15598

Dinosaur Dig -7yr- Dress Like a Paleontologist Relay

April 2007

Bridget in Caldwell, ID, USA

Honorable Mention

For my twin boys 7th birthday, we decided to have a dinosaur dig.  

We started out by printing invitations on tan cardstock that said Come dig up some fun at Wyatt and Tucker's dinosaur dig" with the date and time and Don't be Extinct RSVP and the number.  There was a map to the Thompson Quarry (our last name) and instructions to wear their digging clothes. I printed the map on dark brown cardstock and attached the tan cardstock on top with brads so they had to uncover the first layer to get to the information.  I tore the top edge of the tan cardstock. 

Once the kids arrived they played freely for about 15 minutes while we waited for everyone to arrive.  We divided them into two teams for relay races (one birthday boy was the team leader for each team).  First I asked them if they knew what a paleontologist was and explained to them that it is  a scientist who digs up dinosaur bones. I told them we were going to do some training before we actually went out to dig up bones. I had a bag with kaki pants shirt boots a hat and a pre-tied tie for each team.

We talked about what a paleontologist would wear and why and told them they had to put on all the clothes in the bag and run to the other side take the clothes off and help the next team member dress.  This was by far the funniest game we have played at a party. 

We did another relay race wearing dinosaur feet I had made out of cardboard and elastic where they had to carry dinosaur fruit snacks in the mouth of dinosaur grabbers.  The last one was a T-rex skeleton made from plaster of paris and a sand mold from Target.  They were pretending to rebuild the dinosaur for a museum exhibit. The pieces were wrapped in brown paper and twine and they had to run and get each piece unwrap it then work together as a team to build the dinosaur onto a big sheet of cardboard.  I had traced the pieces earlier so they knew where each one went.  This one had a survivor immunity challenge feel to it.  Since the party was during dinner time we had dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets (Costco) and macaroni and cheese (much cheaper than pizza). 

Next we went out into our pasture where we had buried about 40 bones.  We got the bones from a cattle rancher we know (but you could get them from a butcher and boil them also).  We let the birthday boys dig up the first shovel of dirt for the ground breaking ceremony and then all the boys literally dug in. 

They were finding bones left and right.  I had a bucket of small shovels large paint brushes wisk brooms magnifying glasses and a few tape measures so they could brush away the dirt and take a closer look.  They had so much fun digging that we had to finally stop them so we could have cake and the pinata before all the parents came back.

I made two round cakes with chocolate frosting.  I added a few plastic dinosaur skeletons (from OTC) to each one and sprinkled chocolate rocks on top and around the bottom edge of the cakes.  I have always made my kids cakes they love to help decorate.  This cake was very easy to make and looked great!  My husband did the pinata with the boys while I cut the cake.  It was a generic donkey pinata but we called it a donk-a-saurus to keep with the theme and the boys all thought that was funny.  I had written each boy's name on a brown bag ahead of time for collecting candy this eliminated a lot of chaos!! 

After the pinata they quickly ate cake opened presents and went back to digging before their parents arrived.  None of them wanted to go home since There still might be one more bone out there. 

For favors I gave each boy a small backpack from a local dollar store with bone shaped gum stretchy dinosaurs a plastic dinosaur skeleton and a dino head grabber (all from OTC).  I threw in a punch balloon and a few pieces of candy too.  The ones that could talk their mom into letting them take home the bones they had dug up took those too.  This was easily the best party my boys have had.  It was about $100 for a party for 16 boys."

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