How to: 15 DIY Jurassic Park themed party decorations on a budget!

Planning a Jurassic Park Party? Now if you are the parent of a 6 year old boy, almost turning 7, you may also be inclined to believe the only interest of these young men is DINOSAURS! Well that seems to be the case for mine!

Are you ready to transport your guests back in time to the era of the dinosaurs? A Jurassic Park-themed party is a fantastic way to celebrate and have a roaring good time! From towering T-Rex cutouts to fossil-inspired centerpieces, creating DIY Jurassic Park party decorations can turn your space into a prehistoric paradise. Get ready to embark on a journey through time as we explore some dino-mite decoration ideas!

His favorite dinosaur is the Spinosaurus. Yes. The pointy nosed dinosaur from Jurassic Park 3. At Christmas time, he in fact asked me for a toy one, a stuffed animal toy spinosaurus to be specific! Needless to say, I found one online and so his love for “Spiney” started.

Step back in time and bring the prehistoric era to life with a thrilling Jurassic Park themed birthday party! Whether you’re celebrating a dinosaur enthusiast’s special day or just looking for a unique and exciting party idea, this blog post will guide you through the process of creating a DIY Jurassic Park adventure that will leave your guests roaring with delight. From decorations to activities, we’ll cover all the essentials to ensure an unforgettable and fun-filled celebration.

Are you looking for other how-to’s? Check out our list of how to posts!

Why It’s Fun to create DIY Decorations:

Immersive Experience: The Jurassic Park theme taps into our fascination with dinosaurs and the unknown, transporting guests to a world of ancient wonders and thrills.
Adventure and Excitement: The excitement of discovering and exploring dinosaurs sparks a sense of adventure in both kids and adults, making it an ideal theme for a birthday celebration.
Creativity and Learning: The party provides an opportunity for creativity in crafting decorations and games while also offering educational aspects about dinosaurs and the prehistoric world.

Simple Steps to Create a DIY Jurassic Park Themed Birthday Party:

Step 1: Invitations: Set the tone for your Jurassic Park adventure with unique and exciting invitations. Design invitations shaped like dinosaur footprints, fossils, or even a T-Rex silhouette. Include fun phrases like “Join us for a prehistoric party!” and specify the date, time, and location of the celebration.

Step 2: Decorations: Transform your party venue into a Jurassic wonderland with these simple decoration ideas:

Welcome Sign: Craft a large sign saying “Welcome to Jurassic Park” and place it at the entrance.
Dinosaur Cutouts: Make life-sized cutouts of various dinosaur species using cardboard and paint to decorate the venue.
Fossil Prints: Create fossil imprints using toy dinosaur footprints and plaster of Paris. Scatter them around the party area for an authentic touch.
Jungle Atmosphere: Hang green streamers and artificial plants to create a lush jungle ambiance.

Step 3: Costumes: Encourage guests to dress up as paleontologists, explorers, or dinosaurs. Provide hats, vests, and safari-style clothing to enhance the adventurous spirit of the party.

Step 4: Jurassic Activities: Keep the excitement going with fun and engaging Jurassic-themed activities:

Fossil Dig: Bury small dinosaur toys or fossil replicas in a sandbox or a designated area. Provide brushes and shovels for kids to excavate the fossils.
Dino Egg Hunt: Hide colorful plastic eggs around the party area, each filled with a small dinosaur figurine or candy.
Dino Crafts: Organize a crafting station where kids can make dinosaur masks or create their own fossils using clay or salt dough.
Dino Trivia: Test the guests’ knowledge with a dinosaur trivia game. Prepare a list of questions about different species and award small prizes for correct answers.

Step 5: Jurassic Treats: Delight guests with dino-inspired treats and snacks:

Dinosaur Cake: Bake or order a cake shaped like a T-Rex, Stegosaurus, or any favorite dinosaur.
Dino Snacks: Serve dinosaur-shaped cookies, dinosaur footprint cupcakes, and gummy dinosaur candies.
Volcano Punch: Create a colorful punch and serve it in a bowl with a toy volcano in the center for a visually captivating effect.

A DIY Jurassic Park themed birthday party offers a fantastic and unforgettable experience for both the young and the young at heart. With these simple steps and creative ideas, you can create an adventurous celebration that will transport your guests to a world ruled by dinosaurs. So, get ready to embark on a roaring fun journey back in time and make your next birthday party a roaring success!

How did I start setting up the party decorations?

