The first thing we agreed to do was to have a kid-only party, where the parents dropped off their kids, but didn't stay themselves. I decided we should have some kind of a big activity for the kids to do, like an obstacle course in the backyard. I wanted to do an outdoor explorer theme, Ash wanted to have a dinosaur theme, so we agreed on a Dinosaur Adventure party, where we would hunt for dinosaurs in the backyard! I used the (free) RedStamp app to create this invitation, which I texted to the parents of our guests.
In past years, I always did decorations, banners, etc, and a variety of theme-based food. This year, I kept things simple...balloons, streamers, toy dinosaurs and sidewalk chalk drawings for decorations. And cake and juice boxes for food. That was it! And no one complained. :)
I was pretty proud of how this cake turned out! Did you know that a 1/4 sheet cake at Walmart is $20, or you could get a 1/2 sheet cake from Costco for the same price?? They have limited designs to choose from, though, so this is actually an Over The Hill cake. I just had them change the snow-capped mountain to an orange-capped volcano, added my own toy dinosaurs and it was perfect!
Greg drew chalk drawings all over the backyard fence!
Something else that always stressed me out in the past was coming up with party favor bags. Those things can get expensive, or they can be filled with cheap stuff, or just lots of candy. I always tried to have creative party favor bags that fit with the theme, but not this year. No party favor bags! Instead, we made them "dinoculars" to decorate and use on our dinosaur hunt.
Greg made this amazing shelf/table where we hung the dinoculars!
We could NOT have survived without Jackson (13) and Olivia (almost 12) helping out at the party! There were 15 kids, so we loved having Jack and Olivia as extra helpers!
There were 7 stations on our Dinosaur Hunt. First, they had to climb through the "jungle vines" to get to the backyard. (Greg set this up, using some cable cord rope thing he already had in the garage.)
The next station was crossing the river -- we put water and a couple of stepping stones in the wading pool for them to cross.
Station #3 was digging for dinosaur eggs! We dumped sand into our fire pit and hid 10 green plastic Easter eggs in there. I thought of putting prizes in there or hiding a special golden egg...but just kept it simple with the 10 eggs. I'm glad I did -- the kids loved working together to find all 10!
Station #4...avoiding the hot lava at the volcano! I think this one was my favorite, because Greg made it so much cooler than I had imagined it to be. He spray painted the volcano on the fence and the lava in the grass, then added stepping stones for the kids to jump on. Very cool!
For the next station, the kids had to climb the "mountain" (clubhouse) and use real binoculars to find toy dinosaurs that we had placed around the backyard. Something so simple, but the kids really enjoyed it!
Station #6 was in the "secret cave" (underneath the clubhouse, where Greg had hung a bunch of brush). I had them close their eyes and feel different dinosaur "body parts." I used...
- sticks = dinosaur bones
- frozen carrots = dinosaur teeth
- thinly sliced dill pickles = dinosaur tongue (with stinky breath)
- dry elbow macaroni = dinosaur toenails/claws
- peeled grapes = dinosaur eyeballs
- orange peel = dinosaur skin
Honestly, this turned out to be my least favorite station. The kids' attention span was pretty much gone, it was hard to get them to close their eyes, and it just didn't work very well. I liked the idea, but I think it would have been better as a separate game and not part of the obstacle course/dinosaur hunt.
For the last station, we took their pictures with this dinosaur cutout poster. You can order it from Etsy...or just draw your own, like we did. Score!
And that was the big dinosaur hunt! It went really well, although it might have been a little long for these young kids. They definitely had fun, though!
We then went in and had cake while Ash opened his presents. Greg and I both commented about how well behaved the kids were! I mean, it was still chaotic, trying to open juice boxes and get kids settled and just manage 15 little bodies running around everywhere, but they were all polite and listened well to Greg and me.
We had one last game planned...a Dinosaur Stomp! We went out to the front yard, where we tied balloons around everyone's ankles (again, shout out to Jackson and Olivia for being such awesome helpers). Then the game was stomping on each other's balloons to pop them -- last one standing wins!
By this point, we only had about 10-15 minutes left before parents came to pick up their kids, so we let them just play in the backyard or inside with Ash and Kennedy's toys. That gave me a chance to do a quick cleanup of plates, napkins, juice boxes, etc., then organize all their dinoculars and maps to take home.
The party was a big success! Someone told me that this is probably a party that Ash will always remember, and I definitely hope so. I know that I will!
So thankful that Ash has such good friends! (Kennedy refused to be in the group picture. Whatever -- I choose my battles with her.)
Roar like a dinosaur!
Happy 6th birthday, Ash! We are so proud of you. You are smart (reading, adding, subtracting, remembering details about every animal featured on Wild Kratts), caring (especially to younger kids and your sister), helpful, funny, mature, sensitive and sweet. Thank you for still being okay with holding my hand in public and cuddling with me on the couch. You are a blessing and we are humbled to be your parents. We love you!
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