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!
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 😉
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Water bottles decorated with the same theme and colors–another printable–with the blue and green party cups and “Stegosaurus Sodas.”
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.
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.
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.
That is adorable!!! My son wants a dino party this year so I will definitely have to check these out!
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Such a cute party! You did a fabulous job! My xmas decor is still nt 100% put away.
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Everything looks great! I am loving the printables and the masks. Great job with all the food…just love your three different food stations. So creative!!! Looks like Ryan had a great day! I can only imagine how hard it must be having a baby so close after xmas with party planning. Last year we just barely put away our decorations before Xander’s party in February! LOL We are so bad at that!
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babydickey Reply:
January 9th, 2013 at 9:04 am
lol that’s how we would be, too, if we didn’t have his party!!! and there’s still no rest – on to planning Rebecca’s birthday, haha. Sheesh – once that’s over I don’t think I’ll know what to do with myself!
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How fun! I love how you did the food stations, and the decor is so cute! My son has third birthday coming up next month. These are great ideas.
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OMGosh what a great looking Dino party, happy birthday to your big guy! I LOVE your decorations! It’s amazing what you can do with printables! I have to keep this in mind for April when my daughter turns 4 years old.
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Everything looks amazing! I love it the banner is awesome!
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Love the way everything came out, so cute!!
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What an awesome looking party!! I absolutely love the decor. I’m going to have to check out Pink Pickle Studios. Thanks for sharing.
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That looks like such a fun party!! You did a great job!
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So fun! I absolutely love how it all turned out. I faved Pink Pickle Parties on Etsy. My daughter’s 5th is in May, I would much rather support an Etsy shop than anything else!
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How creative! What a fun and gorgeous party!
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Simply adorable! Great work with all the prep 🙂
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Wow, what a super cute party!! I love all the creativity. I’m glad your little guy got feeling better so he could enjoy his party.
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What an awesome little boy party! So creative!! Wonderful pictures!! Nice job 😉
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That shirt was perfect – so adorable!!!
Our daughter’s birthday is the day after his, so we know what you mean about taking down the holiday decor ASAP. Our tree got kicked to the curb on the 26th!!
Looks like a fabulous party!!! Great job, mama!
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This is the cutest party theme!! My grandsons would love this, too! Beautiful pictures!
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What a lucky little boy to have a Mom do such a great themed party. WOnderful!
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I love this party theme. The masks are beyond cute. I don’t know a little kid that wouldn’t want to wear those all the time. It looks like everyone had a great time.
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