Well I know this was going to be a long long slog of making cute stuff for this party. I had an idea in my head and drew it into a photo of my house on my Ipad. From there, I knew I had some lofty goals for this dinosaur party decoration extravaganza. I wanted to keep my costs low and make as many of the decorations as I could. What I couldnt make I bought from the local craft store.

Which Jurassic Park Party decorations did I buy?

I bought things that I needed to make the whole look and feel perfect so here is a list of things I needed to buy to make this look perfect:

Cardstock (greens and browns and black)
Streamers (greens and golds and black)
Balloons
Brown Poster Paint
Fairy Lights
Tape

Making the Jurassic themed leaves

This was so much fun. I was gifted a brand new Cricut Maker and let me tell you something, made quick work of the leaf making!

When you receive your Cricut for the first time, it comes with a really super cute set of experimental goodies for you to try out your cutter for the first time. I found this very personal and super fun to use and try out and play with for the first time.

Once I set up my account, it was easy as pie to to find some leaves I wanted for the party. Obviously being a Jurassic Park Themed party I thought it obvious that lush tropical leaves would be the ones to make! I went into the images folder and selected about 10 different styles. I then made them a ton of different sizes to be able to layer them well.

Once I had a ton of leaves I started pulling them into different wreaths and styles to create layers upon layers to make it feel more and more like a forest.

Some of the things I really loved about the Cricut maker were:

Cut effortlessly through all those hundreds of leaf pages! Once I had favorited the card stock I was using and once I had it was a breeze repeating the leaves
Pick a project, and the machine cuts all the pieces you need on the design space, its brilliant, so I just needed to put the things in when I needed. Make it easy.
Easy-to-learn Design Space software. Fully loaded with advanced features. I think what I loved most is I could send things to my maker from my Iphone and my Ipad

Making the Jurassic Themed Archway

This was actually really simple. My first step here was was to up-cycle the boxes by painting them with brown poster board paint. I then used one box and cut it apart to make the archway label. Now if we look at the original Jurassic Park entrance there are gates and the sconces. Partially to make the gates to hold up against 8x 7 year olds would have been totally impractical, so I didn’t make that, but made the sconces or flame holders for the fire that it would represent.

The sconces were made really easily – again in my Cricut design studio, I just grabbed a pre-made pattern from the design space for popcorn boxes and made those! I made them a little smaller to fit on the box arch.

Making the forest feeling vines

This was FAR easier than expected. I grabbed some raffia paper and essentially made it longer and tied it with some yarn to give it a really rustic feel, which worked perfectly. I then slid some of the leaves into the mix by punching a small hole into the stems and pushing them up the yarn or raffia. I was REALLY happy with how these turned out!

Making the tropical leaf garlands and wreaths

To finish the wreaths, I took some of the leaves and hung them up on string and some I stuck to a strip of streamer. I sealed the ends with tape. It was a really long garland at about 2.5m (or about 7ft) so needed a lot of leaves to cover it.

I layered the leaves to create some texture and made sure I mixed the leaf colors!

Finishing touches for the dinosaur party themed decorations!

Finishing the whole look off, I made little stickers for the water bottles. I was lovingly made a gorgeous spinosaurus cake by a friend and it was incredible! AS the kids walked through the front door we had a “security guard” checking off the names and giving out lanyards made everything feel like a production. On the other side of the door there was the jurassic park theme song as they went under the arch.

As they went upstairs they were presented with the table of snacks and food, and on the TV upstairs we were playing forest dinosaur sounds from YouTube, which made for a really fun theme.

What dinosaur themed food did I make for the party?

This was so fun to think of heathly options! I kept the candy down to a minimum and will go into that in a second, I divided the food up 3 catagories, Carnivore, Herbivore and Candivore.

Herbivore:

Cucumber and Hummas
Kiwi Fruits
Watermelon
Broccoli
Corn Chips
Pretzels (Dino Bones!)
Grapes

Carnivore

Cocktail sausages

Candivore

Chocolate Balls
Rice Crispy and Marshmallow dinosaur foot prints.

I really wanted some healthy alteratives for the kids and only offered water (unlimited water but water none the less)

For dinner, I ordered a combination of pizzas for the kids to share.

Finally for the sleep over, the boys that slept over got some popcorn while they watched Jurassic Park 3!

More DIY Decoration ideas for a Dinosaur Party!

1. Welcome to the Dino Domain

Set the scene right from the entrance! Craft a giant “Welcome to Jurassic Park” sign to greet your guests as they enter your party zone. You can make this sign using foam board or cardboard and paint it to resemble the iconic Jurassic Park logo. Add some palm fronds and a faux jungle backdrop to complete the look. It’s a surefire way to build anticipation for the adventure that awaits.

