My two year old son Dax is obsessed with dinosaurs, so we chose to have a dinosaur theme for his birthday party this year! We wanted to stick with a tight budget, but we also wanted the day to be SUPER special for him– here’s what we did…
Dinosaur Birthday Food
We had just welcomed our second baby into the family three weeks before Dax’s party, so we wanted to keep the food REALLY simple:
- Dinosaur Chicken Nuggets from Walmart–gettin’ fancy over here, I know!
- Dinosaur-shaped mini pizzas- we got these cute dinosaur cookie cutters from Amazon! We cut the pizza dough with them for the party, and we will definitely use them for cookies in the future.
- Fruit and Veggie Tray- Because, all good parties have them right!?
- Dinosaur Cake- My mom made his cake this year, and I LOVE how it turned out. We just used vanilla and chocolate box mix to make a 4-layered cake, and covered it with buttercream icing and crushed Oreos. SIMPLICITY at its finest!
Dinosaur Birthday Decor
I found this dinosaur decoration kit on Amazon for $17, and I couldn’t believe everything that was included (all the items for the balloon arch, ROAR balloons, a T-Rex balloon, a dinosaur banner, leaves for the table, a cake topper, and more table decorations).
We bought this set of plates, napkins, forks, and cups.
And, we got this set of mini dinosaurs for one of Dax’s gifts, but we also used a few dinosaurs from the set to place around the food table. Gift turned decoration–win win!
Oh yeah, one more thing…Notice his dinosaur shirt!? It says “Two-a-saurus.” Dax loved sporting around his special birthday shirt, and he still loves wearing it months after his birthday! I did read that the shirts run a little small, so I got a 3T and it fit him perfectly after we washed/dried it.
Dinosaur Birthday Cake
Like I mentioned earlier, my mom wanted to make his cake this year, and I was happy to let her! She made a four-layered cake (alternating vanilla and chocolate cake), covered it with buttercream icing, and topped it with crushed Oreos. She also made some peanut butter balls to place around the outside of the cake– Dax LOVED eating these “chocolate rocks!”
We put a few plastic trees (from the dinosaur set that I mentioned earlier) and the T-rex cake topper (from the decor kit) on the top. We also got a #2 candle from Walmart for the top to make everything official. Ha!
Dinosaur Birthday Activities
Dax has a February birthday, and we had just gotten so many toys throughout the Christmas season. So, we decided to give him a small gift and an EXPERIENCE!
We took him to the Dinosaur Museum about twenty minutes from our house, and he absolutely flipped!! They had so many cool exhibits, but his favorite was the sand and water exhibit that allowed the kids to dig for dinosaur fossils and play with mini dinosaurs.
If you don’t have a dinosaur museum near you, maybe you could think of a creative dinosaur experience that your child would love– like digging for “dinosaur bones” in your backyard or going on a dinosaur scavenger hunt around the house!
Are you planning a birthday party? What theme would your child love?