Roarrr its a Dinosaur Party, Swamp Dip Guacamole & a Dinosaur Cake

I love a good theme, its so much fun and I love any reason to celebrate, party, cook and....decorate!
Yep, I love Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Fancy Dress Parties

Its also always a great, fun opportunity too cook and create new things.

As a mother of two girls I never thought I'd be doing a dinosaur theme, and I have to say I am so glad my youngest is such an eclectic girl, the type who wants to wield a lightsaber while wearing a tutu! Its fun.

My little V loves dinosaurs, so it was only natural she would want a dinosaur party! So Kindy and ballet friends invited the dino planning fun began.


Meet Rex our party door greeter

Discovering the non fiction section on dinosaurs at the library has been a highlight of V's year!



Big sis and grandma taste testing the party food

Face painting by Fun Face Events



Dinosaur Jumping Castle by Jump Sunshine Coast

TAKE HOME BAG IDEA ***Dinosaur arts and crafts - great little addition for the take home bag that is not sugar and additive laden lollies is a paint your own dinosaur plaster of paris figure and cut out dino shapes, its personal, the kids love making them and who doesn't like glitter :)
 In our take home bags we also had garden whirls, printed colouring pages of dinosaur pictures and a box of crayons, a mini dinosaur toy, the usual blowers and balloons, some dinosaur shaped glitter sprinkles, box of organic sultanas, dinosaur crackers, dinosaur temporary tattoos and stamps. We really wanted to steer away from the usual lollies. 

Not the best shot (boy does that time go fast when you are setting up!) But you get the idea, lots of green and jungle features.



Adding some simple cut outs to the party hats to make them dinosaur - miss 4 actually did these 

Dinosaur footprints lead the way

 And such a fun part - the party food! Now I do believe in living life pretty much 80/20, yes my kids eat very healthy a large percentage of the time but I will also let them have abought icecream on a hot day out, fish and chips at the beach and a normal cake for their birthday! But I do still try and have lots of party food that is home made, additive free, fresh, wholefoods and refined sugar free as much as possible. In fact I even had the face painter comment at V's dino party just how calm and happy all the kids were - and yes, the kids were all still munching away happily! It is just that, yes its a party so you have some treats but you can also have lots of fun and delicious food that is healthy too.


Dinosaur footprint biscuits! These are fun and simple! I'll blog this recipe soon - why not sign up over on the side so you don't miss it.

Dinosaur eggs - these are my bliss balls made small get the recipe HERE

Flower Fossils - gluten free , get the recipe HERE

I found this idea on pinterest, I just made little mini spelt muffins, turned them upside down, cut them flat and then when cold topped with melted white chocolate that I mixed a few drops of food colour & beetroot juice into.

Viola iceburgs - these made the kids drinks of cold water funky, always a great idea to provide lots of iced cold water at parties, if you want you could add some cordial, there are also stevia varieties out there. 

We also served a sausage sizzle right before the cake, we had gluten free meat sausages and vegetarian sausages (cooked separately) and gluten free and fresh baked bread. We served with the Natvia refined sugar free tomato and BBQ sauces (find in Coles). Always a reliable hit for kids (and parents) and everyone loves the smell of a cooking bbq and onions :)



Swamp Dip - Guacamole
Yes, I didn't get a shot before the kids had tried some haha!

Swamp Dip Guacamole

4 large ripe avocado's

1 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce (I used homemade refined sugar free, made with stevia but bought is fine)

1 cabbage

Cut up carrot, celery (leave some with the leaves on to look jungley), red capsicum slivers and we also had gluten free corn chips 

Blend together avocado, sour cream and sweet chili - taste test, tweak if needed.
Kids love this dip and it is not hot so don't be frighten of the chili sauce in it!

Cut your cabbage in half, trying to leave any funky outside leaves in place for the dinosaur/jungle look. Using a knife score the pieces of cabbage and then remove with a spoon (give your self a few minutes to do this part)

Fill with the smooth guacamole.

Serve.  

The Dinosaur Cake
Ok, yes it does look a little like a chameleon haha but the kids didn't notice - I blame the eyes!

To make a Dinosaur cake I made 2 of my chocolate yoghurt cakes with organic sugar (but you could use whatever kind you liked really). One round, one rectangle. I got the idea from a food ideas magazine and then tweaked and played around with the design. I drew the shapes I wanted on baking paper to use as a trace to cut out the pieces, waited until the cake was stone cold and then used green butter cream icing to decorate and cut down ice cream cones for spikes and horns, you could actually put spikes right along the back of the dinosaur as well.
The frill was cut as one piece and slipped over the head.
I recommend making the cake the day before if that works for you timing wise. I didn't decorate mine with lollies like the food ideas magazine but you could if you wanted too, I was just trying to keep additives to a minimum, but that are brands out there that are additive free and you could of course make this with a gluten free cake mix as well - if you were looking for an easy, instant one I recommend Tania Hubbard's from Gluten Free Grain Free.

 

Bek Xxx