How to Throw a Dino-mite Party: Dinosaur Party Food Ideas (for Carnivores and Herbivores Alike)

Jump Into the Jurassic Era with these Party Food Ideas

If you want to party like it's 200 million years ago, we've got you covered! Creating a jumping Jurassic-style shindig complete with delicious dinosaur-themed party food is as easy as excavating a few basic ingredients and supplies. Check out our Aussie guide to the perfect prehistoric party, complete with dinosaur-themed food ideas.

Pterodactyl Wings

Buffalo wings have nothing on these prehistoric babies. Season chicken or turkey wings with salt and pepper, brush with your favourite barbecue or teriyaki sauce (or any marinade you like), and grill or bake until cooked through. Arrange on a large platter over a bed of curly parsley with bowls of your favourite dressing or dip on the side. To create a jungle landscape, consider arranging thick stalks of bright steamed broccoli among the wings, standing them upright like trees. (If they won’t stay vertical on their own, a few cocktail sticks stuck into the stems in the form of a tripod can act as a buttress.) Label the platter "Pterodactyl Wings" and nobody will be the wiser. Note: These buffalo chicken schnitzels can spice up your platter!

T-Rex Fruit Plate (Including a Watermelon Dinosaur!)

Carving a watermelon into a big ol’ dinosaur head is—pardon the pun—a no-brainer. A quick online search for “watermelon dinosaur” results in myriad images that offer an easy approach: Take a big angled slice out of the lower half of the melon and you’ve got yourself a gaping maw. Cut honeydew, cantaloupe, or pineapple into small triangles and affix them to the dinosaur’s upper and lower jaws with cocktail sticks. Voilá, you’ve got teeth! As you would with a Halloween pumpkin, carve out nostrils and maybe some eyes, then grab those cocktail sticks again and affix grape or blueberry eyeballs. Fill the dinosaur’s mouth with fruits such as berries, grapes, and cherries, or scatter them on a platter with your T-Rex masterpiece in the middle.

Brontosaurus and Giganotosaurus Burger Bar

Any junior palaeontologists worth their fossils know that the Brontosaurus was an herbivore and the Giganotosaurus was a carnivore. That translates to two separate trays: one piled with your favourite veggie burgers; the other loaded up with beef patties. Label accordingly (i.e., Brontosaurus Veggie Burgers & Giganotosaurus Beef Burgers), and arrange lettuce, tomato, and other fixings on a third platter so guests can fully customise their eating experience.

Dinosaur Eggs

This dino-party essential can be approached in any number of ways, depending on your level of ambition. If devilled eggs are your speciality, by all means, go this route. (Turn them into dinosaur eyes with slices of strategically placed pitted olives). For less work, provide art supplies, from stickers to nontoxic markers to egg dye and stencils, with which to decorate hard-boiled eggs. Create a raffia nest within a large shallow bowl for the eggs—or hide them and have your little explorers go on an archeological expedition. Learn how to make the perfect hard-boiled egg here.

Dino Dip

Bring on the guacamole! Not only is this naturally green goop the ultimate crowd-pleaser, but it’s the perfect consistency for creating a convincing dinosaur design. Use triangular tortilla chips (and your imagination) for spikes and teeth, and olives or cherry tomatoes for eyes. Surround the dip with baby carrots and other crunchy crudité, along with additional chips, and you’ve whipped up the king of jungle snack food.

Fossil Cookies

Did you know that dinosaur fossils have been discovered on all seven continents? So it stands to reason that your guests will find them at your party. Simply bake up some sugar biscuits, whether slice-and-bake or from scratch, then grab a plastic dinosaur and use its feet as little stamps. Push lightly into the biscuits before baking, and you’ve got fossils by the dozen. Lay them on a bed of "dirt"— i.e., shaved chocolate, chocolate chips, or crumbled chocolate cookies—and you’ve made an excavation site.

Jurassic Sundaes

Many dinosaurs were cold-blooded creatures. So, frosty You Scream! I Scream! We All Scream For Banana Nice Cream! will feel right at home on your table. Go the DIY route and give each child two cups—one filled with ice cream (a green flavour, such as mint chip, would be an excellent choice) and the other with edible decorations. Think dinosaur gummy sweets, jelly beans, and little candy eggs.

Sip-A-Saurus

No one wants a parched palaeontologist! Hydrate your guests with pitchers filled with fun juice berry-citrus mocktails for the grown-ups. For kids, this could mean lemonade spiked with dashes of green food colouring—with or without a splash of lemon-lime soda. To give grown-ups a roaring good time, nothing beats a margarita made with lots of fresh lime juice.