In December, I was adding very necessary pins to my “Excuse for a Dinner Party” board, and happened upon the most amazing project: the dinosaur serving plate. A good friend of mine loves dinosaurs. I mean, loves them. Loves them so much she and her husband used them as center pieces at their wedding, loves them. So when I saw this project, I had the perfect Christmas present aligned.

A big thank you to the Hostess with the Mostess  who carefully wrote out instructions for this dino serving dish, but unfortunately, it took so much longer than I could have ever anticipated. The biggest issue was using a handheld saw to (earmuffs, kids) decapitate the dino. No matter how well you measure, there’s bound to be some uneven cutting. I would strongly recommend bringing over some baked goods to a friend who has a table saw and using that over a hand held. The added baking effort is definitely worth it.

A few worthy tips:

• Choose a dinosaur model that has substantial material (no flimsy plastic!) Whether you are using a plastic or ceramic plate (as I did), it’s important to have a stable base. I’d recommend a dinosaur that is at least 6-10″ tall, and using a side salad plate. Mine was purchased from the Dollar store for, well, you know how much, and it was great.
• If you do happen to misalign your cutting, make sure to have a heavy duty nail file, or better yet some sandpaper to even out the edges. This will make gluing much, much easier and keep your sanity in tact.
• The original instructions call for parchment paper to line the plate before spray painting, but I painted the body separately, then glued it to the plate. I would strongly recommend using a pencil or paint brush to hold the head while spray painting. You’ll keep your hands paint-free and see better coverage on the dino.
• Make sure to paint the dinosaur at least 3 separate times to ensure proper coverage. I think mine could have used one more round, but it still looks pretty darn good.
• The Krazy Glue I used was awesome for securing the dino to the plate, but my saving grace was the bathroom caulking used to fill the gaps between the body and plate. (Yes, I caulked a dinosaur.)

I had intended for this serving dish to be used for a cookie or candy display, but my friend opted for a jewelry dish, which I may love even more. Glad you’re enjoying your new dino buddy, Kat!

Updated 3 March 2014: I’m pleased to share a photo of the fabulous dinosaur serving dish in action! Don’t you wish you had one?

Perfectly placed in the home (alongside its brontosaurus brother).