Jurassic Park Themed Dinner
This week, we enjoyed a dinosaur-themed dinner while watching one of my favorite movies – Jurassic Park!
The inspiration to have a Jurassic Park dinner came from a recent trip we took to Montana. During our visit, my kids were thrilled that dinosaurs seemed to be everywhere! Dinosaur museums, sculptures, and dig sites – we even met a family friend who found an actual Triceratops fossil in his own backyard! It’s incredible to think of the undiscovered history hidden right under our feet.
Our Montana travels took us to Makoshika State Park, home to many prehistoric fossils including Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex. At the Visitor Center, we had the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes tour of their Paleo Lab to observe and handle actual dinosaur fossils!
Now this is where Jurassic Park ties in. World renowned paleontologist, Jack Horner, has led many expeditions in Makoshika State Park. We even saw some of the fossils he unearthed in the Visitor Center. Well, Jack Horner also happens to be the expert consultant and technical advisor for the Jurassic Park films. How cool is that?!
Ok all dino-loving nerdiness aside, after coming face-to-face with prehistory in Montana, I decided to recreate the fun at home with a Jurassic Park themed dinner.
* If your kiddos are too young to watch Jurassic Park, you can easily retheme this menu to a family-friendly dinosaur flick such as Disney’s Good Dinosaur.
*This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. If you click the link and make a purchase, I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you!
The Menu
I created our Jurassic Park dinner menu using dinosaur-themed dishes and desserts. Toy dinosaurs added some fun décor as well as greenery from outside. I also created food labels for each dish. You can print off your own Jurassic Park food labels by clicking the link below!
Deviled Dinosaur Eggs
Dinosaur eggs play a big role in Jurassic Park, so I wanted to incorporate them on our dinner menu. I stumbled across a great technique for dying cracked eggs from Mamaguru. You simply crack the shells of hardboiled eggs and soak them in colored water overnight. The next day when you peel your eggs, you get a really great effect!
Once the eggs were peeled, I made deviled egg filling with the yolks and they were ready to be enjoyed!
Veggie-Saurus Pasta Salad
If you have been keeping up with my themed dinners, you know I have to include something healthy on the menu. It helps me justify the other indulgent dishes!
I found some adorable dinosaur noodles on Amazon and decided they would be great in a veggie pasta salad. To make the dish, I used a Broccoli Cheddar Pasta Salad recipe from Rants From My Crazy Kitchen. I subbed out the rotini noodles for our dino noodles and presto – we had a healthy side dish fit for any Veggie-Saurus in Jurassic Park.
You can order the same noodles I used by clicking the link below!
Pterodactyl Wings
Up next on our Jurassic Park dinner menu – pterodactyl wings! Our grocery store was fresh out of actual pterodactyl wings 😉 but these full chicken wings were reminiscent of the real thing. Maybe Dr. Alan Grant was on to something when he proposed dinosaurs evolved into birds?
* Fun Fact: The character of Dr. Alan Grant was inspired by paleontologist Jack Horner and his work. So cool!
To make our wings, I threw together a dry rub from the seasonings we had on hand and popped them in the air fryer. They were delicious!
Dino Nuggets
Can you really have a dinosaur themed dinner without dino chicken nuggets? If you read about our Onward Themed Dinner, you may remember I purchased these nuggets specifically to use the pterodactyl shapes as our Manticore Tavern “Griffin Nuggets.” Well, now was the time for our other dinos to share the spotlight! Or, more accurately, bake to a crisp in a scorching hot oven.
We had fun with the kids trying to identify each dinosaur in nugget form. They were the perfect snack to round out our Jurassic Park dinner.
Dig Site Pudding Cups
For our Jurassic Park dessert, I created a twist on the Oreo Dirt Cup recipe from our Lion King Dinner to make Dig Site Pudding Cups.
In addition to using crushed Oreo in the pudding layers, I also added a layer of chocolate rock candy to represent the different layers of sediment in the earth. Jordan almonds also served as cute dinosaur eggs.
To top off our dessert, I made some dinosaur footprint cookies. I got the idea to make these cookies from an activity we did at the Paleo Lab. Using toy dinosaurs and clay, we made footprints to demonstrate how fossil deposits can be made. I used that basic idea with sugar cookie dough and our favorite dinosaur toy. They turned out great!
I hope you enjoyed reading about our Jurassic Park themed dinner. Sharing themed meals is a great way to make movie night more immersive and memorable!
Looking for more themed dinner ideas? Check out our Tangled Dinner HERE and our Bambi Dinner HERE!
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