It's Birthday Time Again!

Well it's that time of year again. B's 5th birthday has been and gone.

After a few changes he finally settled on a dinosaur theme a couple of months ago. I was happy with this as I could instantly think of a few activities and games to do. Of course to see what other people have done for dinosaur themed parties I consulted Pinterest and found lots of great ideas for games, decorations and food.

Table all set ready to go. Dinosaur themed tablecloth and I copied a dinosaur picture and laminated them for placements. The kids then took these home.

This was the first year he had his party in the afternoon. Previously they have been in the morning running into lunch so I have felt like I needed to provide more food. As this was just afternoon tea there wasn't quite as much as other years. Although I still over catered but that is just the way I do it. I prefer to have leftovers than not enough! So the menu included sausage rolls (I even made my own pastry this year thanks to Maggie Beer and her Sour Cream Pastry), dinosaur salad (home made tzatzki and hummus with carrot, celery and cucumber sticks), a fruitasaurus (courtesy of Play School), fairy bread (not healthy I know but I cannot do a party without it) and a dinosaur cake.

Cake fresh out of the tin (hired from the local cake decorating shop)

 

All decorated ready to go! I don't claim to be a expert cake decorator by any means but it makes me happy to do this myself.

Fruitasaurus - got this idea from Play School.

 

There were a few games for the kids but all with a dinosaur theme. We played a follow the leader game where each child got to be a dinosaur and go around the backyard and all the others had to follow. The other games were:

Pin the horn on the triceratops

Musical Dinosaur Feet. Instead of musical chairs I laminated some dinosaur feet and put some Velcro on the back so they would stick to the carpet and not move.

 

Sandpit with plastic dinosaurs buried in the sand (picked these up of a Buy Swap and Sell Site over 40 dinosaurs for only $5!). I included some buckets, brushes, shovels and other tools to do the digging.

I don't like doing party bags full of lollies. Instead I like to send the kids home with mementos from the party.

Each child got a calico bag with their initial embroidered on it. In it was a little magnifying glass and then they could put in the dinosaurs they found during the dinosaur hunt.

 

I made a number of dinosaur tails which the kids got to wear during the party and then take home. They were all made from fabric that I had lying around at home so it was great in that I got to make these for the party and clean out some of my fabric stash!

The bags and dinosaur tails all ready to go.

I have been really lucky with the weather for B's birthday parties. For the end of June in Melbourne we have been lucky not to have rain. It's been cold but not much else to be expected in winter.

Everyone had a great time and the birthday boy really enjoyed himself. So much so that when he woke the morning after the party he asked how many sleeps till his next birthday!!