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How to Train Your Dragon Party

April 5, 2013 By Sarah Westover McKenna 34 Comments

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When my sweet Callum told me that he wanted a How to Train Your Dragon party for his birthday I wasn’t a bit surprised.  Ever since Christmas, we have been watching that movie pretty much on repeat.  And you know what?  I don’t even mind!  It is one of the least annoying kid movies ever.  It’s a truly awesome one!  Watch it if you haven’t already. You won’t regret it!

Cutest How to Train Your Dragon party EVER!

The birthday boy requested a “dragon power suit” for his How to Train Your Dragon party.  Luckily his Grandma Paulette (my MIL) is an amazing seamstress and loves to spoil him rotten.  I think her gift was a hit, don’t you??

Such a cute How to Train Your Dragon birthday party!

My sweet mama was the ULTIMATE kid birthday party planner.  We always had the cutest, most creative birthday parties growing up!  She was truly the best mom ever!  SO. MUCH. FUN!!  I miss her.  Anyway, I wanted to throw a How to Train Your Dragon party worthy of Sally Westover (my mama).  I set out to do things fun but not “blogger perfect.”  Well, it’s not “blogger perfect” (I did send Evites, after all!), but I ended up putting WAY more time and effort into this How to Train Your Dragon party than I had originally intended, so I decided to share all of the details here on the blog.  And I am so glad that I did!  All those late nights were totally worth it!  The kids had a blast, especially my boy.  He may not have any memories of this How to Train your Dragon party down the road, but I don’t think I will ever forget the joy on his face during the festivities.  So worth it.

Can I show you everything that I did to make this How to Train your Dragon party a success?  Prepare yourself for picture overload.  I tried to control myself by putting most of the pictures into collages at least so that you don’t have to scroll through a MILLION.  Let’s get started!

Welcome to Dragon Training! How to throw a fun How to Train Your Dragon birthday party from Sarah at Craft Quickies.

Each guest was greeted with Dragon Training by this poster that I made.  This photo of four letters was the only “Viking Font” that I could find, and although I found it on Pinterest it led nowhere, so I just dusted off my former elementary school teacher poster making and bubble letter writing skills and went for it.  I am pleased with the way it turned out.  It was evenly colored, I promise, but the massive snowstorm we had that day messed with my photos a bit.

Viking Font

Viking Font

Paired with this rad “zippleback” dragon that I spotted at Savers for $4 I think it made for a really fun greeting to all of our little dragon trainers coming to our How to Train your Dragon Party.

And here is the room that greeted them within.  Please try to ignore my mom’s awful peach and blue decor.

Welcome to Dragon Training! How to throw a fun How to Train Your Dragon birthday party from Sarah at Craft Quickies.

First things first:  How to Train your Dragon Party Food Ideas.

I ask you: is food not the main attraction of every party?!  I think so.  Even parties for little ones.  These particular little ones are so little that they can’t read, so the food signs didn’t mean anything to them.  But I was quite pleased with them, so that’s what counts.  I’m such a dork.  🙂

 

I did tell the little dragon trainers what each food item “was,” and they were amused.  They were all quite taken with the “Dragon Food,” actually.  (Swedish fish with sour gummy worms mixed in.  If you’ve seen the movie you *get* it.)  *WATCH OUT FOR EELS!* Check out this cute How to Train Your Dragon Birthday Party from Craft Quickies!

My personal favorite party food idea, aside from the cake, is the juice boxes.  I love, love, love how they turned out!  And they were easy peasy.  Simply wrap your juice boxes with brown construction paper and tape it to the box.  Then wrap a thin strip of gray construction paper around the bottom of the box and tape that into place.  Finally, cut “horns” out of the gray construction paper and tape them to the back.  Minimum work, maximum reward!

Cute and easy food for a How to Train Your Dragon birthday party!

And now we come to the grand finale of the food extravaganza…..THE CAKE!!!!  I spent way too much time thinking about this cake.  I looked at a picture on Pinterest of a stunning How to Train Your Dragon cakes.  I thought about making a giant dragon.  I thought about building (or forcing my artistic BIL to build) fondant cake toppers to put on the cake of Hiccup and Toothless.  I mulled and mulled and Pinned and Pinned.  And then it hit me: a Viking helmet.  I could get a domed cake pan and add horns.  DONE.  Yeah, let’s just say that I spent more time thinking about this cake than I did making it.  I wish I was joking.  Read on for the crazy-easy instructions.

