I used the Junior Dinosaur Digital Kit to throw an Explorer-themed birthday party for my son’s 8th birthday. My son loves dinosaurs, reptiles, and anything that is creepy and crawley. So the Junior Dinosaur Digital Scrapbooking Kit and Junior Dinosaur Party Mini Kit was the perfect Pixelbooking product to execute my prehistoric birthday vision.
We chose to hold the party at a natural preserve park near our house complete with winding trails, cool rock areas, a sand pit, a fishing lake, roaming ducks, a waterfall, and a cool pavilion. We planned out an adventure trek around the park with six stops at interesting locations where we could teach the kids cool stuff about the local critters and terrain.
Invitations
I introduced the Explorer design theme on the birthday party invitations since they’re the first piece to set the mood for guests. I had several moms tell me that their child was so excited to come to the birthday party because of how cool the invitation was. The birthday party invitation dimensions were 8.5”x3.625” so it could neatly fit into a standard #10 envelope. I used the Junior Alphabet in Red Spots for the main titles on the invitation to give it a fun, bright, juvenile feel.
Hanging Pennant Banner
A hanging pennant banner was the perfect solution to reinforce the Explorer design theme, add some color to the park pavilion, and light up my son’s face seeing his name really big on the banner :) Each pennant was 10″x14” and printed out on 11″x17” paper. I cut a diagonal notch out of the bottom to make them look more flag-like and punched .25” holes in the top corners. I strung them together using curling ribbon. I consider a hanging pennant banner ‘big bang for the buck’—visually speaking.
Explorer ID Badge & Backpack
The Explorer backpacks were the element of the party I was most excited about creating. I ordered some simple drawstring backpacks from a local supplier. Then I bought a large, animal foot print foam stamp and stamped two large footprints on the back of each backpack. To make it look really official I designed an Explorer ID badge. Not only did it make each guest feel special and like an official explorer, but it helped me keep track of which backpack belonged to whom.
To create the badge, I purchased a set of clear, ID badge holders from my local office supply store. Then I designed an insert using the Junior Dinosaur Digital Scrapbooking Kit that measured 2.5″x3.5”. I attached the holders to the backpack using key-chain rings. As each guest arrived, I wrote their name on the insert and slipped it inside the badge holder.
Inside the backpack I included: a water bottle, a granola bar, fruit snacks, a field journal, a snack filled with animal crackers with a ‘thank you’ bag topper, a clothespin dragonfly attached to a snack bag full of skittles, a pencil, a cool fishing bumper sticker, a ‘make your own candy fishing lure’ kit, and a rock color identification chart.
Explorer Field Journal
The Explorer Field Journal contained eight activity sheets that related to the stops we made along our trek. It included fun facts, a maze, a word search, areas to doodle and identification charts. The kids had a really fun time filling out their journals along the trek and ended up with a fun keepsake.
The size of the Field Journal was 5.5″x8.5” (or half of a letter-sized sheet of paper). I printed them out on card stock to give more rigidity to the book. The inside pages were printed in black and white on letter-sized paper and then trimmed in half. I also trimmed a blank back cover sheet to 5.5″x8.5” from the card stock to make the interior pages easier to write on. I secured all the pages together with two staples about .25” from the top of the cover on the front.
Treat Bag Topper
I included a snack-size bag full of animal crackers in their backpack. I designed a treat bag topper with the words ‘thank you’ and stapled it to the top of the bag. Not only did it provide a back-up snack along their trek, but it also provided a written token of appreciation thanking each guest for coming to the party.
Cupcake Flags
Rather than purchase pre-made cupcakes, I was brave and decided to make them myself. I was very relieved to discover baking them was easier than I expected (how often does that happen?). I designed three different kinds of cupcake flags to proudly display on top of each cupcake. I think it was way easier than trying to do some kind of fancy frosted dinosaur decoration on the top of each cupcake. And the flags look just as cute!
The cupcake flags were 3″x1” flat and 1.5″x1” after they were folded. After I trimmed them out, I quickly swiped the backside with a glue stick and folded the flag outside edges together. Before folding down the crease, I inserted the top of the toothpick. Then I firmly flattened the crease around the toothpick. Super easy!
Thank You Postcards
Knowing that the party was an Explorer theme, most of the guests brought birthday gifts based on the theme. Gavin was so excited and appreciative to all his friends for their generous gifts.
For the thank you cards, I designed them as a 6″x4” postcard using the Junior Dinosaur Digital Scrapbooking Kit. I figured why not save a few dollars on postcard postage vs. standard postage by avoiding the use of an envelope. I wrote the addresses of all the guests on the backside of the postcards, and Gavin wrote a short message to each guest thanking them for their specific gift.
Dinosaur Digital Scrapbooking Layouts
The best part of throwing such a fun birthday party is recording the memories for generations to come with digital scrapbooking layouts. My digital scrapbooking layouts perfectly coordinate with all the party decorations because I used the Junior Dinosaur Digital Scrapbooking Kit for everything! I also used the Junior Dinosaur Party Mini Kit for additional birthday-related papers and pieces.
