Dinos Rule!

I want to be a Paleontologist when I grow up! Why wait?

Most boys, and some girls, go through a time when dinosaurs again seem to rule the earth. This dino mania snags and holds tight anywhere from ages 4-10. Some kids never leave this phase, for others it is a fleeting, yet all encompassing phase. Make the most of it and have a dino themed birthday party.

The wild rumpus

Games for a dino party are limitless. Try a fossil hunt. If you have a sand box use it if not, simply fill a wading pool with sand or sawdust. Mix in all sorts of small toys, coins and ‘dino bones’. The dino bones can be anything from plastic bone shaped toys, or raw hide doggy treats. Give each child a shovel, and a bag to collect their specimens, and then turn them loose. (It is a good idea to count the loot before burring it; you’ll want to know if they got everything.) Just in case some youngsters are not as lucky, or efficient in their collecting as others save some of the treats to even out the end result in the end.

Make a pre-historic twist with a party classic. Instead of pinning the tail on the donkey try to pin the tail on a T-rex, or the spikes on a stegosaurus.

Pre-historic eats

If visions of creating a freestanding replica of a spinosaurus has you running scared, don’t worry. There is no need to sculpt a Precambrian lizard of any variety to have a fabulous dino-cake. The simplest cake would be made from a mold. Trust us, there is a wide variety on the market…yours is not the only household to be gripped with dino fever at birthday time.

For those of you who have a more independent spirit try a foot print cake. Bake a sheet cake, remove it from the pan. Use a template to cut two or three dinosaur tracks. Layer these, ice and decorate. Walah! Your very own dino-track.

This is a fun idea: dino-filled cup cakes. Make cupcakes, insert a small plastic dinosaur toy into each of them then ice, to cover up the whole. Be sure to warn eager eaters to watch their bites! These cupcakes may bite back.

The Jurassic living room

Decorations are a snap! Include lots of palm fronds for greenery and pictures of dinosaurs on the wall. You can enlist the help of your dino-loving child. Ask them to create original works of art depicting their favorite dinosaurs.

A trip to the craft store to use the dye cutter will save precious time and yield wonderful ideas. Look for shapes like: dino silhouettes, or tracks and plant shapes reminiscent of the cretaceous era. Scatter these on your walls, refreshment table and use as your place mats: Very dinotopean!

This party is sure to be a hit. Who knows, perhaps this budding dino-maniac really will be a paleontologist!