The cutest Viking hat cake ever! And it's so easy! Perfect for a How to Train Your Dragon party! Check out how she made the horns in the tutorial post.

How to Make a How to Train your Dragon Party Helmet Cake

Alright, people.  Here it comes: the easiest seriously impressive looking cake you will ever make.  Start with a domed cake pan.  Or, if you drive all over town and everyone is sold out of them you can buy a soccer ball pan in frustration and hope that no one notices.  *Ahem.*

Next, you use a cake mix to bake the cake.  That’s right: a cake mix.  KIDS. DON’T. CARE.  For my birthday??  Oh, I need a from-scratch divine, moist chocolate cake, and for my husband’s birthday, he needs a from-scratch cheesecake.  But for a bunch of four-year-olds?  Use a box, people.  Just use a box.  Oh, and while you’re buying that cake mix grab a tub of frosting too.  Seriously.  Read on before you doubt me.

After baking your cake and allowing it to cool do yourself a favor and read this tutorial from our one and only Courtney over at Sweet C’s Designs.  She has entitled it “The Easiest Way to Ice a Cake Ever.”  And you know what?  It IS!  I couldn’t BELIEVE it worked and how it looked SO SO SOOOO much better than when I just frost the old-fashioned way.  I’m not spilling her secret here, so head over to that tutorial if you want to join our secret club of lazy bakers.  It’s a really cool club to be a part of, I promise.  😉

The cutest Viking helmet cake ever! And it's so easy! Perfect for a How to Train Your Dragon party! Check out how she made the horns in the tutorial post.

Now let’s talk horns.  I bought some plastic bananas and spray painted them and planned to shove them rather briskly into the cake.  Plastic SPRAY PAINTED bananas.  Yeah…….that was stupid.  Luckily I have a friend, Jennifer, who is a seriously talented cake designer (check out her cupcake topper business if you are preparing for a big event!), and she saved me from myself by suggesting that I make them out of Rice Krispie Treats instead.  Brilliant, right?!  And there was no ingesting of spray paint by toddlers.  Minor details….  😉

So I made RK Treats, shaped them with my hands, and stuck kabob skewers in the bottom.  I wish I had stuck in two skewers per horn, just for the record.  I think they would have been a bit more stable.  When they were cool I melted vanilla candy coating and dyed it gray with a bit of black gel food coloring.  Then I dipped those bad boys and let them harden overnight.  Right before the party I stuck them onto the cake.  Do not do it sooner.  They are still pretty heavy and started to slide after a while.

The cutest Viking helmet cake ever! And it's so easy! Perfect for a How to Train Your Dragon party! Check out how she made the horns in the tutorial post.

Me and my little dragon. He is even more delicious than the cake!

How to Train your Dragon Party Games

Alright.  Now that we are done talking food let’s talk activities.  I saw this cute party on Pinterest from Bug, Boo, & Bean and was really inspired by it.  I obviously got the idea for a welcome sign from her, and I loved her idea of making helmets, shields, and swords from cardboard for the little dragon trainers to decorate.  I decided to use foam board, poster board, staples, and duct tape to make my Viking necessities.  I wanted them to be “clean” looking.  Foam board and duct tape are usually so overpriced, but I found both at Dollar Tree for….well, a dollar.  Score.

Fun, easy and cheap How to Train Your Dragon Party ideas from Craft Quickies!

All of the kids decorated their shields and swords with crayons and dragon stickers, but it was hilarious to me to see the difference between the rowdy boys who slapped on two stickers and then ran off and the girls who meticulously covered their shields with coloring and stickers.

However, once it was time to “fight” they all got pumped up.  Maybe a bit too pumped up.  But man did they have fun and don’t they look cute?!

Fun, easy and cheap How to Train Your Dragon Party ideas from Craft Quickies!

How to Train Your Dragon Party from Craft Quickies 5

Ferocious birthday boy. Is he a dragon? Is he a Viking fighting dragons? We may never know.

