First we sent out invitations made out of construction paper in the shape of a Triceratops.  In his mouth was a fake leaf that had the word "roar" written on it. We had a dinosaur party for my 2 1/2 year old in June.  Because the kids attending were mostly under 3 years old we had to be very creative. First we constructed a 6'x8' Brontosaurus. We got a bunch of flattened cardboard boxes and duct taped them together to resemble the Dinosaur.  Then we went and got brown poster paper and covered the dinosaur. We hung it in between our living and dining room so the kids had to go under the dinosaurs legs to get from one room to the next. It is a lot easier than it sounds and takes little artistic talent. The cost to construct was under $10.00.  Then we went to the dollar store and bought green and black balloons and taped them all over the ceiling.  We also hung different colored streamers from the ceiling and attached a cut out of different dinosaurs to the end. This looked great and also helped the streamers hang better. There were dinosaur prints coming up the walk way and on the walls inside the house. We also had a few helium balloons outside with dinosaur faces on them.  When the kids arrived they were allowed to color the table cloth, made out of light green paper with dinosaur foot prints going across the middle. When all the children arrived we had a dinosaur egg hunt made out of paper mache eggs filled with dinosaur stuff. The kids found the eggs then glued and glittered them with parental help. Next we had a pin the horn on the Triceratops game.  Later, we went outside to the sand box for a dino dig.  We put black trash bags around and over the area to make it look like a cave and hung a brown poster at the top entitled "The Cave".  Then my husband dressed up like a dinosaur(he rented a costume from a costume shop $50.00 per 1/2 day rental). We gave each child a dino mask (Oriental Trading Co.$6.00 per 12 masks).  Then put on some dinosaur songs and the kids all danced with "Hilda the Happy dinosaur". The last game was a piñata made out of a gift bag. We decorated the outside of the gift bag with a dinosaur and half blown up balloons and streamers.  The kids had a great time making all the decorations come off the bag until it broke (Cost was less than $3.00 in materials). Because we used a bag I was able to pre do small candy bags inside so each kid got one bag with the same candy. This avoided any unfair distribution of the fallen candy and a lot of arguments. I made a cupcake cake in the shape of a Brontosaurus and each kid pulled apart their cupcake. We had ice-cream cups which I premade to have the center hidden with dinoshaped candies. The kids were also able to put whipcream and cherry toppings to make it look like a volcano. Make sure to use softer candies to avoid any choking.  After the party was over I presented each child with a large grocery sak decorated with different colored dinosaurs and ribbon attached at the top. I used a hole punch and tied it with curly ribbon. This also keeps the kids from getting into all their stuff at your house adding to the already present chaos. The party was a huge success for both parents and children.