Dragon & Dinosaur Party

Last year, Sam had a Monster Truck party. It was a big success. Each year, our parties are low-key but well-planned - we try to find a theme that will be fun for the kids and their friends.

So this year, Sam asked for a Dinosaur Party. And then he asked for a Dragon Party. So I decided to combine the two - they seemed pretty similar to me, right?!

So...here's what we did. Everyone was invited by evite (my first time actually using it, how about that for a techno-geek like me?!)

A bunch of little boys descended upon my house (6, to be exact) and they started out by playing with every dragon and dinosaur toy we had in the house.

We went outside to play some games. My awesome husband led them in "roaring" exercises, a dinosaur scavenger hunt around the yard, and my favorite game - Viking Says. Here is a little "viking" scratching his armpits. (Other things they did? Scratch their heads, jump up and down...ya know, all good Viking things.)

We always play some sort of pin-the-tail game. This is pin-the-tail on the dinosaur...it never gets old.

Each of our parties has a story time. Why not? Every kid loves a good story. We collected all the dinosaur and dragon books around the house and Michael read 3 or 4 books to the boys. Their attention didn't waver for a moment!

We ate pizza, and it was my favorite part of the party because I loved listening to the conversation between the 7 little boys (and Yael, who mostly just ate) - a serious conversation about their favorite cartoon characters, and how old exactly each one of them is ("I'm 4 3/4!" "I'm already 5!") - it was a delightful "fly on the wall" moment because I don't think they had any idea that I was listening so hard. The other pretty cool thing? I put a bowl of carrots on the table and I'm quite sure that every kid had at least one, without any prompting!

Each friend took home a really cool party favor that I ordered from Giggle Junction - it was an "I spy" bag with a dinosaur theme. I special-ordered these through their Etsy shop and they were a total hit. (They also took home a personalized placemat with their name and a dragon/dinosaur picture on it. One of the parents told me that they still have last year's party placemat!)

After everyone left, Yael and David helped Sam open his presents, and then...

I took a nap.
(Wouldn't you?)

Come back tomorrow to see the coolest cake I've ever made.