Dino Party - The Mantle

I promise this is the last post on the Dinosaur Birthday Party.  There were a lot of parts!  It would have shut my blog down if I'd put it all in one post...hope you don't mind! :)

I told you yesterday I love to set the table first for any party or holiday event.  Second, the mantle.  These are just the natural places I go to add a touch of whatever festivity we have happening.

I used a Target garland to start and then shopped my house for the rest.

The wicker vase is from Big Lots and I filled it with curls of the same wrapping paper I used to run the dining table (you can see that post yesterday).

The dino is a DIY attempt out of poster board and markers.  I think he turned out okay!

I had the graphic already and I think it was from Pinterest.  

My Mister's aunt gave us the cute dino cookie cutters.  After I baked all the cookies, I used the cutters to spice up the mantle.  I love the extra texture they add.

The two yellow candle holders are from Kirland's and I made the chalk quote bubble out of poster board and chalk spray paint.

It was a fun and spirited way to great our guests and pay special tribute to my favorite little dinosaur!

Do you see the blue painter's tape holding up the bubble?  We had some difficulty!

I hope you've enjoyed the dino series.  I am officially dinosaured out.  It was a blast and it sure made Little happy and that's the whole point!

XO,
  Sara

Dino Party - The Table

The first thing I do when planning a party is come up with the theme and/or colors.  Then...the table!  I love to set the table first because it sets the tone for the rest of the party and usually takes me in a direction I hadn't anticipated going.

I thought it would be fun to seat the kiddos in the dining room for Little's 4th Birthday party.  They thought it was pretty cool to be at the big table while the mom's ate in the kitchen.

I started by using a roll of wrapping paper from the Target $1 spot for the runner.  I also used some of this paper for the juice box covers.

Next, I used two of Little's favorite toy dinos as a focal point, some flowers and a birthday balloon.  Because how can you not have a Happy Birthday balloon at a child's birthday party?!

Last spring I DIY some chalkboard chargers.  These were the perfect place to give our guests their very own dinosaur name.

I topped each charger with a yellow paper plate, a red dinner napkin, and some very cute blue and white rugby striped appetizer napkins.  The plastic dinos were another favor the kids could take home.  They came from the Target $1 spot.  Got to love that place!

The whole table probably cost me $15, with the cost of all the dinosaurs and the flowers.  Not bad for a very cute, very festive table!

The little ones sure seemed to like it...

Up next, the mantle.  Then I promise I won't bore you with my dinosaur birthday party anymore!

XO,
  Sara

Dino Party - Decorations

Welcome back!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  We were running all over with baseball, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Did I tell you my Little Man was awarded the game ball after his very first game?!  So proud!

                                       

Last week I revealed the Dinosaur Party we had for my son's 4th birthday.  Wow.  Four.

If you missed any of that, you can find the cookie favors here, menu here, and volcano cupcakes here.

  

Today I'm sharing the decor.  It was pretty easy and very DIY.  I started with some clearance Target party pennant banners.

I have three so I used them in the entryway...

In the dining room...

and on the mantle.

On a whim, I decided it would be fun to make giant dinosaurs.  I bought big white poster boards and drew a T-Rex, Triceratops, and Brontosaurus on them.

  To tie them in with the fun patterns on the pennants, I rugby striped and polka dotted them in coordinating colors.  I was pretty happy with how they turned out!

Two dinos stood on the dining room hutch to welcome out little guests.

The T-Rex took over the mantle.

Once the dinos were up, I felt they needed to a little something.  Actually, I felt they needed to be saying something, so I used some leftover poster board and made three quote bubbles.  Then, I spray painted each bubble with chalkboard paint.

The Tri and Bronti say "Roar!"  and "He's 4!"

Rexxy says "Happy Birthday Japhasaurus!"

They were very easy, and made a great impact.  And, they're reusable!

Of course, I had to pull out my balloon wreath again.

 I just changed the circle label to say "Happy Fourth Birthday".

Fresh flowers are always a must for any party.  I got mine at Kroger and split them up to make 2 bouquets.  I had the vases already.

Little absolutely LOVES balloons.  Actually, I've never heard of anyone who loves them more than he does. So, naturally we had out own balloon tank and blew up a ton of balloons.

 We also took a trip to the store where he got to pick out his own Dino balloon.  Very exciting.

Tomorrow, I'll break down the birthday tablescape I put together, as well as the birthday mantle.

See you then!

XO,
  Sara

Dino Party - Volcano Cupcake

The last few days I've been sharing the details of my son's dino party.  If you've missed any of those posts, check out the cookie favors here and the party menu here.

Today, I'll be showing you what I came up with in a moment of desperation for the cupcakes.  You know you can't have a child's birthday party without cupcakes!

