Birthdays are a big deal in our family, but we don’t have a lot of money to spend each year. So when my son told me he wanted a dinosaur birthday party for his 6th birthday. I decided to get creative. I did his entire birthday party for under $50. I focused on three main things: Decorations, Games/Party Favors, and the Cake.
Decorations
a. To create a dinosaur scene I bought some butcher paper at a local school supply store and made the dinosaurs. I used paper bags and tissue paper for the volcano and palm trees.
b. I taped streamers to strings and hung the strings across the room to create vines.
c. To make the cave I went to the local newspaper and got an end roll of paper for free. I measured out twice the dimensions of my couch and layered the paper with about 4 layers. Then I spray painted the top gray. I put my couches facing away from each other and put cardboard over the top. I placed crumbled paper underneath on the couch cushions to hold the sides of the cave up. The cave was a lot of work but the kids loved it. (Another cave idea I read about was using a refrigerator box and spray painting it gray.)
d. I also put together a CD with dinosaur sounds, which I downloaded, from http://www.meanrabbit.com/wavhtml/wavepage.htm and music from “Jurassic Park”. The T-Rex roaring was a big hit.
Games
a. I found small plastic dinosaurs at the local dollar store and some great dinosaur masks and party favors at www.orientaltradingcompany.com.
b. I started by having each of the boys decorate their party sack (a brown lunch sack) with dinosaur foam stickers (I found at Wal-Mart) and then make a dinosaur scene on paper.
c. We played crack the dinosaur egg. Each boy had a balloon tied to his ankle and they had to stomp the other balloons while protecting their own.
d. We went on a dinosaur egg hunt; I hid plastic eggs filled with prizes around my yard.
e. They played in the cave, making up their own dinosaur games.
Cake
a. We decorated the table with a streamer down the middle and his large plastic dinosaurs. I bought dinosaur napkins, but the plates and cups came from the dollar store.
b. For his party we made cupcakes and topped each one with a small plastic dinosaur from the dollar store. The entire bag of dinosaurs cost a dollar.
I started early and did as much preparation before the big day as possible. Overall the party was a lot of work, but it was a big success. My son informed me that it was, “The best birthday ever.” I don’t know how I’m going to top it next year. I better get started.