Dinosaur bday ideas for 8 yr old......budget of course!

[paysensmom]

My son is turning eight on February 28th. He says he wants a dinosaur party. Please give me decoration ideas, games, anything you can think of!
Thanks so much!!

 

[Kat77]

I think I saw dinosaur partyware at Dollar Tree recently.

 

[QVCshopper]

I think if you work in the new Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs movie, you'd have access to more stuff. I've seen pez dispensers in that theme at Dollar Tree; maybe you could show the movie? Just a thought... I don't have an 8 year old boy.

 

[actnkidz]

For my DS I did a sort of science theme with dinosaur bones. (he liked night at the museum) For the cake I had Costco bake one and not ice it, they put the chocolate icing on the side in a bag. When I got home I iced it with the chocolate frosting then crushed chocolate graham crackers and regular graham crackers to look like dirt. I had gotten a dinosaur bone kit that you can make your own dinosaur model, instead of plaster I put white chocolate in the mold, I then laid the chocolate bones on the cake so it looked like a fossil in the dirt. Very easy and very cheap.

Also on the internet you can find a way to make your own rocks that you can put plastic dinosaurs in. I think you use coffee grinds and other things.

Check out www.birthdaypartyideas.com for great ideas as well.

 

[justwinnie]

You can make your own fossils-- there are lots of different recipes on-line. Either have the kids make the fossil impressions or you make the fossil "dough" and press some little dinosaurs inside, let the dough dry, and then let the kids crack them open during the party.

Breaking geodes would be fun for boys and could be their favor:
http://storeforknowledge.com/Boxed-Break-Your-Own-Geodes-10-geodes-P3446C0.aspx
(This store also has some cool, small dinosaur kits)

Also, the birthday express site has ice age party goods on clearance. PP mentions linking ice age to the dinosaur party...

 

[minnierocks]

Make (jello) eggs for snacks...I did this and they looked really cute on the table. I put them on a plate that had been lined with "grass" (I used easter basket grass) and cracked a few of them in half. Then I strategically placed a few plastic dinosaurs around them to make them look like they had just "hatched"
You can have a lot of fun with this theme!

 

[puffkin]

Make (jello) eggs for snacks...I did this and they looked really cute on the table. I put them on a plate that had been lined with "grass" (I used easter basket grass) and cracked a few of them in half. Then I strategically placed a few plastic dinosaurs around them to make them look like they had just "hatched"
You can have a lot of fun with this theme!

I was going to suggest this too, but put plastic dinosaurs in the eggs!

 

[lovintennessee]

The dollar bin at Target normally has dinosaurs in them.

 

[labdogs42]

I did a dino party for my son last year. I got these plates, etc at Party City and I got stuff for activities and favors from Oriental Trading
Ideas:
http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/dinosaur_party.html

 

[labdogs42]

I made this cake for his family party, too:

http://www.howdini.com/howdini-video-7073677.html


We had cupcakes with dinos on top for his party with his friends.

 

[paysensmom]

Good ideas! Keep em coming!
Thanks!!

 

[amamax2]

Here are two links to dino parties from Family Fun magazine:

http://familyfun.go.com/parties/dinosaur-madness-704678/

http://familyfun.go.com/parties/dinosaur-party-704543/

 

[naomi78155]

For DD school Christmas goodie bags, I made "Snowball Surprise" soap. You could make them "Dino Egg".
Here is how:

Grate Ivory bar soap (1 bar per 2 dino eggs).
Place grated soap in a bowl. Add about 1 Tbsp. warm water and mix well.
Make a little soap ball and press a tiny plastic dino in the middle. Cover with more grated soap and shape like an egg. Let dry on wax paper and put in a goodie bag.

It is a little messy, but I got a lot of great feed back from DD's friends.

 

[zoemurr]

but it was mostly outside, so it probably won't help.. and I'm a bit of a bdparty nut.

When the kids arrived they colored pictures that we printed off the internet. They received a brown bag with a magnifying glass, pencil, paintbrush, and nametag and they received a pith helmet. They were to be paleontologists. Outside we had a small pile of sand for each kid, and I had made plaster molds of dinosaur bones and each kid dug through their pile until they found/cleaned all their pieces. (I had outlined them on a piece of paper so they could fit them in like a puzzle.)

We made volcanos out of playdough and water bottles and exploded them with baking soda and vinegar.

We had an obstacle course and at the end was a huge pile of balloons that each had a plastic dino inside. They popped the balloon and found the dino, then took it to a chart my DD had to identify it.

Then I made a dino cake (Familyfun.com I think) and the kids went hunting for dino eggs. We made them out of paper mache and filled them with Dollar Spot dino toys. I placed each kid's name on an egg and hid them in some woods behind our yard. They had to break them open. It was 3 years ago and friends still talk about it.

Have fun! www.birthdaypartyideas,com is a great resource.

 

[DisneyMissy318]

My DD's 5th birthday had a Dinosaur theme (she's almost 12 now ) - anyway... We had a "dinosaur dig" - using a dinosaur floor puzzle (big pieces), a plastic pool and a bunch of sand. We buried the pieces in the sand - and had the kids unearth the "dinosaurs" with using paint brushes to sweep away the sand. We also had gotten pith helmets from Oriental Trading (great resource). The kids had a great time digging for dinosaurs.

 

[McKelly]

I had a space party one year for my DS. I took baking soda and water and made a paste out of it and then molded it into "moon rock" shapes and hid a small space toy in the middle. (have to bake it for twenty minutes in a 150 degree oven and then let them sit in the oven until they harden) I hid them all over my house and when a boy found one he was able to put it in a giant bowl of vinegar and water where it fizzed and eventually dissolved revealing the toy. The boys LOVED it!!

You could form the paste into "dino eggs" and hide little plastic dinosaurs in them.

 

[Hmom]

Not the OP, but thanks for all of the great ideas! My son wants a dinosaur party this year. He loves to go to our local museum to see the dinosaurs. They have a 'dig' area for kids! I was trying to figure out how to do the paleontologist thing without having to pay a fortune to have his party at the museum. Thanks so much!!!!