Dino Party

We had been invited to Ammar's dinosaur-themed birthday party so a week before the event, I decided to take out the bunch of dinosaurs that we have for some play. We took them to the beach for some sand play and the little girl had fun burying them in the bucket before digging them out again. In fact we enjoyed it so much that we did it twice that same week.

Dino invasion at the beach

And I thought it would be fun to get a dino tee for her to wear to the party too. I paired it with a pair of red leggings and she was good to go. It was great that I found a rather cheap one but I was upset that I couldn't find a single dino tee from the girls' section. Don't girls get to wear dino tees? Are they supposed to wear Minnie and Dora only? Bleargh!

Her very first dino tee and hopefully not the last

On the day of the party, it rained heavily just before the party started but that didn't dampen our spirits. Ammar's mummy had engaged the PlayDate team to plan the activities for the day and they were ready to get the party going just after we arrived. 

Firstly, Peggy the paleontologist appeared to introduce herself and tell the children what they would do. But the moment the "dinosaur" appeared, the little girl came to my lap as she was scared! The dinosaur wasn't scary-looking; he was dressed in a green poncho with spots and spikes on his back and paper talons on his fingers. But she was scared nonetheless and I didn't want to force her to sit with the other children to watch the show. So she skipped the first half of the activities because she wanted to go inside the house and watch the show from afar.  

The first activity they did was to use plasticine to trace the letter d for dinosaur. The little girl came out for a while to do that but her eyes were always on the green dinosaur to make sure he wasn't nearby. During story-telling time with Peggy, with some acting by the green dinosaur and his mummy, the little girl was in the house again with her papa, but I sat outside and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The next craft activity was decorating the letter d with some triangular coloured papers and googly eyes so that it looked like a dinosaur. The little girl was happily eating inside with her papa and Umar's abah during the activity so she didn't do it, but I love the idea and shall do it for some other animals during our theme activities at home. This here was done by Sofie and her mummy.

Sofie's dinosaur

This was followed by the cutting of the cake which was oh so beautiful but I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it. Of course it was a dino-themed cake and it was two-tiered (I think) with a lovely cascading blue waterfall, green foliage and little dinos around it. Gorgeous!

After the food and cake break, the activities resumed. Out came sand trays with hidden dino fossils and letter d underneath the very fine, white sand. The little girl was ready to join the activities then and so she sat down with her BFFs. The little paleontologists immediately got to work with their brushes, brushing away fine sand to look for the fossils and letters. 

Little paleontologists at work

Then it was time for some song and dance and the little girl was still a little wary of the green dinosaur so she stood at the back but she sang and danced along. It was such a great way to end the party on a such a lively and happy note, singing well-loved children songs but with a dino twist to them. 

Doing the dino boogie

After that, the children got to exchange the fossils that they had found earlier with goodie bags and that was the end of the party. I had such a lovely time at the party and I'm sure the children had a blast too. 

The PlayDate team had planned the activities so well and carried them out so smoothly. Never mind that the little girl was scared of the green dinosaur at first. I think the three actors (two ladies and a man) were brilliant in playing out their roles and engaging the children. The team has been around for less than a year, organising regular playdate sessions outdoors for children. Although that was their first time organising a children's party, I don't think anybody could tell as it went on really well.

So kudos to the team and of course, I have to thank Ammar's mummy for engaging the team and inviting us to the lovely party. I have to stop gushing soon but I just can't help myself. It was such a refreshing change from the usual cliched parties with a singing Barney or loudly-played children's songs in the background. I love it!

I'm so inspired that I'm planning to do a month of dinosaur-themed activities and reading after the current one that we are doing and the next one I have planned. There's also an exhibition going on at the Science Centre now, Titans of the Past - Dinosaurs and Ice Age Mammals, which will tie in nicely with our theme if we do it, God-willing. And if I need ideas and more inspiration, I'll just hop over to the dino fortnight that a mummy friend just did. I hope you are inspired too!