A Dinosaur Fourth Birthday

My youngest son turns three at the end of the year.

It's not actually that far away, either. If my Maths is correct we've got 49 sleeps 'til Christmas.

You all know that heading towards planning a birthday party, I get a little sentimental.  I like to look back at my sons' previous parties and reflect. 

I think about:
* the good- such as fun ideas that worked well (this party is actually my most popular post ever!), 
* the bad - say, having more than 10 ten hyperactive children running through my house at one time and 
* the never again - that'd be buttercream frosting in the wet season!

With Rohan I've only got two of his parties to reflect on- his Oh, The Places You'll Go! themed first birthday/naming day and last year's Safari themed birthday.  

This year - because he's been crazy about dinosaurs all year - it's really easy to choose a theme and, as I've thrown a couple of dinosaur parties in my time, I've decided to revisit them.

This party was Liam's fourth birthday party. I'm captivated by these photos (in spite of their poor quality) because I'm amazed by how little he was what feels like not all that long ago.

So here is a dinosaur party before there was Pinterest!!

We set the theme straight off with T-Rex footprints leading up the driveway.

And made the Cretaceous forest start at the front door...

I set up a little dinosaur area with pillows, books and a chalkboard.

And got a Happy Birthday banner and matching tablecloth and cups to fit the theme.

Our first game was a relay called Herbivores and Carnivores. The carnivores had to stomp in their big dinosaur feet up to a nest and steal the egg.

The herbivores then had to put on the feet and return to egg to it's nest. Those feet proved a little tricky to walk in!

I also hid a bunch of figurines around the garden and we had a dinosaur hunt.

And good old Pass-the-Parcel.

Then we stopped for a dinosaur themed lunch of Pterodactyl Wings (Chicken drumsticks), Stegasaurus Pasties (home made to have spikes), Dino Bones (Spring Rolls), Dino Eggs (Meatballs), and KT boundary sandwiches (Layers of bread and peanut butter with a layer of jam to be the high iridium found in the layer of rock formed at the Cretaceous-tertiary boundary). Pretty sure I'm the only one who got excited about the sandwiches!

We also had a fruit platter and finished off with a Stegosaurus cake.

Such a simple party by today's standards but full of all the little details that have always got me super excited.

And how little is Liam? Golly, how time flies!

I'm planning on posting about the first dinosaur party - and the first children's party- I ever hosted but I'm actually going to have to scan and load those photos as it was a long time ago!

Have you ever hosted a dinosaur party?