This week, my firstborn turns 4.5 years old. What the what??
So since I’m in disbelief, I’m going to act like a moody preschooler, pound my fists while declaring he’s still 4, and take a walk down memory lane. For the first four years, I have been lucky to have picked the themes for his birthday parties and he’s totally been cool with it. Never once asked to change it. So lucky, right?
For his 4th birthday party, we did a dinosaur-themed party because he really liked the Disney movie The Good Dinosaur. While I did not use the characters from the show except for a figurine/toy as table decor, I turned to the Silhouette Design Store (SDS) for dinosaur-related shapes and designs. Personally, I prefer to do party themes that aren’t so specific like TV shows, characters, etc because it’s easier on my end since I’m the one who’s crafting it all. I stick with general shapes and repeat the party colors wherever I can.
Do you have a dinosaur-themed birthday party coming up? Take a look below and be inspired!
Party Banner
The dinosaur body parts on this awesome banner is Design ID#85872 from the Silhouette Design Store. I opted to make my own birthday messaging in the middle to personalize the event even more. To create the word banner, simply cut out letters with an offset backing in a different color. Between each layer, I placed dimensional foam adhesives so that each layer would “pop.”
Themed Cupcake Topper
Did you know you don’t always need a SDS design to make your Silhouette creations? Use your imagination! This particular cupcake topper is super easy to make and great for those leftover paper scraps! With the Text tool, I typed out “4” and “ROAR” and sent it to Silhouette to cut. Use different colored and/or textured paper to make your project colorful and eye-catching. Again, I used dimensional foam adhesive behind the letters to give the cupcake topper a 3D look.
Favor Tags
As I mentioned before in a previous post, the Silhouette CAMEO cutting machine is your party decor workhorse! Did you know it can also serve as a basic graphic design program. These favor tags were created to work like a Print and Cut design…simply create within Silhouette Studio and then send it to Silhouette to cut out.
Favors with Tags
I was inspired by Pinterest to make these party favors. Duh, where else? Don’t the favor tags complete the look of the favors by providing some visual interest? Side note: If you are going to do these dinosaur-topped baby jar favors, have major self-control when assembling the favors. The large M&M bag was so hard to resist! I may have had a couple…handfuls.
Goodie Bags
I spiffed up chevron goodie bags purchased at my local Michaels by adding some dinosaur diecuts with the all-time favorite…googly eyes! I love SDS designs that come in a set, like this one (Design ID#23556). Four dino shapes for the price of one! Score!
I even used these dinosaur shapes elsewhere at the party, such as simple decor on the wired dessert stand in the picture below. My favorite use of these dinosaur diecut shapes was for the dinosaur egg hunt activity I set up for a group of energetic preschoolers. I had my Silhouette CAMEO cut out one dinosaur shape per 8.5in x 11in colored cardstock and glued a bamboo skewer to the back. Then at the party, I had hubby and few other parents staked them into the grass at various areas at the park. Meanwhile, I passed out to each kiddo a foam dinosaur hat (a HUGE hit!), a cheap plastic spatula, and a goodie bag filled with about 5-7 dinosaur-filled eggs. The objective of the game was to deliver one dino egg via spatula to their mommy/daddy dino’s home, by color. So for example, if they had a green egg, they had to find the green dinosaur shape staked somewhere in the park. It was hilarious to see how some kiddos took it very seriously to safely deliver the eggs across the grassy park. And then there’s my Type A kid who was trying to instruct his friends that the magenta egg belongs to the pink dinosaur not the purple dinosaur. 🙄
This party was outdoors so I kept the party decorations minimal and focused my crafting/decorating attention on the favors and tablescapes. I hope these party ideas are helpful and inspire you to create and personalize your upcoming special event!