Noah's Dinosaur Themed 4th Birthday Party

Now that I've updated you about Noah's 4th year, it's time to talk about the party!! When I asked Noah what he wanted for his birthday party theme this year, he told me he wanted dinosaurs. So, away I went planning an adorable orange, lime green and turquoise dinosaur-themed party for my little guy. First on the agenda, the invitations. I love including photos of the birthday boy on the invites, and of course, it also had to include his 2 favorite dinosaurs - "hammer head," and "long neck."

I also like to add a little something to the invites to make them unique. This time, it was wiggly eyes! Yep, wiggly eyes covered the dinosaurs at this year's party! I love how they turned out.

After the invitations were mailed, I started brainstorming (aka, browsing Pinterest and Google) ideas for the party. To decorate the house, I bought some turquoise, orange, and yellow latex balloons (inflated with helium and hi-float) at the local party supply store. For this party, I also bought a silver "4" and a generic T-rex dinosaur balloon. I made a custom banner that read "Happy 4th Birthday Noah" using the same dinosaur/color theme. I also hung up fun arrow signs directing guests to the watering hole (swimming pool), feeding area (seating area), privacy bushes (bathroom/changing area), carnivores (main course), herbivores (appetizers), and sweetivores (dessert)!

Here's an example of the banner letters, close-up. I attached the pendants with mini clothes pins to a jute rope. It worked well and looked great! I also made a mini "WELCOME" version for the front door to greet guests as they arrived.

For the party favors, I bought plain kraft paper bags with handles (from Target) and added tags that said "Thank you for making my party DINO-MITE! - Noah." Inside the bag, there was a bag of "Dino Chow," which I packaged in clear, plastic bags and topped them with tags. The chow consisted of pretzel sticks, chocolate covered raisins, peanut butter chips and a gummy worm.

To complete the favor bag, I added a "Grow a Dino!" egg with instructions for hatching their own dinosaur, along with information cards about the dinosaur they might find. I purchased the Animal Planet eggs from Amazon.

This year, I made cupcakes for the party. I didn't want to attempt any elaborate decorating of the cupcakes on the day of the party, so I made cupcake toppers and wrappers to coordinate with the banner and invite elements.

I stuck these toppers in some delicious dirt cupcakes that I could quickly make the day of the party. These cupcakes probably deserve a post of their own. They were delicious! I used my mom's recipe for Texas sheet cake for the cupcakes. Noah is a chocolate man, so I knew he'd love these! ;) Then I topped them with a peanut butter frosting that I'd never tried before, but I was so glad I did. It was heavenly. You can find the recipe here!

After the frosting, I crushed up some Oreos to sprinkle on top, as the dirt part of the dirt cupcake. :) They were the perfect touch for a dinosaur-themed party.

The napkins and utensils were some that I already had. I used jute to secure the utensils in the napkins. They looked super cute in the bucket that I reused from his 2nd birthday party! ;) I bought the kraft paper straws at Target, and added some cute ROARRR straw flags to complete the look. I used the plastic dinosaur skeletons for decorating the food area. I also purchased those on Amazon.

For the dinner menu, I chose:

for the HERBIVORES:

• DINO chips & dip (pita chips with homemade roasted red pepper hummus)
• Veggies & DINO dip (carrot sticks with ranch dip)
• Watermelon SPIKES
• PB&J sandwiches (sandwiches cut out in dino shapes with this sandwich cutter)

for the CARNIVORES:

• PTERANODON wings (chicken wings with sauces)
• BRONTOSAURUS burgers (sliders on Hawaiian sweet rolls)
• DINO nuggets (dino-shaped chicken nuggets - thanks, Tyson!)

for the SWEETIVORES:

• DINO bones (yogurt-covered pretzels)
• Dirt cupcakes (chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing and Oreo crumbles)
• FOSSIL cookies (I had also planned to make these, but ran out of time - sugar cookies with dino footprints, sprinkled with cinnamon)

To drink, I had JURASSIC juice for the kids (Honest juice pouches), and the WATERING hole for the adults (ice water with lemon and orange slices). I wanted the food to go with the party theme, which is why I chose what I did. ;) Added bonus that Noah loves PB&J and dino nuggets!

Here are some pics of the birthday boy enjoying his THREE parties!! :) His dinosaur shirt, featuring a "Noahsaurolophus," was made by my aunt, from the dinosaur I created for his invites. :)

The final item to take care of was the thank you notes. I made a simple flat 4" x 6" card to go with the theme.

Because who doesn't love getting something sweet in the mail instead of bills? ;) It was an adorable, fun party for a little guy who loves dinosaurs!!

Happy 4th Birthday to our little middle!

All items you see above are available for customization and purchase through my business page, kreations by kristy. You can also find me on Facebook and Etsy.