Fun, easy and cheap How to Train Your Dragon Party ideas from Craft Quickies!

Jade wasn’t interested in fighting, but she sure looked cute in the extra helmet….you know, for the three seconds that she kept it on her head.

Before we move on to the games let’s take a second to look at the centerpieces on the “weapons prep” art table.  They were so simple, but they added exactly the touch of cute that I was looking for.  If you want to make some like them you just need to grab some half sphere styrofoam shapes, some cardboard, and some gold spray paint.  Spray paint the styrofoam shapes.  Cut horns out of cardboard.  Push them into the styrofoam shapes.  Spray paint the horns.  Done.  Yep, it’s that easy.

Viking Helmet Centerpiece for a How to Train Your Dragon Party from Craft Quickies

How to Train Your Dragon Party Games.

Alright, people, and now it is finally time: IT IS TIME FOR DRAGON TRAINING!  This was the most time-consuming part of the actual How to Train Your Dragon party, and yet it took practically zero time to prepare.  I thought about what we could do for “dragon training” while I was working on the shields and swords, and I came up with the following ideas that would prepare them for the skills that they would need to have when fighting dragons.

*  JUMPING PRACTICE for leaping over flames and swinging tails
*  STOP, DROP, AND ROLL PRACTICE in case they catch on fire  (Throwing in a little education there…. a former elementary teacher.  It’s just a habit.)
*  STRIKING PRACTICE, a.k.a. hitting a dragon pinata I accidentally came across at a locally owned toy store
*  RUNNING PRACTICE
*  OBSTACLE COURSE
to combine all skills.

Man, oh man, did the kids have a ball!  I barked orders at them and they took it all sooo seriously.  It was so dang cute.

Fun, easy and cheap How to Train Your Dragon Party ideas from Craft Quickies!

Pinata time!  Check out the determination on that little redhead dragon trainer’s face!  CUTEST!  And how about the fact that Bapa (grandpa) ended up having to beat the thing as hard as he could before giving up and having me tear it open with my hands?  Good times, people.  Good times!

One of my childhood best friends was at our How to Train your Dragon party with her two little girls (I love that we are still friends and have kids that love each other!!!!) and reminded me of a time when I got a mild concussion from being whacked in the head at a party because I dove for the one piece of candy that fell out of a pinata while someone was still hitting at it.  Oh, and did I mention that I was in seventh grade at the time?!  I have problems.

Cute, fun, and easy ideas for a How to Train Your Dragon birthday party! #craftquickies

Bring on the obstacle course!  The obstacle course combined all of their “skills.”  Silly and simple, but fun!  Jade wisely kept her distance and just eyed the craziness from above.

How to Train Your Dragon Party from Craft Quickies 3

And now it is the moment that we have all been waiting for: IT IS TIME TO FIGHT DRAGONS!!!!!!!  When my friend saw my husband crawling out of the other room wearing this ridiculous dragon hat (from Dollar Tree!) she grinned and said, “Wow.  You have a husband that really loves you.”  I replied, “And a father and father-in-law!” as the grandpas emerged in the same dragon hats.  I truly am surrounded by the best men!  I am way too lucky.  None of them even flinched at this idea!  They rock!

Cute, fun, and easy ideas for a How to Train Your Dragon birthday party! #craftquickies

The fight was ferocious, but in the end, we remembered: you can’t train a dragon with fighting and cruelty, you can only train them by being kind and gentle.  And so the dragon trainers dropped their weapons and made peace with our wild dragon crew.

How to Train Your Dragon Party Trophies - So easy to make and so dang cute! #craftquickies

Each dragon trainer was rewarded for their bravery and valor with a dragon trophy.  I saw these toy dragons at Dollar Tree and grabbed a ton of them.  I also grabbed the styrofoam blocks from the Dollar Tree.  Then I simply glued the dragons to the styrofoam and spray painted.  Voila!

Cute, fun, and easy ideas for a How to Train Your Dragon birthday party! #craftquickies

Cute, fun, and easy ideas for a How to Train Your Dragon birthday party! #craftquickies

So, so proud of himself.  Isn’t he just the BEST?!  

