his time and was creative! So fun to see!

dscf6233

Food

What else do you feed a hungry bunch of 5 year olds, but the obvious – chicken nuggets in the shape of dinosaurs and mac n’ cheese! (These also just happen to be my son’s favorites) We had grapes and pineapple for the Herbivores, white chocolate covered pretzel dino bones, and a multitude of flavored jelly bean dinosaur eggs! To drink they had lemonade and of course, cake & ice cream for dessert!

dscf6214 dscf6213

dscf6230 dscf6232 dscf6228

I found a neat idea online to create dinosaur bones using sand play toys and white chocolate. I was lucky enough to find a dinosaur skeleton sand toy kit and tried it out for his cake topper. All I had to do was melt down the white chocolate almond bark, then pour it into the molds and pop it into the freezer for a few minutes. Once it set, it popped out and looked just like dino bones!

dscf6146 dscf6150

Decorations

We transformed our house into Dinosaur Party central with the help yet again, another talented Etsy seller’s party printable package. I’m a big fan of using these do-it-yourself printable packages, because for as little as $10-$20, you get everything you need to print at home and assemble all the party extras – banners, signs, straw flags, thank you notes, water bottle labels, etc. This was the one I used since it fit the color scheme I was going with perfectly. I also used a lot of stuff I had lying around the house already, like my son’s plastic dinosaur toys for centerpieces.

dscf6160 dscf6162 dscf6220 dscf6215

I made these cute little vines using some jute twine and attaching cut out green paper leaves. They hung down our front hallway when the kids entered, so they felt like they were really in the jungle.

dscf6221

And these green construction paper dino tracks led the kids right up the front walk and into the party!

dscf6219 dscf6218

Goody Bags

Our way of thanking each guest for coming to the party and for bringing a present for my son, was giving them these adorable goodie bags to take home with them. The package of green treat bags were from the Target Dollar spot, and each were filled with dinosaur stickers, pencils, erasers, a mini play dough and a dinosaur tattoo.

dscf6209 dscf6210

Even though this party was a lot of work to pull off, and right on the heels of my oldest daughter’s Harry Potter birthday party we threw her just weeks earlier, it was still so much fun to plan! I hope I’ve inspired you to create your next party with some love and a little faith!

End Greeting

Share this:

Related

«
»

Filed Under: Parties, Uncategorized Tagged With: dinosaur, kids, party, preschool

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Welcome Friends!

little yellow flower I'm so glad you stopped by! Everything here is inspired by love and a little faith! "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20-21

Meet Katie

I am a child of God. A devoted wife & mother to three. A singer of songs. Writer & vintage enthusiast. Book nerd & kid librarian. A crazy chicken lady who digs the country life. Lover of all things creative. A big dreamer & out-of-the-box thinker. Welcome to my corner of the blogosphere! Click here to read more about me!

Subscribe to Blog via Email


Like what you see? Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive instant notifications of new posts.

Search this Blog

Read My Other Posts Here

Latest Offer From Grove Collaborative

FEATURED POSTS

Turning a New Page

Oh, what a difference 6 months can make! Back in my last post in May, I gave you all a quick update … [Read More...]

Have a Little Faith Blog Update

Well hello, friend! It's been almost a year since I wrote a real live post here on Have a Little … [Read More...]

Tags

autumn backyard baking barn birthday blogging books cabin chickens children christmas cozy craft decor decorating DIY Easter faith fall family family room farm free printable garden handmade holiday home kids kitchen library love makeover mason jar outdoor party pumpkins refresh season snow spring summer upcycle vacation vintage winter

Archives

ITEMS YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Blog Policy

© Have a Little Faith Blog 2015-24. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this blog's photos and materials without express and written permission from this blog's owner, Katie Anderson, is strictly prohibited. Photos, excerpts and links may be used, as long as full credit is given to Have a Little Faith Blog with specific direction to the original content. Pinning to Pinterest is allowed with proper link back to havealittlefaithblog.com.
  • Read our Blog
  • View your Cart
  • Shop Item Locations
  • Contact Us
  • DIY PROJECTS
  • VINTAGE
  • HOLIDAYS
  • Parties
  • Free Printables
  • Recipes
  • Keep the Faith
  • Children’s Literature
  • Chickens

Welcome to Have a Little Faith!

I am a child of God. A devoted wife & mother to three. A singer of songs. A writer & vintage enthusiast. A lover of all things creative. A big dreamer & out-of-the-box thinker. Welcome to my corner of the blogosphere!

Follow on Pinterest

Follow on Facebook

Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2025 · Blossom theme by Restored 316

Copyright © 2025 · Blossom Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...