My first thought was just to make regular cupcakes and pop a little plastic dino on top, but I knew I could do better.  Hmmm...  It was actual Little who gave me the idea.  "Volcanos Mommy!"  Why son, I think you're on to something.

I found a recipe for lava cakes filled with melty chocolate, however, this is not what I needed with a bunch fo preschoolers!  I just made chocolate cake and bakes it in a mini bundt pan.  The little bundt cakes resembled volcanos enough...

                                  

The tricky part was getting the lava.  The lava cake recipe provided a recipe for a glaze, which I tinted with orange food coloring.  However, when I tried it out, it was not nearly opaque enough to look like anything.  This mistake worked out though, because the glaze sunk into the cake and made them extra moist and flavorful.

* Disclaimer: I absolutely HATE the word "moist", however, since it is in written form here, I'm writing it and moving on.

I wound up adding some powdered sugar, a bit of corn syrup and a little more orange coloring.  The result, a volcano cupcake fit for an almost 4 year-old.

I stuck the dinosaur toppers from the Meri Meri dino cupcake kit on top and we were in business.  The kids loved them and the parents thought they were delicious!

We made a little family version too!

I'll try and tell you my icing recipe below.  You may have to play with it a bit.  (I doubled this)

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter, 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/8 cup of milk in a sauce pan.  Let it come to a boil and then remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of white chocolate chips till melted.  Pour over cakes.

This is the part that sank into the cake, but it worked out and made them delicious!  Save some icing back and then do this...

Add in about 1 cup of powdered sugar and 1 Tablespoon of corn syrup.  I also added orange food coloring.  Stir together and drizzle over cakes.  Sprinkle red sprinkles on top.

I hope this works out for you if you try it.  Remember, I was in desperation mode!  If it's too thin, add more powdered sugar.  You can't really mess it up.  It will taste delicious!

Have a great weekend friends!  Next week I have a few more party things to share, as well as my Easter mantle and tablescape.  It will be here before you know it!

XO,

  Sara

Dino Party - The Eats

What's a party without food?  If you've been reading the blog, you know we recently had a Dino Party for my son's 4th birthday.  Yesterday, I shared the cookie favors we put together.  Today, I'm showing you what we ate.

When I started planning this party, of course, I went to Pinterest first.  There was lots of dino stuff, but it all referred back to Etsy sites where you could buy dino cookies, juice box wrappers, banners, etc.  I have nothing against Etsy, I just wanted to make it myself to save a little green!

I made these little labels to hang above the food stations in my kitchen. I just used the Drawing Board feature in Word to create these labels.

At the "Carnivores" station we had dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets for the kiddos and a hot cider salad with bacon and mini honey cornbread muffins for the mamas.

Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of all the food because at that point, we were in full party mode!

The "Herbivores" station had broccoli and carrots with ranch, strawberries and grapes, and popcorn.

"Sweetivores", my favorite station, had cupcakes (check back tomorrow to hear more about the cupcakes) and cookies.

With all the yummy food, we needed something to wash it down.  That leads to the "Prehistoric Punch" station.

To cover the juice boxes I used yellow scrapbook paper and red and white chevron wrapping paper from the Target $1 section.  I scoop up those rolls whenever there are new ones!

I think part of what makes a memorable party are the little details.  If you've committed to a theme, try to keep it running throughout the party...of course, you don't want to go overboard, but a few little touches can easily take some Target party plates and chicken nuggets from drab to fab.

Dino Party - Cookie Favors

We had the big Dinosaur Blow-out last weekend and it was a huge success!  I was a little crazy to schedule two parties in one day, just two days after getting back from vacation, but a couple of sleepless nights and we were in business!

I love a themed party and when Little suggested Dinos, I jumped right in.  It was meant to be when Mister's aunt gave us some dino cookie cutters.  I knew what the favors would be!

I spent one day making the sugar cookies and glazing them with royal icing.  I would suggest looking on Pinterest for a good royal icing recipe.  It's the stuff that dries hard enough to stack and decorate, but still delicious.

The next day was decorating and packaging day.  I found some great food colors from Wilton to use.  We went with turquoise, red, and orange.

I used a food writer to add the "J" and "4" accents.  Have you tried them yet?  They are really amazing.  You just have to make sure your base icing is really set or it will crack.

I made some cute little tags in Word and spring green ribbon from Michaels to tie them up in cellophane bags.

One cookie in each bag, hole punch through the bag and tag, thread ribbon through and tie.  Easy-peasy!

I found this great long, rectangular lidded basket for $1 at Goodwill a few weeks ago.  I just crumpled some red tissue paper to fill the bottom and stacked the cookies in the basket.

A couple of plastic dino accents,  and our favor table was ready to go!

I think it made a cute little party vignette and provided a delicious treat to our adorable little guests!