When the How to Train your Dragon Party was over it was time to send our fearless dragon training recruits out into the cold, cruel world we sent them with a little goodie bag containing a dragon toy (the same ones I used for the trophies) and a pair of “dragon socks.”  I can not even begin to tell you how exhausted I was when it was all over!  Incidentally, the day of the party was MY birthday, so I retired to my room for a snuggle nap with my little dragon boy and let Daddy and the grandparents clean up.  I think I earned it!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy.  I hope you loved your How to Train Your Dragon party as much as your mama did.

Fun, cheap, and easy ideas for the cutest How to Train Your Dragon party ever! #craftquickies
Check out this darling How to Train Your Dragon birthday party! Lots of cute, easy ideas!

***********************

Here are a couple more posts that are perfect for the How to Train Your Dragon fan:
The Big Book of Dragons-9
Make your own Big Book of Dragons (Free Printable!)
Toothless the Dragon Hooded Towel
Toothless Hooded Towel
*********************
If you loved this then be sure to check out my other parties:
I love this Disney Adventure birthday party! Great ideas for Wreck it Ralph, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Cars, The Avengers, Peter Pan, and Star Wars!
Disney Adventure Birthday Party
Lego Birthday Party -- SOO cute! I love all of the ideas for decorations, activities, and even food!
Lego Birthday Party
Baby's First Minnie Mouse Birthday Party from Craft Quickies - So much cute and easy ideas!
Minnie Mouse Birthday Party

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Sarah Westover McKenna

Sarah Westover McKenna

Sarah is the scattered creative mind behind Bombshell Bling. A former elementary school teacher and a current stay-at-home mom, she loves developing her creativity through her blog and her jewelry design business, Bombshell Bling Jewelry. Sarah is a lover of all things vintage, colorful, and BLING. She is also a sweets addict with a major obsession with s'mores.
Sarah Westover McKenna

@bombshellbling

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Latest posts by Sarah Westover McKenna (see all)

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Filed Under: Baby and Kids, featured, Parties, Tutorials Tagged With: activities, cake, decorations, kids, Movie Inspired, party food, party theme

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Comments

  1. Jennifer Ozuna says

    April 5, 2013 at 7:20 am

    Wow! What a wonderful party! I love that your Dad, Husband and FIL all jumped in and played too!
    Funny, I have a scar from a pinata injury. 😉 I guess that’s common.
    Thanks for the linky love for my Cupcake and Cake Topper business. 🙂 I appreciate it! I’m so glad that the cake turned out. It’s perfect. Oh, and for the record? I learned shortly after you asked that you only need to use a glass bowl to bake a cake in. (like a pyrex one). No dome cakepan or cake ball pan needed!!!

    Reply
    • sarah says

      April 5, 2013 at 8:40 am

      Thanks Jennifer! And, well, that glass bowl thing could have saved me some time! Sheesh! Good to know!!

      Reply
  2. Stephanie W says

    April 5, 2013 at 9:31 am

    seriously, seriously cute sarah! and it was clear from the pictures how much callum loved it.

    Reply
    • sarah says

      April 5, 2013 at 5:05 pm

      Thanks, Stephanie! I appreciate it!

      Reply
  3. Laura says

    April 5, 2013 at 1:06 pm

    Holy cow! I hadn’t hear all of those details. What a BLAST!!!!! So sad that I missed it. 🙁 I love the pic of Jade looking on warily from above.

    Reply
    • sarah says

      April 5, 2013 at 5:02 pm

      We wish you could have been there!!!!!!

      Reply
  4. Rachel says

    April 5, 2013 at 2:25 pm

    Wow! Amazing job!

    Reply
  5. Megan says

    April 5, 2013 at 3:48 pm

    So fun! I don’t know if I could do all that for my little ones. Whew!

    Reply
    • sarah says

      April 5, 2013 at 5:02 pm

      Thanks, Megan! It was COMPLETELY exhausting, it’s true! Good thing his birthday only comes once a year!!

      Reply
  6. Jenn says

    April 5, 2013 at 5:21 pm

    SO fun Sarah! It all looks amazing and the kids look like they had a blast! Always the number one sign of a fabulous party! 🙂

    Reply
    • sarah says

      April 5, 2013 at 5:54 pm

      Totally agreed!! Kids are the best. Thanks, Jenn!

