Jackson's Third Birthday - Dino Decorations

I made most of the decorations out of cardstock and paper, because I was feeling thrifty. And I didn't really find many "cute" dinosaur decorations. Most were a for an older child - and frankly, quite scary. The invitations inspired everything. Though the dinosaur actually looks like a dinosaur, where the poster I made (above) looks a little like a turtle with spikes. Oh well, use your imagination!
This is obviously not his actual invite, but it is the picture of the example from Lemon Tree Paperie. I hated to take a picture of Jackson's with our address on it, because, well, it just seems a little weird putting it on our blog for all to see! I mean, I realize, that would mean people other than our family and friends would actually be reading this, but still.
Sara Hicks designed these invites, and I love all of her stuff. Here's a link to her website in case you want to see more.

I stuck to the colors of the invite for everything - Orange, Blue, and two shade of Green.
I made Jackson's shirt by cutting out a t-rex and then sewing him on. I just bought some cheap material from hobby lobby in the colors i liked. I used iron-on letters for "Jacksonosaurus." I'm still working on getting the giant ketchup stain out of the shirt (oh well). At least I got some pictures beforehand.
I made dino footprints leading up to the door. Again, I know I am critical of myself, but these really look like leaves more than footprints. On the door I made a sign that said Come On In, and accidentally left it there for a couple of days. hah! Luckily, no strangers wandered in after the party.
I made a few more signs using scrapbook paper to label some of our activities, more on the those in the next post.

I got these flying dinosaurs - pteranodons or whatever they are called - at Oriental Trading Company.

And this isn't a great picture, but I made a pennant banner (what do you call those things, anyway) out of paper and hung it above the table. Cheap and festive.
Lastly, I used left over boxes we had here, and some ric rac for the favors. I love ric rac, and I am tempted to put it on everything, however, it's a little girly for my boys, so I use it when I can, and fight the urge to sew it on their clothes. In the favors were stickers, dinosaur bubbles, a dinosaur tattoo, a dinosaur stamp, and some "grow your own dinos." I got most of it at Oriental Trading company. The growing dinos came in one big pack, so I just made little packets for each favor box.
More to come on our activities and cute pictures of the birthday boy. (And the previous post has all the pictures of the food).