My youngest is really into dinosaurs and dragons right now! I threw him a Dinosaur themed party for his 7th birthday.
The previous week, I had already thrown him a Lord of the Rings themed party with my side of the family. I would have preferred to only prepare one party, but I figured his little friends wouldn’t know much about Lord of the Rings. (I was right!) His friends did know about and love dinosaurs and dragons, though.
Did you know that the word “dinosaur” was coined in 1841? Prior to that, the word dragon was used to describe these creatures! Just explaining why I’ll be using the slashie Dino/Dragon throughout this post.
I told my kids that I’d make the food but they had to decorate the house and come up with games if they wanted to play any.
Here’s what happened:
1. Entryway decor for a dinosaur themed party
My littles decorated the entryway. The excavating dino eggs and dinosaur gummy treats were the fun party favors. Digging out the little dinosaur took my 11-year olds and 8-year old about an hour to complete. It helps if you get the egg a little wet and then chip away the dirt.
2. “Dino/Dragon nests” for the main dish
This recipe is for Chinese Spaghetti Bolognese. It was so delicious! The eggs are “Dragon Eggs” from the Tolkien Cookbook (they’re basically Chinese tea eggs). I did not soak the eggs long enough in the tea mixture. They should be more brown.
3. Dino/Dragon footprint
This is a foodie case of “East meets West” with hot dogs in a fluffy Chinese bun. These are popular in Chinese bakeries, especially with children. I modified the Chinese Hot Dog Bun recipe by shaping them into dino/dragon footprints. (There is a 4th hot dog pieces encased in the paw of the footprint). I did not brush my buns with the simple sugar solution at the end.
4. Dirt Cake for a dinosaur themed party
It’s like a paleontology dig site! This yummy dirt cake consists of a 3-layer chocolate cake with oreo crumb frosting. I put dino gummies in the two frosting layers instead of gummy worms.
5. Flying Dino/Dragon Veggie Platter
My 7 and 8-year olds had fun putting this scene together. I’ve seen it where people fill in blueberries for the sky. That would have made it better…but I didn’t have any.
6. Balloon-centration Dinosaur Game
Balloon-centration is a game from Mr. Lemoncello’s Very First Game. We had just made a similar board with rebus puzzles for a book party with our book club. I had already cut out the balloons. (Who likes the sound of popping balloons? NO ONE!) One of my 11-year olds typed out questions about dinosaurs. Then he cut out the questions, and prepared the stand using a box from the recycling.
This is how you play: you throw a ball (or play food, whatever), at the board. Then you answer the question that is under the balloon that you hit. You can make up your own rules for what happens if a person misses the board or gets the question wrong. Give out prizes as you wish! (I didn’t…)
7. Blind Dino/Dragon Draw
The other 11-year old said he got this idea from a book and prepared the papers by folding them into four segments. The kids split into teams of 4. Each person draws a part of the dino/dragon without seeing the other segments. The first person draws the head, the second and third person draw body segments, and the last person finishes with a tail. Either prepare the paper with short lines across the fold to show the widths of the segments, or have each person extend their top and bottom lines a little onto the next blank part of the paper so that the segments end up looking continuous.
This was such a creative activity. I wish I could tell you the book from which my son got the idea! It looks like we ended up with a Western dragon with 8 legs and a snake-like, flying Eastern dragon with no legs!
8. Gifts for a Dinosaur themed party
My guy had been eyeing this set of 3D Wooden Dinosaur Models and a gemstone dig kit. A close friend bought him the dino models and we bought him the gemstone dig kit. He has a growing pile of gemstones in his room and couldn’t be more thrilled about it. He likes to look through the booklet and identify them I guess the rest of his siblings already have their own stockpile of gemstones. Like a Western dinosaur, he is looking for that pyrite.
9. Books about Dragons
Guess what? I did not read aloud at the birthday party! I especially want to highlight two picture books that I’ve read to my kids who are half-Caucasian, half-Asian.
Finally, there are books on the market about mixed kids!
- “Gondra’s Treasure” by Linda Sue Park: Gondra is a mixed race dragon who has a Western dragon mom and Eastern dragon dad. See what a fun combination of qualities Gondra inherits.
- “The Truth About Dragons” by Julie Leung: This book is about a child with an Asian mom and Caucasian dad whose two grandmothers can tell him different truths about dragons (eastern vs western).
Instead of adding the lengthy dragon chapter books to our lessons, I told my 7-year old that he could look through them and I’d read any chapters that looked interesting as bedtime read-alouds for him.
- Dire Dragons: Untold Secrets, Planet Earth
- Dragons: Legends and Lore of Dinosaurs
- Dragonology
- Dragonology: Training and Taming Dragons
- The Dragonology Handbook
- Dr Drake’s Comprehensive: Compendium of Dragonology
That’s a wrap for our Dinosaur and Dragon Themed Birthday Party! I have a few months until the twins’ 11th birthday party (and hopefully it’s just one!)
