At Home With Ann Marie: Dinosaur Birthday Party

I know everyone says this, but it’s worth saying again… I. can’t. believe. he’s. one. year. old. It’s true, while I can’t say the year “flew” by, it definitely does not seem possible that the tiny baby we had just minutes ago is already so big! And in a big boy car seat!

I started thinking about Mickey’s first birthday back in December. I should probably reveal to you that I am obsessive when it comes to party planning/ list making. I start way too early and always do way too much. Case in point: I had our entire wedding planned and dress bought before my husband proposed. Seriously.

So, themes??? Monkeys, ABC, jungle animals, Very Hungry Caterpillar, it all crossed my mind. I settled on Dinosaurs, because they are my current obsession. I feel a little like a trendsetter because when I first started out with my Dinosaur craze, there wasn’t much available, but as the weeks went by, it seems that every store has Dinosaur something! Pajamas, plates, toys, piñatas, the list goes on…

I considered hosting the party at a restaurant or banquet hall, but squashed that idea when I remembered we were paying with Monopoly money. But where am I going to put the 70 people on the guest list?? Fine, I’ll make it work in my house. Yes, we could have had it at a park, which would’ve been pretty, but very very very very hot. We’re in Florida, remember?

I ordered the invitations from Shutterfly, and used my Pampers points to pay for them. (Awesome!)

Everywhere I went, I took my party planning folder filled with napkin samples, ribbon scraps, and anything else to keep my focused on my design.

We ordered cupcakes from a new cupcakery in Tarpon Springs, Mmmm Delicious. They were most certainly delicious. Orange creamsicle, White Chocolate Raspberry, Chocolate Heaven, Classic Vanilla, and Cherry Vanilla. Yummo! We borrowed their cupcake tower because I couldn’t justify buying my own, but if you have a little more time, it could be built very easily.

There were mostly adults on the guest list, with about a dozen kids, so I wanted to have some kind of activity that everyone could be involved in. T-shirt station? Sand art? No. I decided on a Scrapbook Station. I set out markers, stickers, scrapbook paper, trimmings, borders, journaling cards, and everything else. Then, just let guests go to town creating a page for Mickey’s scrapbook, and leaving a space for a picture of themselves from the party (for me to fill in later). It was fabulous, and the end result is a great memento!

I also had sprinklers going in the backyard (remember: hot) for the kiddos. We all got a little wet (especially me, had a hard time connecting the hose)!

My husband, Michael, carved the watermelon to look like a Dinosaur, and we had sandwich stuff, fruit salad skewers, and lots of other goodies to eat. Certainly no one went hungry.

Every inch of the house was Dinosaured, from the decals on the walls and windows, to the art work above the cupcake table, to the scrapbook supplies, to the birthday banner (homemade, of course).

All in all, the party was a huge success with a total of 50 attendees. Way too many toys to fit in our house, way too much leftover food, and (bummer, I guess I'll have to eat them!) a few leftover cupcakes, too.

Mickey was such a gem the entire day. He was all smiles and went to anyone, so happy all day long. Thanks mostly to my mad-mommy-skills and foresight to schedule the party from 11-2, put him down for an early morning nap at 9am, woke him at 10:30, and let him play until 2, then he went down for his 2^nd nap. Perfection!