      Reply
  7. Dinah says

    April 7, 2013 at 3:25 pm

    Those dragon trophies are adorable!!

    Reply
    • sarah says

      April 7, 2013 at 3:31 pm

      Thanks!!

      Reply
  8. Pinkoddy says

    April 7, 2013 at 4:36 pm

    What a really great party!
    I have to admit – plastic bananas sound like such a good idea to me. I’m useless when it comes to cakes, apart from small one.

    Reply
    • sarah says

      April 7, 2013 at 5:33 pm

      Glad I’m not the only one! 😉

      Reply
  9. Bethany says

    April 7, 2013 at 6:26 pm

    how cute! Looks like everyone had so much fun! You captured some really great pictures. Love the cake!

    Reply
  10. Capturing Joy with Kristen Duke says

    April 8, 2013 at 9:27 pm

    what a fun party!!

    Reply
  11. Lisa Hall says

    April 9, 2013 at 11:30 am

    Very cute! Looks like a good time was had by all!
    Thank-you for sharing!

    Reply
  12. Niki says

    April 9, 2013 at 4:20 pm

    Cute, I bet they loved it. The trophies are adorable!

    Reply
  13. katie says

    April 10, 2013 at 5:21 am

    Super cute party!!!

    Reply
  14. Randi - Dukes and Duchesses says

    April 10, 2013 at 12:46 pm

    Awesome party … my kids would love it too. The cake is perfect!

    Reply
    • sarah says

      April 10, 2013 at 4:42 pm

      Thank you!!

      Reply
  15. Jenn says

    April 13, 2013 at 5:33 pm

    Me again! Just wanted to let you know that I will be featuring your amazing party tomorrow! Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!
    Jenn xo

    Reply
    • sarah says

      April 14, 2013 at 12:44 pm

      THanks girl!!!

      Reply
  16. Liz Ames says

    June 1, 2013 at 10:33 pm

    Wonderful job…. Congrats!!!

    Reply
  17. Rashel says

    January 15, 2014 at 2:41 pm

    Hi there! Love your dragon party!! I’m having a knight and dragon party for my son’s 5th birthday in a few weeks. I realize your party was nearly a year ago, but I tried looking at Dollar Tree today and didn’t see any dragons…only dinosaurs. I searched amazon, oriental trading, party city and haven’t found anything similar. I LOVE those little dragons (the ones you spray painted), but have no idea where else they could be sold. Do you have any ideas for me?

    Thank you so much!
    Rashel

    Reply
    • Sarah Westover McKenna says

      January 15, 2014 at 3:32 pm

      I found them about 9 months ago, so I have no idea. So sorry! :/

      Reply
  18. Cherisa says

    June 18, 2014 at 4:47 pm

    What a cute idea just wait tel the 2nd movie comes out.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Sunday Spotlight: Sweet C’s Designs says:
    May 19, 2013 at 6:02 am

    […] so you know she knows how to make lamb), The Easiest Way to Frost a Cake (which I used on my Viking Helmet cake and it worked like a dream), and The Easiest Sangria […]

    Reply
  2. Cheetah Power Suits says:
    June 7, 2013 at 6:00 am

    […] Kratts, so for his birthday he requested a “Dragon Power Suit” (which you can see on the post about his How to Train Your Dragon birthday party) and a “Cheetah Power […]

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  3. 70+ of the BEST Birthday Parties! | Sweet Rose Studio says:
    June 17, 2013 at 9:22 am

    […] How to Train Your Dragon Party at Craft Quickies […]

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  4. Minnie Mouse Bowtique Dream Party Celebration says:
    July 21, 2013 at 8:10 pm

    […] turn the time over to them now.  😉 Setting up for this party was a BREEZE compared to the last party I did!  I will admit to you that I have always been a bit of a snob about thinking a party […]

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  5. Minnie Mouse Birthday Party says:
    September 10, 2013 at 10:54 am

    […] of pink Minnie, as opposed to red Minnie. You may also enjoy checking out my son’s How to Train Your Dragon birthday party.  That one was a TON of work, but it was so, so worth it to see him having such a blast! I […]

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  6. 35+ Kid's Party Ideas says:
    January 17, 2014 at 1:01 am

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