Budasaurus is 2!

It's been a minute but HELLO AGAIN! While I've still been creating all kinds of random things since my last post (almost a year ago oops), I don't exactly have the time to blog about it like I used to. My SWEETEST creations need me more than my blog. We're about 10 weeks away from meeting number 3 and I am TIRED! But that didn't stop me from celebrating my favorite little boy BIG. 

Our little Leo is so much fun. He is literally the craziest, most energetic person I've ever met. Other people who know him would say the same. He is so full of personality and makes me laugh like no one else. Every once in a while he'll stop being outrageous for just a second to come give me a hug. I don't take any of those moments for granted. He is the most precious boy and I don't know what we'd do without him. Nothing prepared me for this man (especially his very calm, organized, book-reading, cuddly big sister) but I know God is using him as a tool to sculpt me into the person He wants me to be. As a mother, wife, friend, etc. I can already tell that I've become more patient (LOL). I know God is going to use his passionate soul to do something wonderful and I can't WAIT to see what it is. I'm so honored that I'm the one who gets to call him my son and watch him grow. I love you so much, Budasaurus. Your dad and I will always be your biggest fans.

I went through a lot of party themes in my head and finally landed on a car theme. As I started planning it fell as flat as a flat tire. I found cute ideas online but it just wasn't right. (I obviously take these parties way more seriously than I should). He likes cars but I needed something more personal. I wanted something to RAWR about! DINOSAURS! Leo loves dinos. Every time he sees one he gets excited and growls. How appropriate for our little 'saurus. 

I got to work (cough 6 months ago cough) and got so sucked in. The first thing I always do when starting to plan a party is Pinterest + sketch + chill. Forget Netflix! I draw out everything and make a list of what I need. After I write it all down I make a note on my phone of everything I need to buy. That way I always have it with me! If I'm at Hobby Lobby (let's be real...when am I not at Hobby Lobby?) I'll get one or a few things and eventually I'm ready to go! I buy almost everything on sale. Either with a coupon (Joann and Michaels are also great places to check out and they have excellent coupons) or I just keep an eye on the weekly ads. If I need something super random I check Ebay and Amazon. I've also found that Facebook resale is a great tool! I scored a huge, Bud-sized dinosaur stuffed animal for $3! So this whole party cost me about $200-250 including food. Not too bad!

So without further ado, here is Budasaurus is 2!

I save money (and it's just so convenient) to do the invite via Facebook! It can still be cute and decorated! Plus everyone can RSVP there! I just created an event and let FB do all the work. I can communicate with everyone there and it even sends reminders! 

Lets go way back in time. Our Budasaurus is TWO!

So RAWR and stomp on over. He wants to see you.

We'll have lots of fun. It'll be DINO-mite!

Herbivores and carnivores, bring your appetite!

Date: 2 November 2019 AD

Time: 1530 hours

Location: Meet us at the time machine to catch a ride to the Jurassic Period

I've said this before but I like for my parties to be an immersive experience. Starting with the front yard. Duh. I need a time machine. After all, it is a dino party. And like, it has to be realistic, right? What's more realistic than a time machine!?

My dad actually built this many years ago for my school's prom. It has proven itself to be very handy since then. I actually used it for a winder wonderland dance I planned at my church a few years ago. For that I painted it silver (it was originally gold). It was PERFECT! My dad dropped it off and I assembled it. Not to brag but I'm excellent with power tools. I added a few touches (including a time clock I made out of a plastic plate I found in my kitchen). The "time machine" letters came from Michael's and the silver fringe backdrop came from Ebay.

The signs after that were meant to indicate which year you were passing through as you traveled back in time. First was 2017 (the year of Leo's birth), etc. I bought this paper at Hobby Lobby (HL), cut them to printer paper size, and sent them through my printer. I taped a piece of cardboard to the back so they wouldn't flop and taped them to big wooden skewers (party aisle at HL- in the luau section).

Once you got to the door you made it! The Jurassic Period! I borrowed (ahem stole) these plants from my mom's porch because I wanted there to be a lot of foliage. I got the fake fern wreath from Joann. Not for sale: The v excited big sis (although I found her cute "Party-saurus" shirt at Kohls (carters brand) for $8).

So you walk in and there were vines hanging from the ceiling (from Ebay) and the Jurassic park theme song was playing. Granted when everyone's arriving and talking it's not super noticeable but it still made me happy. I'm sorry for mentioning it because you're probably singing it in your head now and, speaking from experience, it probably isn't going away any time soon. Worth it. 

However, the dining room was my FAVORITE room! I bought this balloon arch kit on Amazon for Bud's Flood last year. Spoiler alert: You're going to be seeing a lot of it from here on out. IT'S SO VERSATILE! Best $15 ever. I got the balloons at Hobby Lobby. They have such a large selection at about $1.50 a bag (10-20 balloons a package depending on the design). I bought a package of "tropical leaves" on Amazon and used almost all of them all over the place! I really liked how they looked in the balloon arch. I also bought a dino sounds file on Itunes for 99 cents and had it playing in the background.

I got the "RAWR" paper mache letters at Hobby Lobby and spray painted and decorated them. The spots I painted on with plain acrylic paint (but you'll thank yourself for saving time spray painting the backgrounds- I had this spray paint already on hand). I had all of the serving dishes. I got the plastic table cloths at Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby (these are only 99 cents at HL). I got the light green one at Dollar Tree, dark green at HL. All I did was layer them and use scissors to cut spikes at the bottom. So easy AND I got to wad it up and just throw it away at the end! I already had the burlap runner (Fun fact: You can also buy these at HL in the party decor section- super cheap and even cheaper with a coupon! I have like 3). I also got the 2 paper mache dinos at HL, spray painted them gold and made them little party hats out of cute scrapbook paper (also HL). As you'll see later, I made a LOT of tiny party hats for this event. 

