Dinosaurs and...Elmo?

My two friends Rachele and Emily decided to throw a double birthday party for their kids Addie (turning 2) and Beckham (turning 3), mainly because they needed to do it the same weekend and would be inviting all the same people, so they just joined forces for one great party--2 themes--but one party. Beckham wanted a dinosaur party, while Addie loves Sesame street, so there were 2 different dessert tables decked out in the different themes. This post I'll focus on Beckham's dinosaur theme, and do a second post on Addie's Sesame Street theme (too many cute things to show in just 1 post :)

Rachele found the exact cake she wanted me to make (found here)--I was grateful when she said I could just do 2 tiers instead of 3 (we still had tons of cake left over with just 2 tiers), so I modified the design a bit. I made the dinosaurs out of fondant/gumtex mixture and allowed them to harden for a few days on the outside of my big stock pot on its side so they would have a slight curve to them.

I did the same chevron design on the letters as on the example cake but wasn't sure where to put them since I had one tier left to deal with. I ended up sticking them behind my Tyrannosaurus Rex--I decided it kind of gave it a camouflaged appearance which was fun. I piped on the grass with my leaf tip--super quick and easy.

Rachele did an amazing job with the table. I was in awe with how cute everything turned out that she made.

She had got a new Silhouette machine and had fun using it to make her letters, invitations, and other decorations for the party.
Aren't these little rice krispy treats adorable?!

The favors bags that the kids got were too cute--I almost wanted to keep it for myself instead of let my daughters have it :)

Seeing all of her cute decorations made me want to buy a Silhouette too. It was the perfect dinosaur table for a fun dinosaur party.

The birthday boy with his family (that's my talented friend, Rachele--so sad she's moving to Florida and us to Iowa in a couple months for residency--too far away to plan parties together:(

The boys fought over the dinosaurs. They each wanted one. I was surprised how well those dinosaurs hardened up--they didn't break easily, even with a bunch of 3 year olds running around with them.

These kids had a blast. It was a great party--more pictures to come of the food and activities in my next post. So glad we could be a part of it! Thanks, Rachele.