Dinosaur birthday invitations
I make custom dinosaur birthday invitations, personalised from an existing design for $65 or designed from scratch, then deliver everything as digital files.
Almost every dinosaur invitation for sale is the same four grinning cartoons, and half the children they are bought for have outgrown them.
$65
Your details set by hand, usually back the same day. $145 to rebuild it in your own colours.
There is a real fork in this theme and nobody offering a template asks about it. A four-year-old is delighted by a round green cartoon with friendly eyes. A seven-year-old who can name thirty species and knows a T. rex had feathers finds that babyish, and wants the other thing entirely: accurate palaeoart, proper anatomy, muted natural colour, something closer to a museum plate than a party bag. Those are two different designs and they are not interchangeable.
If you are going accurate, the details are worth getting right, because that child will check. Feathered theropods rather than scaly ones, a sensible palette taken from living animals rather than lime green and purple, and a species the child actually likes rather than a default T. rex. Naming the species somewhere on the card is a small thing that lands enormously with the kind of child who asked for this party.
The practical layer is the same as any children's party and gets left off just as often. Whether it is a drop-off or parents stay, the finish time, and whether there is anything for the guest who will not eat a dinosaur-shaped anything. If there is a dig or a fossil hunt planned, say so, because that means clothes that can get filthy and shoes that are not the good ones.
What changes for this one
The first question I ask is the child's age and how serious they are about dinosaurs, because that decides everything else. Accurate route: illustrated skeletons or feathered species, natural colour, type with a bit of field-guide about it. Cartoon route: rounder shapes, warmer colour, still drawn from scratch. No copied characters from any dinosaur film or television series, in either direction.
When to send
Three to four weeks out, like any children's party. Add a week if it is at a museum or a venue with a fixed session time, because those slots fill and you want a headcount early.
Colours that work
Fern green, clay and bone for the accurate route, which is what the animals and the fossils actually look like. Warmer green with mustard and terracotta for younger children. Neither needs the lime and purple every template reaches for.
Questions people ask about dinosaur birthday invitations
Cartoon dinosaurs or realistic ones?
It depends entirely on the age. Under five, cartoon works and is what they want. From about six, a child who chose this theme usually knows a lot and would rather have accurate animals. Tell me the age and I will steer it.
Can you use a character from a dinosaur film?
No. Those designs are owned and I will not copy them. A well-drawn animal of the same species reads the same way to a child and is not somebody else's property.
Can we pick a specific dinosaur?
Please do. A child who asked for a stegosaurus and got a default T. rex notices immediately. Name the species and I will draw that one, and put the name on the card.
We are doing a dig pit, does that go on the invitation?
Yes, and say clothes will get dirty. Parents who were not told send children in something good, and then somebody has an awkward conversation at pick-up.
390
US searches a month for dinosaur birthday invitations, measured rather than guessed.
- dinosaur birthday invitation · 390/mo
- birthday party invitation · 12,100/mo
How to have this made
Custom invitation design
Designed from nothing for one event. No template underneath.
From $285
Party printables and extras
Favour tags, envelope liners, stickers, banners, water bottle labels.
From $75
Digital and paperless invitations
Designed to be texted, emailed or posted. Not an Evite template.
From $225
Start with a First Look
$45 for one finished concept designed for your event, back in three days. It comes off whatever you book, and if you do not love it you keep the file and owe nothing.