If your children are dinosaur mad and snap up the chance to visit every dinosaur attraction in the UK, it wouldn’t be a surprise if they asked for a dino themed birthday party. Combined with a trip to a dinosaur children’s show, this could make the perfect day for your little one, but how do you go about planning a fabulous party? Here are some suggestions to make the event totally roarsome.

Decorations

Creating a wild atmosphere is all part of the fun. Make leaves, vines and more from green paper or card, string them together with brown thread or pipe cleaners, and hang them about the venue to create a lush, prehistoric environment. If you’re hosting at home, bring a few pot plants into the room too. You can then hide toy dinos among the foliage for a truly Jurassic effect. If the weather is dry, why not cut out some cardboard dino footprints leading up to the door of your venue too?

Essentials

You won’t struggle to find all the essentials for a dinosaur party in the shops. Dinosaur themed plates, cups and napkins are readily available, and dinosaur balloons can be found online. You can even grab a dino pinata for the little ones to break open.

Food

You can really get creative when it comes to the food for your dinosaur themed party. You can make dino shaped sandwiches with cookie cutters, serve blackcurrant squash in a jug labelled ‘lava juice’, and make up cups filled with carrot and cucumber sticks labelled ‘herbivore cups’. Serve green ‘swamp sludge’ jelly or cupcakes with mini chocolate ‘dinosaur eggs’ for afters.

Cake

If you’re a keen baker this is where you can really put your skills to the test. There are so many options for creating a fabulous dinosaur cake, from shaping the sponge into a dinosaur to making dino decorations from icing. If you’re a little less crafty, simply make or buy a cake and decorate with some small dinosaur figures.

Activities

Dinosaur activities are a must for a dino themed party, and there are plenty for the kids to sink their teeth into. With some coloured card, a pair of scissors and some glue, children can make their own dinosaur mask to wear, while a sandpit and some paint brushes could keep your little scientists busy uncovering dino fossils.

A dinosaur scavenger hunt is also a great idea - simply get the kids to search for miniature dinosaur figures or bones hidden around your venue. Older kids might enjoy hunting for the pieces of a 3D dinosaur puzzle and constructing it together afterwards.

Whether you take the kids to experience a walking with dinosaurs theatre show in addition to the party or not, you can ensure they have a fabulous time with all these fun ideas. A trip to Dinosaur World Live could be just the thing to keep them entertained - at 50 minutes with no interval, the show is ideal for kids aged three and up.