It all started with a visitor last year. A visitor who could only watch so much Bob the Builder. He took a chance and put on a Discovery documentary on dinosaurs. That was it. She was hooked. Dharma took to them like a fish to water. She has spent nearly the last year soaking up knowledge on the prehistoric beasts.
It only seemed natural that she would want a dinosaur party. Mackenzie always had themed birthday parties, so why wouldn't Dharma? Besides, how hard could a little dinosaur party be? A cake, some food, games...this would be SIMPLE!
And thus it began...The Dinosaur Birthday Party.
I know exactly when it got out of control. When I was searching for ideas online and came across a woman who made the most adorable dinosaur tails. They were super easy; she said even a beginner could make them in under 20 minutes. THIS was right up my alley. After all I am a beginner. And I have 20 minutes. AND...best yet...I have a mother who can sew!! Dharma and I went to the store to get the fabric (see blog titled
Just when I thought a trip to the fabric store was safe...) and came home. Then, we let the fabric sit for a few weeks. We had plenty of time - the party was still far away. Then it happened. My mom broke her arm. SHE CAN'T SEW WITH A BROKEN ARM!! Not to worry. Mackenzie and I can go over to her house and my mom can instruct us on how to make the tails. 2 hours at the most, right? It took Mackenzie and I 3 days to cut the fabric out. We worked on it every night. Every. Night. For THREE days, we cut little pieces of felt. Then we went to my moms and spent 4 hours sewing. And sewing. And sewing. Then we took apart part of what we sewed and sewed it correctly. We ended up with cute, albeit amateur, dinosaur tails.
No dinosaur tail is complete without a dinosaur mask. I made a whole pile of dinosaur masks. Two whole nights. Cutting foam, gluing foam, decorating with black sharpie. It came time to add the elastic and it ripped a big chunk out of the mask. Apparently, the foam I used was not strong enough. I started over. new foam, new masks. Mackenzie helped. This time I would add glitter. I had glitter markers and they were perfect. 2 weeks later the glitter markers were STILL not dry on the foam masks. I stopped caring, added the elastic, and put them up. Whats a little glitter marker between friends?
My niece, Daphne.
My next great idea came in the form of a dinosaur terrarium. I mean 5 year olds, dirt, glass vases...what could go wrong? I spent the next few months browsing a local thrift store for these small globe-like vases that I thought were the perfect size. Just as I found the last one I was going to need, we happened into the dollar store and guess what I saw? Shelf upon shelf of the SAME vases. How nice it would have been to just buy them all at one time, in one place and get it over with instead of being known as the crazy lady who spends an hour at the thrift store moving vases around. The idea was that the kids would add some dirt, a plant, some rocks, and some small plastic dinosaurs.
Dharma making her terrarium.
At some point, I thought small cupcakes dressed as dinosaurs would be PERFECT!
I got over that fast enough when I saw the greatest dinosaur cake. A whole cake with a volcano, trees, a fondant river. Again, easy-peasy. In all honesty, the cake WAS the easiest thing of the whole party. Partly because I did not bake it myself. I started with a blank Costco cake. I asked them to make green leaves around the edges. Then I enlisted my husband to make a volcano out of rice krispie treats, which I covered in marshmallow fondant. I had a hard time making the fondant brown, so I settled with beige. I used green Wilton cake spray (which I already had on hand from last year when I spray painted a shamrock on the dog) and sprayed the cake unevenly to make the forrest floor. We added milk duds for boulders around the river, topped it with the volcano, dripped some strawberry glaze for lava, and stuck in some dinos and trees. Voila!
No party is complete without a pinata. So where to find a dinosaur pinata? Months earlier we were wandering through American Science and Surplus getting things for Mackenzie's school project and I saw a dinosaur pinata kit. I went back, got one, and we started. I had never done paper mache up to this point. I figured - How hard could it be? That very thought seems to be a recurring theme in my life and is usually followed by something that requires multiple days, and a bit of profanity to complete. This was no different. For those of you who have never made paper mache anything (is there anyone besides me who has never done this?) it takes DAYS for it to dry. Days. And it is very messy. Everything in a 2 square mile radius will be covered in glue and sticky newspaper. You will have newsprint on your hands for a week. Back to the pinata kit. It comes with two balloons, in case one pops. If both pop, as was our case, then you have to use your own balloon. Also, it comes with instructions on how to construct the feet, head, horns, etc. Most people would read them and THEN start. Not Clark Griswold and not me!! I was halfway into the whole project when I realized I missed some steps and had to pretend. For three nights my husband, Mackenzie and I stayed up late adding layer after layer of sticky newspaper. Finally, I realized (once I re-read the instructions) that I was supposed to put the green tissue paper on while the newspaper was wet. Oops. So I had to add another layer of glue to turn this monster green.
Dharma
The last great idea I brought to this shindig was a watermelon cut into the shape of a T-Rex. Carving a watermelon is a lot like carving a pumpkin. I am AWFUL at carving pumpkins. About 10 minutes into my cutting, Dharma came in and asked, "Mom? Um. Why does the watermelon look like a venus flytrap?" A few minutes later I threatened to call the whole party off if she said it one more time. Somewhere between the first cut, hollowing out the melon, and cutting the eyes, I flipped it over so the bottom part of the mouth was on the top and the top part was on the bottom. I did not notice that the dinosaur head watermelon had an overbite to rival Bart Simpson until it was all done and it was too late to do anything about it. By then, I didn't even care.
The day of the party turned out to be very nice. The sun was shining, we were surrounded by family and friends, and it did not rain. That was worth all the dinosaur watermelons in the world.
