Jurassic Park Birthday
Jonah has been dinosaur obsessed his entire life. It was adorable to listen to him at two-years old with a mouthful of syllables saying names like parasaurolophus and pachycephalosaurus. I have tons of boy mom, dinosaur memories. At 4 we took him to a dinosaur exhibit at the Orlando Science Center and he pointed to every single one rattling off their names. We even lucked out a year later when attending Leu Garden’s dinosaurs in the park event. It was dark and rained lightly the whole time. We ran around in our rain jackets giving ourselves the creeps and loving every minute of the stereo roars and hunting for hidden animals.
We’ve done a dinosaur themed birthday party before (Gigantosaurus), so I knew this birthday needed to be larger than life.
Invitation
This invitation was created using Canva and their stock images and fonts.
I began with the logo and finding a font for his name that matched the franchise. I went with Intro Rust Baseline. Then, I found an image of slate in the Elements section of the site for the stone box below the logo.
After I got the color and shading how I liked it, I added the dinosaurs, text, and additional greenery. The dinosaur eggs and lichen on the stone were fun final touches.
Here is a template link to update the fields with your own party details:
Balloon Garland
Brandon has become our resident balloon artist. For each person’s birthday, he chooses thematic colors and puts it up the night before like an elf while we’re sleeping. This birthday, he chose this balloon garland from Amazon.
Menu
Since Jonah opted for the theme park instead of a traditional party, we made these foods the Thursday night before and snacked on them throughout the weekend (including packing some up and bringing them with us to the parks).
Herbivores veggie cups
Carnivore (charcuterie) board
Stegosaurus spikes (watermelon triangles)
Dino eggs (green grapes)
Raptor claws (Bugles)
Dino bones (yogurt covered pretzels)
Dinosaur poop (chocolate covered cookie dough bites)
Dirt pudding cups (chocolate pudding with Oreo crumbs and gummy worms)
Menu Cards
To make the Menu cards, I first copied and pasted the invitation design in Canva and altered it to resemble a food card. Here is the Canva Template Link that you can update the cards with your own menu items.
Next, I imported the images into Cricut Design Space link and cut out the images on sticker sheets with the Print Then Cut feature and the cardstock as a basic cut. Before cutting the sticker paper, I used a holographic sheet to laminate it. (Note: Be careful to avoid touching the printed design until you get the laminated sheet over it. It will smear.)
Cricut will not be able to read the registration marks on the corners if you cover them with the laminate. To avoid the marks, I turn the laminate sheet over, align one corner within the registration marks and then make a mark on the carrier sheet within the adjacent corner marks. Then, I use a paper cutter to size the sheet down. To apply the laminate, I peel back one corner and cut off the carrier paper. Then, I line up the sheet within the registration marks and press the exposed corner down. Lastly, I pull off the entire carrier sheet and use a ruler to smooth the laminate sheet over the sticker paper.
After the laminated sticker paper and cardstock pieces are cut, I fold the cardstock in half. Finally, I peel each sticker off the sheet, line up the center of the design with the fold on the cardstock, and press the two together. I placed the folded cards under a heavy box to help them remain folded and give them a better chance of staying upright when being displayed.
Cake Topper
I made the cake topper similarly to the way I made the menu cards: holographic laminated stickers placed on cardstock. I exported the elements from the invitation in Canva and uploaded them into Cricut Design Space (project link).
After I got the cardstock and sticker sheets printed and cut, I started to assemble the topper.
Glue two of the cardstock pieces together.
Glue toothpicks or lolipop stick to the back of the cardstock.
Glue the other two pieces of cardstock sandwiching the sticks in between the two sets.
Apply the logo sticker to the cardstock.
Apply the letters to the first set of cardstock and then use foam dots to secure these letters to the second set of cardstock letters.
Apply the layered cardstock to the logo using another set of foam dots.
Apply the smaller t-rex and palm pieces behind the logo.
Apply the 8 and eggs. Then, the two lower dinosaurs.
Finally, apply the larger t-rex and the pterodactyl.
We purchased an 8” marble cookies and cream sprinkle explosion cake from Publix and put the topper on it.
Class Cupcakes
Jonah ended up deciding to bring in chocolate glazed donuts (also from Publix) instead of cupcakes. Since we were short on time, we decided not to do the cupcake toppers. Here is the Cricut Design Space link in case you’re wanting to make them. We originally planned to order cupcakes with green icing decorated like grass and maybe adding candy dino eggs, if we could find them.
We would have made these just like the menu cards and cake topper: laminated sticker sheet and layered cardstock with toothpicks in between them.
Theme Park
THE SHIRTS
Before heading to the parks, we decided to make matching shirts to wear. Jonah decided he wanted to be surprised, but liked that his brother had chosen a shirt showing it was his birthday when we went in February for his. Therefore, I made Jonah a Birthday Boy design reusing elements from the invitation.
Jacob had seen a shirt showing a missing pet T-Rex and wanted it redone for his favorite dinosaur, a pachycephalosaurus. We had to look up their average height and weight to fill in the memo.
Brandon is a fan of flourescent colors and 80s design, so we used some neon elements and adjusted the hues, brightness, contrast and saturation of a dinosaur graphic until it matched the vibes of the rest of the design.
I wanted something feminine and opted for tropical flowers that I placed around the original Jurassic Park logo and pressed onto a pink tee.
The night before we left, I realized Jonah’s friend needed a shirt, too. Thankfully, I have youth sizes on hand and was able to make a cute logo shirt using puff vinyl.
Here are side-by-side images of the digital designs in Canva versus how they turned out on the shirts.
OUR DAY
Even though it wasn’t thematic, the first thing we did after the rope dropped, was go straight to Hagrid’s motorbike adventure. Jacob and I had been on it, but Jonah sat out with Brandon last time and we finally convinced him to give it a try. Jonah and his friend loved it!
Next we went to Jurassic Park for pictures and a snack. We were going to do the Raptor Encounter, but they were in between shows. Instead, we started to make our way to the front of the park for our lunch reservation. On the way, the boys had enough time to ride Storm Force.
After lunch, we changed into swimsuits and headed back into Islands of Adventure for the wet rides. We rode Popeye’s, which was Jonah’s and his friend’s favorite ride of the day. They giggled so much when the water kept coming down. Afterwards, they debated Ripsaw Falls, but opted to get splashed by the River Adventure in Jurassic Park instead. While waiting for another boat, we heard thunder nearby and decided to take cover at a table under both an umbrella and an awning. When the storm passed, we changed back into dry clothes and sneakers.
We refilled our Freestyle cups and went into Universal Studios for the Transformer ride and performed spells with our wands in Diagon Alley. It was Jonah’s friend’s first time in the parks and we wanted him to get a little of everything.
LUNCH
Before the water rides, we went into City Walk to have lunch at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium, a prohibition themed restaurant with over the top desserts.
We started with an apetizer of truffle fries. The boys ordered off the kids’ menu: mini burgers and waffles with bacon. Brandon and I ordered the avocado bruschetta from the apetizer menu and the BBQ chicken flatbread and split both as our entrees. I ordered a peach smash and he got a coffee stout.
Jonah originally planned on ordering a milkshake with a slice of cheesecake on top, but opted to go downstairs and purchase a few truffles from the counter instead. The ones with sprinkles on top had birthday cake inside. Jonah’s friend also got a papaya fruit one and a salted caramel truffle. Jacob ordered the mint cookie shake, Brandon ordered another stout and I got a chocolate banana coffee beverage. We also ordered chocolate creme brulee for the table to taste. Everything was delicious!
Overall, it was a day of fun celebrating our little guy turning 8. He said it was the best one, yet!