Jovial Spondoodles: Eden's 4th Dinosaur Party

Eden wanted a dinosaur party for his 4th birthday. Well actually it was initially a batman party, then a 'ladybird dinosaur' party and then he decided to drop the ladybirds!

I started with the invitations. These were great fun to make!

For the food I kept it fairly simple with dino twists where I could! I was working all the previous day and the party was at 11am so there really wasn't time to go too fancy.

Sandwiches were made with a dino sandwich cutter - herbivore (cheese) and carnivores (ham).

I continued the herbivore / carnivore theme with the snacks - crudités and cocktail sausages and scotch eggs

Crisps were in the form of 'claws' (monster munch) and 'dino bones' (twiglets - they really are revolting aren't they! Moreish though!)

Pizza volcanos fed the adults as well as the children

and afters was provided by more bones (choccy fingers), dino eggs (grapes) and volcanic lava (complete with fossilised jelly dinosaur suspended inside!

Oh, and T Rex water melon, as well as an amazing dinosaur cake by Looby Loo cake company ( a great swap for her daughter's fairy party I entertained at!)

It seemed criminal to cut into it but there were lots of oohs and aahs as we did when the green insides were revealed! (She even made a nod to the batman and ladybird references!)

I wanted the wow factor for the decor, so made a giant balloon palm tree complete with flying pterodactyl overhead and giant T rex! (Eden wanted a pineapple in the tree too so that was a last minute addition!)

All the party bags were balloon cups topped with balloon T Rex's containing dino biscuits, lolly, marshmallows and volcanic playdough (black with added glycerine for stretchiness, glitter and stars) complete with plastic dinosaur to stomp through it!

The party began with guests being invited to make a dinosaur glider as they arrived. I also did dinosaur glitter tattoos!

Games wise I found cute baby dinosaur rings from Baker Ross which I placed into balloons. These could be pre-prepped a few days before the party and then blown up on the day as dinosaur eggs to crack! (Technique shown below - basically inflating a balloon un-knotted; pressing ring onto balloon as you let out the air, then flipping the balloon inside out with ring on the inside. Tricks of the trade!)

The children had great fun popping the balloon eggs and wearing their rings!

I also filled a paddling pool with sand and pre prepared fossilised eggs to dig for and excavate open to reveal fossilised dinosaurs inside! the eggs were made with a mixture of sand, coffee grounds, flour and water and moulded around the dinosuars and left to dry for a few days. I forgot to take a photo of this one though!! I think this was one activity that was more fun in the prep than the end result. Eden did all the mixing and a lot of the moulding himself and really had fun getting his hands in for a good squidge! (The recipe I used was: 1 cup flour, 1 cup used dry coffee grounds, 1/2 cup salt, 1/4 cup sand, 3/4 cup water; mix, squidge and mould around plastic dinosaurs) The sand was dug and played in for most of the party though and a hit with all ages. It was also the basis for the volcano! I filled a plastic bottle with bicarb, soap and food colouring (red for lava). Then asked teh children to build a sand volcano around the bottle. Eden was asked to pour in vinegar and then we watched the 'erruption'! Now I have to say it wasn't quite as impressive as I had hoped! I was intending a practice run but just didn't get around to it! None the less it was my 6 year old's highlight of the party or so he said and it continued errupting for a good while!

The big hit of the party was the tug of war!! I put a red sheet in the middle with teams either side and whoever was pulled into the 'lava' was the loosers!! The kids loved the 'adults against kids' competition the best, and yes - the kids won!!