Dora the Explorer Birthday Party

I think my obsession with birthday parties started when Danielle was three. Up until then all of our birthday parties were simple, run of the mill parties. We had them in the backyard, bowling alley or Chuck E Cheese. No fuss, no muss - no themes. And, then Danielle discovered Dora and I went a little crazy.

Danielle had 2 guests and her cousins at her third birthday party. There is NO WAY I should have made a big deal out of this. But I did.

Like all addictions, it snuck up on me slowly. I started by ordering a Dora birthday cake from the grocery store. I bought Dora hats, tablecloths and a Dora pinata.

 

I think it was then that I had my epiphany. I themed her party after an episode of the TV show. I made goodie bags that looked like Backpack, complete with The Map sticking out of a side "pocket". I used purple gift bags. I printed the faces from a Nick Jr online BackPack craft.

I drew a big Map on a piece of poster board and the kids raced around the yard following it to the surprise at the end - Danielle's first bike. I made a few more things and created obstacles out of items we had around the house.

 

I wrote a story including the kids that I read before they went on their big adventure. In the story they followed the map through Butterfly Garden where an evil witch had shrunken all of the animals in the jungle. Before the party the girls helped me make coffee filter butterflies. I bought miniature zoo animals and magnifying glasses. The kids added these to their goodie bags.

 

 

 

Next they had to get past the Bo Bo brothers at Monkey Mountain. I know they are from Diego, but these were 3 year olds! They threw bananas at a monkey bean bag toss to distract those silly Bo Bos. They added small stuffed monkeys to their bags for getting past the Bo Bos

Danielle's teen aged cousin Kiera graciously donned a homemade Swiper mask and jumped out at the kids while they yelled "Swiper, no swiping!"  I used a purple foam mask and decorated it with foam cutouts. I glued orange foam ears to a plastic headband. I didn't think it was very realistic, but one child ran screaming from her!

The kids had to reach Rainbow Tunnel (a crawl tube) to free the remaining (stuffed) animals from a cage (made from a box with duct tape "bars"). When the animals were free everyone got a plastic medal.

 

 

It was easy and inexpensive. Best of all it was so much fun. I was hooked on theme birthday parties from that moment forward.