Ryan’s Dino-Mite Dinosaur Party!

My baby turned three at the end of December, just after Christmas. He wasn’t feeling well on his actual birthday–we just barely got him to blow out his candles and eat some cake, but he didn’t even want to open presents! The horror. His party was planned for that Saturday, but because of all the illness going around we postponed it to the following week, January 5th.

The theme? A Dino-Mite Dinosaur Celebration!!! Ryan-o-saurus is turning three!

dinosaur party invitation

I’ll tell ya, it’s tough having a party right after the holidays… all those Christmas decorations had to come down lightning fast (thank you, husband, for your help!) and there’s no rest between all the party prep work! PHEW! It was also the first time many of our family and friends would see our new house, so we had a lot of unpacking and cleaning to do.

All things considered, I think we threw a dino-mite party 😉

dinosaur party ideas

The colors were navy blue, orange, and lime green–I went with the colors from the invite and used a printable set of decor items from Pink Pickle Studios. At the local party store I bought the blue and green plates & cups, party napkins, green forks, and orange tablecloth. I also picked up some dinosaur confetti, a pack of mini plastic dinosaur toys, a dinosaur bucket (for the forks), and cute dinosaur masks for the kids.

dinosaur party ideas

I also used the printables on the table as decor–I think they were supposed to be the cupcake toppers, but we didn’t have cupcakes so I made use of them this way 😉

For the food we had three stations: Carnivore, Herbivore, and Sweetivore.

dinosaur party ideas

The Carnivore Station had deli sandwiches (“T-Rex Tasties”), meatballs (“Dino Eggs”), and chicken fingers with dipping sauces (“Pterodactyl Wings”).

The Herbivore Station had chocolate-covered pretzels (“Dino Bones”), a veggie platter (“Brontosaurus Bites”) and chips and dip.

dinosaur party ideas

The Sweetivore Station was, of course, the birthday cake! And ice cream. If I had had more time, I would have made more sweets, but ah well–we had plenty of cake leftover as it was! The cake was ordered from a local bakery.

dinosaur party ideas

I also found some dinosaur birthday crepe paper at the local party store and used that around the house as well as streamers, green paper lanterns, and dinosaur twirly banners.

I laid out a bunch of photos of Ryan from the past year and some of his younger professional photos. I picked my favorites (there were so many!), put them on a poster board, and hung it above our fireplace where there were more dinosaurs and streamers and balloons.

dinosaur party ideas

Across from the kitchen table and all the food I hung a happy birthday dinosaur banner (another printable) and put a Happy Birthday sign on the front door. I ordered a bunch of balloons from the party store including a giant number “3” and a dinosaur birthday balloon. These were placed at the bottom of our staircase to greet people as they came in the front door… until they came loose and floated up to our second story ceiling… where they are still stuck today ;P

dinosaur party ideas

Water bottles decorated with the same theme and colors–another printable–with the blue and green party cups and “Stegosaurus Sodas.”

dinosaur party ideas

Ryan had a blast and was running all over the place–showing people his “new house” and all his toys in the basement, haha. He was very serious about eating his cake, too. I found the perfect birthday shirt–it says “Birthday Boy” on top with a picture of a dinosaur blowing out candles on a cake and “happy birthday to me” on the bottom. Loved it! He had his own special dinosaur socks and cup, too.

dinosaur party ideas

I love the photo below in the upper left corner–it pretty much explains how present opening went! I was finally just attempting to sit down and eat a bite of cake (isn’t that how it goes?) and Ryan was just a blur running around, too busy to open anything, haha.

dinosaur party ideas

Thanks so much to all who came and anyone that helped out! Ryan loved seeing everyone and his wonderful family and friends made him feel very special and loved. We had a great time!

DETAILS:
~Invites, banner, water bottle labels, posters, and other decor items: printables from Pink Pickle Studios
~Cake and hot foods: Shnucks bakery and deli in Rockford IL
~Balloons and misc party items (plates, dino toys, etc): Party City in Rockford IL
~Dinosaur birthday shirt: GAP
~Dinosaur socks: Stephen Joseph (from local Infinitely Sweet boutique)
All photos by Baby Dickey–you may pin images from here, but please ask before re-publishing anywhere else.

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