Dino-mite Birthday Bash - Older than Dinosaurs

This party is for one of my friends who is turning 38 this year.  We constantly tease him for being the oldest in our group of friends, so I talked his wife into a dinosaur theme.  Hopefully you get the humor in this, if not we thought it was very funny.  It is called the Dino-mite Birthday Bash.  I use evite.com alot, so this party was not any different.  I put together a little message to the guest to explain who, what, and where."BREAKING NEWS, A DINOSAUR HAS BEEN SPOTTED AT (ADDRESS OF BDAY BOY!  WAIT A MINUTE A REPORT IS COMING IN ... HOLD ON... IS THIS TRUE?  THE DINOSAUR IS 'TIMISOLDERTHANUS'.  COME AND CELEBRATE TIM BEING OLDER THAN DINOSAURS ON (date/time)".  You can write in cute little phrases for the replies, such as for those who were not going to make it, 'EXTINCT' was the title of that group. 

DECORATIONS: We tried to keep it simple and did not want to loose sight of the theme, so we purchased inexpensive plastic dinosaurs, small, medium, and large, for centerpieces and decor on the Buffet table, Cake/Gift Table, and the Signing table.  We picked up some rocks and spanish moss to finish off the motiff in each 'scene'.  We purchased green,brown,yellow-orange streamers and balloons and placed strategically around the party area and tables.  We found dinosaur theme party ware.  We used this dinosaur wrapping paper to cover the front door signing table and gift table.  When guests arrived they were given name tags with their "Dino Name".  We have a friend that is pregnant, so we named her 'Pregasaurus' and the wife of the bday boy is from Germany, so her name 'Germandactyl'.  It was pretty fun making up these names, but you can also find real dinosaur names that may go with a person's personality or physicaly traits.  We had a little dinosaur children's book that was about celebrating a birthday and had everyone sign on the pages a little birthday wish to the birthday 'boy' for a little keepsake of the party. 

GAMES: Since this was primarily an adult party, I had to adapt the kid games I found on this site and other party game sites, so they would want to play.  I also had to remember that there would be a few kids, so I wanted them to be able to play too. 

(1) Dinosaur Excavation:  I took the little plastic dinosaurs and placed them in a pie tin of whipped cream.  The guests had to dig out the dinosaurs with a spoon in their mouth and no hands.  We used baby spoons so they had to get their face really into the pile of cream. The guest that completes this first, wins a prize. 

(2) Dinosaur Assembly:  We purchased very simple kid puzzles with dinosaur pictures on them.  We put all the pieces in the middle of the table and each guest had to find their pieces and put them together.  The guest that finished first was the winner. (3) Hatch the Truth:  I had all the plastic eggs from this year's easter egg hunt, so I put 'truths' or 'dares' on several pieces of paper and put them in the eggs.  The guest 'crack' open an egg to reveal what they have to do, tell a truth or do a dare. (4) Dino Pictionary:  This is pretty self explanatory.  The Guest were placed in teams and one teammate would get clues that pertain to dinosaurs, such as fossils, bones, digging, and so on.  They have to draw it for the other teammates to guess.  The team with the most correct guesses wins. 

PRIZES: We actually found a whole bunch of goodies on sale at the Target Dollar Spot for 75% off, like cheese cutting boards, cheese plates, pens/pads of paper, and so on. 

FOOD/DRINK: Dinosaur Burgers/Dogs, T-Rex Ribs, and Pteradactyl Wings with Brontosaurus Bites(tater tots), Herbivore Delight(Salad), Plants(veggies) and Dino dip (Ranch with wasabi powder/paste), and Dino Eggs (deviled eggs).  We had a sign that said CARNIVORES with the meat and HERBIVORES with the other stuff.  We served Volcano Punch, which is red flavored koolaid or punch with pop rocks in each glass to make it 'erupt'.  For the dessert, we had a theme cake made through a local bakery, with dinosaurs, volcano, and so on. 

PARTY FAVORS:  Dinosaurs, of course!  We found some dinosaur treat bags and put a few goodies in there.  We took the white and speckled easter eggs from last year, placed a little plastic dinosaur in it, Jurassic Park merchandise, and a little dino info booklet you can get from your local musuem.  We also let the few kids that were at the party take home the centerpieces, the big dinos.