dinopartyKen’s son Alex just turned 18, and as the rest of us get to do, he chose his party theme… dinosaurs. I commented to him that it might be difficult to come up with something suitable for a man because usually small children request such a theme. It was then that he looked at me and said, “I don’t understand how a theme involving two-tonned reptilian killing machines can be childish.” He has a point. So with quite a challenge set before me, I set out to find dinosaur decorations that are not cuddly. I also didn’t want extremely realistic dinosaurs as I was afraid it might look more like a science classroom than a party. After a quick search on the web, I decided I was better off just making them.

To add a personal and comical touch, I made a few posters. Flipping through a ton (no pun intended) of free on-line coloring pages led me to a few cartoonish characters that were more funny than childish. I turned to an old classroom friend to easily and flawlessly transfer the online pages to the poster board – an overhead projector. For whatever reason, we have had this overhead projector in our supply closet at work for years. I always assumed it was a tool to lead presentations many years ago. Boy, am I glad we had it; it was really the perfect tool. I simply printed off the coloring pages onto the transparencies instead of paper. Taped the blank poster board on the wall. Flipped on the overhead projector and Viola! instant tracing lines for poster board sized reptiles. After the lines were traced with pencil, I went over them again with a thick black marker, colored them in festive dinosaur colors and added a couple of personal messages.

I had also considered trying to find a nice printout of a pterodactyl to cut out and hang from the ceiling until I ran across a terrific craft project. I found instructions on how to create them using empty milk cartons. They were actually fairly easy. A couple of tips…

  • Make sure the empty cartons are rinsed out with soap and water and dried well – nobody likes a stinky pterodactyl that smells like sour milk.
  • Keep in mind that the craft calls for two gallon sized milk cartons for each finished pterodactyl.
  • Spray paint works the best. I gave mine two good coats of brown spray paint and then dabbed on some acrylic paint over it for color.
  • Since I knew I was hanging them from the ceiling, I did not bother with the extra cuts that the instructions call for so a child can use them as a hand puppet.
  • To hang them from the ceiling, I poked a small hole in the back, threaded through a paperclip I bent into an S shape and then just tied thread around them.

    • Overall, they were a great addition to the decor.

    Ken set out to find green and grey streamers and other dino props to set around which turned out to be quite a challenge, but he found a few things. He was also tasked to make one of his famous themed cakes. He made a dino head that was patterned off of one of the posters I made. Of course, it looked like it’s head was on fire after adding 18 candles, but it was very well done.

    All in all, the room looked great,the cake was delicious, and we had a roaring (har, har) good time.