Dinosaur Train Birthday Party

Dash turned 5 while we were on our California vacation. We finally got to have his big party last weekend. He had been asking for a "Dinosaur Train" party all year, ever since he had his Pirate Party (click back there to also read about his birth and see pictures of him growing up). He actually had been asking for a dinosaur party, and it was my idea to make it a Dinosaur Train party - since he likes trains, too, and we could get a big, trackless train for the kids to ride just like we did for Tornado's 4th birthday. I was actually basing it off the children's book by Deb Lund. Months after we started talking about a Dinosaur Train party (me thinking how creative I was being)...we see a commercial for the NEW Dinosaur Train television show on PBS (which is now, of course, his favorite show). Seems like I was not the only one who thought this idea needed to be expounded upon.

I only found out the week of the party that we weren't going to be able to have our "train." I was suuuper bummed (even though, of course, it was fine without it). This guy didn't think our land was smooth enough or the roads in front of our house were safe enough. :(
I had all of the decorations put up by the time Dash woke up from his nap on party day. He made me feel like every second of effort was fully worth it. He walked around the room several times, very slowly, stopping at every little detail, examining it and admiring it. I don't know what it is about little kids and dinosaurs. He is obsessed. Tornado always loved them, too, but Dash loves them even more. I don't know if an hour goes by in our day in which there is not some mention of dinosaurs - a book he wants me to read to him, a dinosaur fact he wants to share with me, a sighting of him playing with his dinosaurs, or the sound of dinosaur roars coming out of his mouth.

Cute story about my little sister Tracy from when she LOVED dinosaurs, too: awhile back, I found a cassette tape she (now age 28) had recorded when she was 9 or 10, and I was around 16. She was interviewing me, asking me questions about a boy I liked and things like, "What do you think is the best thing about yourself?" She said, "The best thing about me is I know a lot about dinosaurs." I love it.

The Decorations and Food

(You can't tell what this is...it's fossil ice.)

I found a dinosaur ice cube tray from Online Science Mall.

party favor bags, which included a dino glider, Dinosaur Train/dinosaur/train stickers, dinosaur pencil, dinosaur fact cards, Magic Color scratch dinosaur ornament, dinosaur pinball game, and a Yummy Earth sucker...(you know - really important stuff)...bags tied with train material cut into strips

Party activities:

painting wooden dinosaurs or trains (my nieces, Clara and Grace)

My 3 kids (that's Tornado, with my nephew Owen) were wearing Dinosaur Train t-shirts, which I ordered from popfunk.com. They have all sorts of character and specialty t-shirts, and they have the BEST customer service.

Apparently, all I REALLY needed as an activity: invite a bunch of 5 year olds, throw in some inflatable dinosaurs and wide-open spaces, and you've got yourself a party.
This is almost the whole kid crew (minus a few little ones). They had to run around our 1.25 acres and find "dinosaur eggs." Most of them contained dinosaur stickers, but there were several that contained money or a dinosaur puzzle.

Owen was one of the lucky money finders.

Ryan had dug a pit in the backyard, filled it with sand, and buried a bunch of plaster of paris dinosaur bones at different levels in the sand. The kids had to really dig to find them. We ordered these plastic molds from Discount School Supply (one of my favorite online stores). $16.49 for 6 complete mold sets. In hindsight, I think we could have made the pit long and narrow so the kids could be more in a line; there was a bit of a problem with flying sand.

"Shiny" herself
The paleontologists even brushed off their dinosaur bones and worked at piecing together the skeletons.
Happy birthday, my fabulous, smart, creative, energetic, inquisitive, tender-hearted, compassionate, loveable boy.

This blog post is dedicated to my husband, my mother, my father, my brother Matt, and my sister-in-law, Michele. I could not have done it without your help. Please forgive me for rushing you around an hour or two before the party started. And thank you, Tracy, for the Kroger errand.