A sandbox full of buried bones, paper leaf decorations, dino sandwiches and swamp punch. One big excavation station carries the whole party.
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My son went through a dinosaur year that showed no sign of ending, so his birthday was decided long before I had any say in it.
I was worried a dig station would be over in five minutes. Instead, eight children brushed sand for forty minutes straight, completely absorbed, while the parents drank coffee in the shade.
If you only set up one thing for this party, make it the dig.
Cut big leaf shapes from green paper and staple them into a garland around the dig site and along the table edge. It takes one evening in front of the television and it is what makes the garden look prehistoric.
Move any potted ferns or big-leaved plants you own next to the table. Kraft paper on the table, a few toy dinosaurs walking down the middle, and you are done.
A hand-drawn sign on kraft card at the dig — 'Dino Dig: brush off the sand and find the bones' — is worth the two minutes it takes to make.
The night before, bury the bones in the sand in a rough skeleton shape, deep enough that they are not visible but shallow enough that a brush uncovers them quickly.
Lay the brushes and shovels along the edge of the sandbox in a row — the tools laid out like that are the invitation.
When the children arrive, the only instruction they need is: brush gently, do not dig with your hands, and shout when you find a bone. Then step back.
For older children, hide a numbered token with each bone and turn it into a race to assemble the skeleton in the right order.
Cut sandwiches with a dinosaur cookie cutter — cheese and ham, nothing fancy. Children eat these when they will not touch a normal triangle.
Broccoli 'trees' with a dip in the middle, a bowl of green grapes, and chocolate pudding cups with a gummy worm poking out as the dirt cups.
Green punch made from lemonade and a splash of green juice, labelled 'swamp punch' on a kraft card. The label is doing most of the work.
Kraft paper bags with a paper leaf glued to the front, holding one toy dinosaur and one plastic dino egg with a sweet inside.
If you want one extra touch, add the child's excavation brush from the dig — they have already grown attached to it.
Play sand from a hardware shop is cheap and worth buying fresh. Wet the sand very slightly the night before so it holds shape and brushes cleanly instead of blowing about. Keep the dig away from the food table — sand travels.