Five-O-Saurus

When I asked Little One what kind of birthday party She'd like to have, She said:
"Well. It could be princesses.  All my friends have princess parties."  
"Hmm," I carefully hid my horror,  "That's one idea.  But you don't have to have the same party as everyone else.  Let's come up with another idea, just for fun.  What's something YOU like?"
Little One brightened right up.  
"I know, Mom! I know! How about a- DINOsaur party!!! I LOVE dinosaurs!"
Yes.  How about that.  Dinosaurs I can work with.
I decided to go with the marsh building at the aquarium.  Getting to pet and tour reptiles and an aviary seemed like the closest we could get to real dinosaurs (and I did not have to clean up).
We went to visit one of our favorite local oddities, a war plane museum which randomly has some giant dinosaur models out front, to get a photo for invitations. 

Then Little One and I had craft time; I punched the holes and She tied a toy onto each one. While we were at it, She picked out some paper She liked at the craft store and we fashioned party hats with dinosaur spikes down the back. 

 We scouted for dinosaurs everywhere we went.  Each time we ran an errand the Littles were on high alert for dinos, and before we knew it we had all the makings of buckets of prehistoric party favors.

 

 At a dollar store we found some little wooden cutouts of brontosauruses.  We brought them home and I drilled holes in the top and sanded them down.  I threw in some markers and lacing yarn, so that guests could decorate their own necklace name-tag.

 

 We had a few other craft projects to keep little dino-partyers busy

 

 For decorations, Little One insisted we needed a big volcano.  So I scavenged an unused foam posterboard from the garage.  I cut it out and peeled away parts of the backing paper to add texture, 

Then we painted it with leftover furniture paint, and added red and orange tissue paper and a glittered, red-painted 5 made from leftover posterboard scraps.  

Then Little One helped me use the rest of the craft paper to make a birthday banner.  

My mom took the T-Shirts she'd bought them months ago when we visited a Texas dinosaur museum and fashioned them into fabulous party dresses, and we were all dinosaured up. 

The venue only allowed cake and water, no food.  So we decided to make them as dinosaur-y as possible!  Little One picked out the tape and stickers for the water bottles.

 As for the cake, it took some experimentation...

 

 And it didn't look like much at first...

But in the end we fashioned a vegan chocolate island surrounded by a jello sea and topped by a volcano...

That blew smoke...

 And erupted in strawberry goo.

 

I kind of forgot to light the dinosaurs.  But She wished on Her 5, and even though it was a mess to serve, it tasted pretty good and She was quite amused with the special effects.  

 The kids had fun getting up close with the reptile visitors,

 Ok Little One was not about to pet the one described as "gooey and slimy"

 And then we all got to take a tour of the aquarium's animals and exhibits.

Little One is always happy to lend a hand

 One of the top highlights for Little One was that after the aquarium tour, She got to go behind the scenes and feed the otters.  The rest of us got to watch, and the otters put on quite a show! 

 

Overall Little One had a blast.  She invited some longtime best friends, and a list of new pals from school.  I was happy to see that they were all awesome, sweet, fun kids.  

They made a fierce group of dino-guests!

 Afterwards, as a family we went to lunch at Her favorite restaurant- a sushi and Japanese food place which She might just eat out of business one day.  Then we opened presents.  At first, Little One was afraid all those fancy packages meant no one had honored Her request for donations. But it turned out they were mostly filled with toothbrushes, soaps, power bars, and the like.  She was thrilled.  

She got some nice gifts to play with and wear as well, and it seemed like a nice balance.  Because She is now FIVE and a BIG GIRL, She even suggested that She make Her own thank-you cards this year.  An excellent idea, I agreed.  I'm glad that She is a big girl, and I'm glad that She is thankful.  

I am, too.