dinosaur party - how to!

I liked themed parties, I blame my mother we always had themed parties and exciting home-made cakes, there were hedgehogs, castles, forts, tanks, a calculator, trains and possibly the best, a proper 3D E.T. So, I started the same tradition, at one we had a jungle theme with a cute lion cake and his second birthday was trains so this time it was dinosaurs.
I reckon what I did could be adapted for any theme really, just use your imagination!

Musical 'pass the pens' hats

You will need:

cut out colouring in pictures for what ever theme you are doing, roughly 10cm high.

strip of construction paper slightly smaller that your child's head

an elastic band

stapler

pens

music!

To prepare the game, stick the picture onto the middle of the head strip (this is already coloured sorry!) and allow to dry, do this the night before the party.

To play the game, give each child a hat and coloured pen/crayon/pot of paint, whatever you fancy. Start the music and the kids colour, when the music stops they have to replace the cap on the pen then pass the pen to their left. The music starts and colouring begins again. When a child feel like they have finished they must put the pen down. 

To make into a hat, fold one end of the strip over and tuck the elastic band in, staple it in place.
Fold the other end of the strip through the band and staple again.
Then put it on your head! You might want to cover the sharp edges of the staples with tape.
Guacamole swamp

You will need:

2 avocado's

small tub of SILKEN tofu (not the stuff you cook with)

squirt of ketchup

squirt of lemon juice

Put all the ingredients in a blend and whiz until smooth. Pop into a bowl. Fully wash any swamp creatures you want to add before popping them into the swamp. Serve with chips or anything else good for dipping.

Dinosaur Eggs
You will need:
eggs
water
food colouring

Hard boil the eggs as usual. Run under cold water then crack the shells all round but do not remove.
In a pan place 6 cups of water and which ever food colour you like, I used green so that I could use the left over coloured water to make dinosaur snot.
Pop your eggs in the water and leave for 10-15 minutes. Peel and serve.
Dinosaur Snot

You will need:

6 cups of water 

1.5 cups of corn starch

food colour - green for snot 

Ziplock bags

Put the ingredients in a pan and bring to the boil, keep stirring until smooth and slime-like.

Let cool the pop into a ziplock, add a Genuine Dinosaur Snot Label then give to your guests as they leave.

I recommend having a warning about stains and ingredient list on the label for the adults and possibly taping up the ziplock to stop kids getting it out in the car on the way home - how to annoy the parents of your party guests!

Placemats and Straws
We also made dinosaur placemats for each guest to take home and dino straws, which a simple, just cut out the shape that you like out of construction paper, punch a couple of holes in it with a hole punch then thread the straw through.

Dino Toast
You will need:
thinly sliced toast
cookie cutters - whatever shape matches your them
spreads - we used mascapone cheese and guacamole
decoration bits - chopped up cheese slice, ham, nori etc.
Cut your shapes out of toast, works best when the toast is still warm, pop in to a bowl.
Give each child a small dish with decoration bits and a knife, a butter type knife works best.
then let them create...

Dinosaur Cake
I admit, this was very hit and miss, I had no idea if it would work. I baked a sponge cake in a 30cm tin. I used half and half white and wholemeal flour, which made it a bit heavier and sturdier, easier to work with. Before cutting into the cake I drew out a plan on paper then used the pieces as a pattern. I cut the cake in half, the top half became the main part of the body, then the remain half I cut the head and neck, one piece, 4 legs and a wee tail. I used bamboo skewers to hold it all together then covered it in whipped cream and sprinkled coloured shreaded coconut down the spine. A couple of smarties for eyes and you're done! I think icing of some kind would have been easier to put on that cream, but the boy wanted cream cake.


I think most of these ideas could be adapted to fit any theme, you just need to be a bit creative with the names. Now I have a whole year to think of next years theme:o)