Hosting a themed dinosaur party is a fantastic way to entertain younger children for their birthday. Just imagine transforming your party space into a Jurassic wonderland, complete with T-Rex decorations, dino-inspired games, and delicious themed treats.
Ready for a Jurassic adventure but not sure where to start? Don’t worry, our blog post will guide you through everything you need to ensure your dinosaur-themed party is a roaring success. From planning the perfect prehistoric menu to creating a fossil-digging expedition that will have guests stomping with delight, we’ve got it sorted.
So, what are you waiting for? Grab your explorer hat and let’s get started!
Dinosaur Party Invitations
Long before the party starts, you’ll want to send out invitations that build anticipation. Here are some suggestions:
- Fossil dig permit-style invitations
- 3D pop-up dinosaur card
- A hinged egg-shaped card that opens to reveal the invitation
- Dinosaur footprint shaped invitations.
You may also want to use the invitations to encourage guests to turn up in their favourite dinosaur or explorer gear.
Décor Ideas
Use a colour palette that reflects earth tones and lush greens. Dinosaur shaped balloons, vines and faux tropical foliage will transform your house into a Jurassic jungle. If you’re on a budget, green crepe paper makes great streamers (vines) for doorways, while large (borrowed!) houseplants offer an eco-friendly and free way of setting the scene. Position any dinosaur toys you already have, or can borrow, among the foliage and consider adding cut out dinosaur shapes to the walls. A party backdrop banner, possibly personalised with your child’s name, creates maximum impact for minimum effort, or hang some dinosaur-themed birthday bunting. Themed paper tableware and a green cloth will do double duty as decorations and practical items. Another nice touch is printed, laminated dinosaur footprints leading from the entrance to the party area.
Dinosaur themed party food
When it comes to food, think creatively in keeping with your dinosaur theme. We suggest:
- Dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets
- Dinosaur shaped sandwiches using biscuit cutters
- Guacamole (swamp) or red pepper houmous (lava) dips
- Broccoli (trees), carrot sticks, celery and red peppers for the herbivores among your guests
- Mini beef (brontosaurus) burgers in buns
- Pterodactyl (chicken) wings with tomato ketchup lava
- Tortilla chips (dinosaur spikes)
- Dinosaur eggs in a nest (make chocolate cereal nests and fill with mini eggs)
- Dinosaur cakes – use silicone moulds
- Cadbury’s mini dinosaur biscuits
- Gummy sweet dinosaurs / worms set in cups of green jelly.
Tip: Lakeland have a great range of dinosaur themed biscuit cutters, moulds and cake sprinkles.
And if you’d rather leave the food to someone else, then there’s always the option to hire a caterer, and you can focus on making sure everyone is having a good time!
Dinosaur Birthday Cake
Whether you make your own or opt to purchase one, there’s huge scope for having fun with the birthday cake! We suggest:
Purchased cakes:
While it’s possible to have almost anything you can think of made into a cake, it’s not the most budget-friendly idea! If you’re trying to keep costs down, but don’t want to make your own cake, most major supermarket chains have reasonably priced dinosaur cakes in their range.
Homemade ideas:
- Make a volcano cake – layer chocolate sponges and cut into a mountain shape (or bake in a Pyrex basin), cover roughly with chocolate buttercream and add ‘lava’ (red icing/cake melts) dripping from the top. Place on a board with plastic model dinosaurs and green grass (desiccated coconut mixed with green food colouring).
- Use a dinosaur mould tin and cover the resulting cake with buttercream stars.
- Make cupcakes and finish with paper dinosaur toppers.
Dinosaur Party Games
No birthday party is complete without games, and a dinosaur theme offers a plethora of options for both indoor and outdoor fun. Ideas include:
- Pin the tail on the dinosaur – requires a large dinosaur print, dinosaur tails and an eye mask.
- Fossil excavation – works indoors (if you don’t mind the mess!) or out. A sandpit is perfect for this idea or fill a wooden box with sand. You will also need some large kids’ paintbrushes, spades (small beach spades work well) and some dinosaur bones. And where, I hear you ask, do I find the latter item? Answer, in your kitchen! OK, so you’ll need to be a bit creative here; semi-realistic dinosaur bones can be made from salt dough and dried out in the oven. Bury them in the sand and let the kids have fun finding them – encourage them to dig carefully and brush the excess sand off gently – just like a real palaeontologist!
- Dinosaur egg hunt – Hide eggs around your house or garden and get children to hunt for them. These could be hollow plastic eggs filled with mini dinosaur toys, sweets or stickers. If you want to ramp the fun (not to mention the mess!) up a bit, you could make eggs which dissolve to reveal a dinosaur toy. There are several ‘recipes’ for these online, but essentially, it involves creating ‘eggs’ from a paste of bicarbonate of soda, water and food colouring and encasing a small plastic dinosaur in the centre. Once found, the eggs can be ‘hatched’ by spraying them with vinegar in small spray bottles, causing them to fizz, bubble and dissolve to reveal the dinosaur inside!
- Dinosaur stomp musical statues – kids stomp to the music and adopt dinosaur poses when the music stops.
- Crafts – kids will enjoy decorating their own paper mâché or wooden dinosaur eggs with a selection of paints and/or felt pens – Amazon UK sell reasonably priced wooden eggs.
Hire a professional entertainer
Party prep can be exhausting without keeping the kids entertained too, so why not consider hiring a professional entertainer? An entertainer dressed as a palaeontologist, or even a friendly dinosaur, can engage kids with stories and activities while you’re busy preparing food or setting up crafts. Alternatively, hire a face painter to transform kids into prehistoric monsters!
Dinosaur Themed Party Playlist
Small kids will love these songs!
- The Dinosaur Song (Johhny Cash)
- Jurassic Park theme music
- Roar Like a Dinosaur (Bounce Patrol)
- I know a Dinosaur (Bounce Patrol)
- What’s Your Favourite Dinosaur (The New Fangles)
Dinosaur Party bags
As your small guests prepare to leave, send them home with party bags filled with dino-themed goodies to keep the excitement alive. Ideas include:
- Dinosaur stickers
- Mini dinosaur figures
- dinosaur-themed colouring books and crayons
- Mini dinosaur puzzle
- Dinosaur jelly sweets
Why not personalise each bag with the child’s name? Either use a felt pen or write on a small plain gift tag.
And if you’d like more ideas, then check out this blog dedicated to creative party bag ideas!
We hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post and that it’s inspired you to host your own prehistoric celebration that will have everyone roaring with delight!
PartyWizz helps you book the best kid’s entertainers and party services in UK and Ireland. From magicians and face painters to party packages and photographers, you’ll find those in your area on our easy-to-use platform. Whether you’re planning a birthday party, christening, communion or a corporate family day, go to PartyWizz to find the perfect service providers hassle-free!