I was so excited about my themed food this time. But I was ESPECIALLY excited about my nacho volcano! It looks impressive but was so easy. I found the idea online and it wasn't hard at all to recreate. All you need is half of a poster board, aluminum foil, tape, and a little dish (I used a small tupperware bowl). Here are some pics of the process:

I used a round object (I used a bowl) to trace a circle on the poster board. Cut it out then cut a gap up to the center. Roll it into a cone and measure out how big the opening needs to be for your dish. Cut the top of the cone. Tape it. Then cover it in foil. After you've made your volcano form, put your dish in from the bottom. I taped it into place. It wasn't deep enough to touch the bottom and I was worried it'd come out once it was full of cheese dip. So I turned a ramekin upside down and but it under it and it was the perfect height. I covered the foil in refried beans with a spatula then added a few black beans for texture. I covered the base in shredded lettuce to hide the ugly bottom. I filled the dish with Panchos cheese dip (you can get a big thing at Costco for $6-7) and just dripped it off the side! Surround with chips and voila!! 

Here's my other food! Not near as exciting but still super cute.

"Dino Bones" are yogurt pretzels from Walmart (I always do Walmart pickup for my party food- It's FREE plus everything is so cheap!) 

I also always make a special trip to Costco for things like vegi trays. This one came with dip and was only $10! This was for "Herbivores Only."

My mom made these cute "Raptor Eye" deviled eggs! She just dyed the filling green and added an olive.

I found these cute mini "Dino Egg Rolls" at Costco too! A box of 50 was only $10 and they were really good. I originally wanted chicken dino nuggets to go here but Costco was out and I didn't want to make a special trip to Kroger. These were just as good IMO.

I spent so much time trying to come up with a design for this cake. I finally landed on this. I wasn't super happy with it (couldn't tell you why- but I never really like cakes I create so it's to be expected). One thing I did differently this time was add crushed oreo to the buttercream on the top tier. And I don't use chocolate ganache that often but it is yummy. I made the leaves and eggs out of fondant. The "2" is a candle from Target that I cut teeth marks into. I got the dino at Dollar Tree and spray painted it gold. I cut Leo's name out of paper and made the tiny hat out of paper and tiny pom poms. I dyed the inside tie dye with the party colors.

The other little table in the dining room had plates, napkins, forks, a little smash cake no one ate (RIP) and a book to sign! I set one of these out at every party for everyone to sign. It's like a guest book! I put them in my kid's keepsake boxes so one day they'll have all of these books full of notes from their fav people over the years. The wooden and little orange dinos were from HL, plates and forks from Target, and napkins from HL. I already had the plant.

Funny story (at least I think it is). So I went to Good WIll looking for dinosaurs. Specifically a flying one. LOL I knew that was a long shot. WHAT DO YOU KNOW I FOUND A FLYING STUFFED DINOSAUR! It was 2 whole dollars and matched my color theme perfectly. I used a needle and thick thread to sew through the fabric so I could hang it from the ceiling with a Command hook. It photobombed us in this pic!

The kitchen was cute but simple. No one spends much time here but I still wanted to decorate. I found this awesome pinata at HL for $13! Of course I used my 40% off coup and it was like $7. I filled it with Halloween candy and left it on my kitchen table until it was time to hit it. I got the cute plastic table cloth at Target.

I wanted to do a little something in the bathroom as well.

We have a bar in the living room where I like to serve drinks. 

I made the "Watering Hole" sign out of cardboard. The blue fringe backdrop (supposed to resemble a waterfall) came from Amazon. Cups and cute paper straws were from Dollar Tree. The dino was part of Leo's b-day gift from Home Goods (super random). The hanging palm tree came from the party aisle at HL as well in the luau section. This was recycled from PrELSA is 4!

The "Pterodactyl Punch" was just a mixture of green Hawaiian punch, Sprite and a package of frozen pineapple juice. I thought it was so tasty and fruity! I added some limes to the water to make it interesting.

For the mantle I got some huge paper mache letters at Joann and spray painted/decorated them. I taped more leaves to the fireplace to fill in space. I got the Happy Birthday banner on Amazon!

It was such a beautiful, sunny day so I wanted the kids to be able to run free outside! The only thing I really did out here was hang a banner and add a table cloth to the table. I carved a dinosaur in my Halloween pumpkin so I could recycle it for the party. Later into the party we hung the pinata out here as well. 

BUT MY FAVORITE PART (and I think the kid's as well) was our special visitor! I asked my dad a few months ago if he'd be cool with wearing a dino suit to the party. He was excited! I found this one on sale on Amazon for just $31. I snatched it up. It was GIGANTIC! He was awesome and chased the kids around the yard for like an hour. They had so much fun.

Although the real dino had to bust the pinata, the kids had fun taking a whack at it as well.

Here's a pic of my beautiful P.

We had so much fun celebrating our Budasaurus and can't wait to do it again next year. We sent our friends off with their very own dinos (Dollar Tree + handmade party hats). 

We love you so much, Bud Bud!!

On an unrelated note, Halloween is only 2 days before Bud's birthday! This year's costume was ALL Presley's idea. She's been fired up about it for months. Since only a little bit was DIY (mainly Leo's and a few pieces of Presley's) I'm not going to make an extra blog post like I normally do. So I'll just leave a pic here for you to enjoy. We hope you had a happy Halloween! We are so excited about the HOLIDAYS! Then Presley's birthday (duh already been planning for months) then BABY TIME! I can't wait to share the next thing with you!