2. Fossil Fun

Transform your party tables into excavation sites with fossil-themed decorations. Scatter mini dinosaur figurines, fossil replicas, and even toy paleontologist tools across the tables. Create your own fossils using salt dough or clay, and display them on small easels or within shadow boxes. These DIY fossils not only make great decorations but can also serve as interactive elements for your guests to explore.

3. Mesozoic Centerpieces

Craft eye-catching centerpieces that transport your guests to the Mesozoic era. Fill glass containers with sand or pebbles and arrange plastic ferns, leaves, and miniature dinosaurs to resemble a slice of the ancient landscape. For an extra touch of creativity, consider placing battery-operated LED lights beneath the sand to mimic the warm glow of the sun.

4. Dino Banners and Streamers

Add some pizzazz to your party space with dino-themed banners and streamers. Cut out dinosaur shapes from colorful cardstock or foam sheets, and string them together to create captivating banners. Hang green and brown streamers around the room to imitate the lush jungles where these magnificent creatures once roamed.

5. Table Settings with Bite

Elevate your table settings by incorporating dino-inspired elements. Use Jurassic Park-themed plates, cups, and napkins to tie the theme together. Craft napkin rings by gluing small toy dinosaurs onto simple cardboard rings, adding a playful touch to each place setting.

6. Terrific T-Rex Cutouts

No Jurassic Park party is complete without the king of the dinosaurs – the Tyrannosaurus Rex! Create life-sized T-Rex cutouts from cardboard or foam board, and position them strategically around your party area. These towering decorations will leave a lasting impression on your guests as they feel the thrill of encountering these magnificent creatures up close.

7. Dino Egg Hunt

Incorporate a fun activity into your decorations by hosting a dino egg hunt. Hide plastic eggs painted to resemble dinosaur eggs throughout your party space. Your guests can embark on their own archaeological adventure as they search for these prehistoric treasures.

8. Dino Footprint Pathway

Create a trail of dino footprints leading up to your party entrance. Cut out large dinosaur footprints from cardboard and paint them to look realistic. Lay them out in a pathway to give your guests the feeling that they’re walking in the footsteps of ancient giants.

9. Plant and Fern Accents

Transform your party space into a lush prehistoric jungle with plant and fern accents. Use artificial plants and ferns to decorate tables, walls, and corners. You can also place potted plants around the area to add an authentic jungle vibe. Incorporate leaves of various sizes and shades to evoke the dense foliage of the Mesozoic era.

10. DIY Volcano Centerpiece

Craft a volcano centerpiece that adds an exciting element to your decorations. Create a papier-mâché volcano using a plastic bottle as the base. Paint it to resemble a volcano and place a small container at the top. When it’s time to wow your guests, combine baking soda and vinegar in the container to create a volcanic eruption that’s sure to amaze!

11. Dino Balloon Arch

Construct a dino-themed balloon arch to serve as a stunning focal point. Use green, brown, and gold balloons to create the arch, and add dinosaur-shaped foil balloons for extra flair. Position it at the entrance or behind the dessert table to capture everyone’s attention.

12. Dino Photo Booth

Set up a photo booth area with a Jurassic Park backdrop and a variety of dinosaur-themed props. Your guests can channel their inner explorers and pose as fearless paleontologists or prehistoric creatures. This is not only a fun activity but also an opportunity for everyone to take home memorable snapshots from the event.

13. Dino-Themed Food and Drink Labels

Incorporate the Jurassic theme into your refreshments by creating clever food and drink labels. Use punny names like “Dino Bites” for appetizers, “Herbivore Delights” for vegetarian options, and “T-Rex Treats” for desserts. You can design these labels on your computer and print them out for an extra touch of creativity.

14. Dino Sound Effects

Enhance the atmosphere by playing ambient dinosaur sound effects in the background. Roaring T-Rexes, chirping pterodactyls, and stomping footsteps will transport your guests straight into the world of Jurassic Park.

15. Dino-Themed Party Favors

Send your guests home with a piece of the prehistoric excitement. Prepare dino-themed party favors such as mini dinosaur figurines, stickers, or even small excavation kits that allow them to play archaeologist at home.

With these DIY Jurassic Park party decoration ideas, you’re well on your way to hosting an unforgettable prehistoric celebration. From lifelike T-Rex cutouts to interactive fossil displays, your guests will be transported to a time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. Get creative, embrace the spirit of exploration, and let your imagination run wild as you craft a dino-mite atmosphere that everyone will remember for years to come. So, gear up, channel your inner paleontologist, and get ready for a roaring good time!