Dora Adventure Party -3yr- Musical Adventure

My 3 year old absolutely adores DORA the EXPLORER!  So, it was no surprise that Dora the Explorer would be the theme for her 3rd birthday party.  The party turned out to be a great success, and all of the children had a blast.  The party was held at our home, with most of the activities being held outside.  

INVITATIONS: I designed the invitations similar to the character Map from the TV show.  Because the invitations had to be mailed, I made them to where they could fold (3 equal parts)into a regular-sized envelope.  The invitations were double-sided.  When they were taken from the envelope, you could see the following information: If there's a place you want to go I'm the one you need to know.  I'm the Map!  I'm the Map!  I'm the Map!  Kennedy's turning 3 For details turn to me. I'm the Map! I'm the Map! I'm the Map!"  As the invitation was unfolded it showed a hand-drawn map (similar to an open map on the show).  I had three boxes that contained the information for the party: Date (June 9) time (4:00 pm) and place.  The boxes were outlined in colors so that the information would be easy to see.  Map was also colored.  The words "Come celebrate _______'s 3rd birthday with Dora Boots and the rest of the gang!" were written on the map.  I also included pictures the three places that we would visit during our star-catching adventure on the map: Bubble Garden Puzzle Point and Pinata Playground.  They were joined together by a path.  My daughter placed Dora stickers on the envelopes.  I found a huge booklet (300+ stickers)for one dollar at our local King Dollar Store - What a great buy!  

DECORATIONS: I used a Nick Jr. Dora the Explorer coloring book (Dora's Super Silly Coloring Book by Golden Books) to draw posterboard size characters from the show.  We had Dora Boots Swiper Benny Tico Isa and the Fiesta Trio.  I colored them with oil pastels and laminated them (in case of rain).  We attached dowel rods to them and placed them at various points along the path of our adventure.  The kids loved going up to them and hugging them. I also used tissue paper flowers to help add a little color in the house and on the tables.  Balloons were also purchased to add color.  We purchased two Dora and Boots mylar balloons along with a dozen regular balloons in various colors (purple pink yellow green and orange).  A small group of 3 balloons (one mylar and two latex) was placed on the cake table while the others were throughout the house.  

FOOD/DRINKS: We had a veggie tray with ranch dip Dora Graham crackers (purchased from Wal-Mart) crackers cheese dip and chips and cinnamon graham sticks with cheese cake filling for snacks as everyone arrived.  The precious Dora-themed cake was purchased from Wal-Mart.  I purchased Dora themed plates and napkins for this part of the party. An alternative to the expensive themed plates and cups would be to buy the Dixie Dora and Diego kind found at Wal-Mart.  I saw these after I had already purchased the others from a party supply place in our area. After the activities we had hamburgers and hot dogs with all the fixings.  The drinks we offered were tea pink lemonade Capri Suns Cokes Dr. Peppers Gatorades and Diet Lipton Green Teas.  I used pink plastic plates pink and yellow napkins and yellow cups for the meal.    

ACTIVITIES:  As the children arrived I had them color various printables from Nick Jr.  I gave each of them a Dora bracelet (laminated) that was also printed from Nick Jr.  While waiting for everyone to arrive we went outside to play.  I purchased a Dora Bean Bag Toss game from a local dollar store that the children played with for a while.  We also had a blow up Dora ball pit that my daughter received at Christmas that the children played in.  They also played on our swing set. 

After everyone arrived we began our Star-Catching Adventure.  I called all of the children over to the porch area of our backyard.  I gave each of them a backpack of their own.  I used the Dora and Boots garden tags from Nick Jr. to label the backpacks with everyone's names.  This also doubled as their goodie bag and was filled with a pair of maracas a flute a kalidescope Dora stickers and their very own map of the star-catching adventure.  We did have a few younger children (1 year old and younger) invited.  I placed a teething ring a pair of maracas stickers and a map.  I sewed (zig-zag stitch for a decorative touch) these using one long rectangular piece of purple felt (about 27 inches long and 12 inches wide). 

The actual bag part of the backpack was a 12x12 square with a flap of 3 inches that folded over and closed with iron on velcro strips.  The ribbon straps were sewn to the back of the backpack.  For Backpack's face I used adhesive felt in red for the mouth and white for the eyebrows.  I used large googly eyes for Backpack's eyes.  They were relatively easy to make and I received so many compliments on them.  They cost about $1.25 - $1.50 each to make and have held up well.  I let my daughter play with an extra one before the party to make sure that nothing would fall off once the kids received their own.  I also gave them a star pocket necklace to wear for our adventure. 

My husband began the adventure by saying that Swiper called this morning and said that he had swiped all of the stars from our backyard and hid them somewhere.  The look on my daughter's face was precious.  She screamed that she would go and find them and she ran around the backyard - too cute!  We called her back over and I asked the children who would we need to ask for help to show us where the stars might be hidden.  They screamed "MAP!"  I originally was going to have the children pull the map from their backpacks but there were a few smaller children that would have had trouble doing that.  I made a posterboard size of the map as well.  I pulled this map out and we all looked at it while song #3 "I'm the Map!" from the Dora the Explorer CD played in the background.  We looked at each of the places and repeated them several times (Bubble Garden Puzzle Point and Pinata Playground) just like they do on the show. 

The first place was Bubble Garden (a flower garden area in our backyard)  I asked the children if anyone saw a garden.  They shouted "Yes!" and ran to the garden.  There were bubbles everywhere with the help of two bubble machines.  I said "Oh no!  There are so many bubbles that we can't walk through Bubble Garden!  What are we going to do?  Then song #9 "Popping Bubbles" began playing.  All of the children ran around and popped the bubbles!  It was precious.  We played the song about 3 times so that the kids could run around for a minute or two.  I then turned off one of the machines and we walked through the garden.  I then asked the children where the next place was that we needed to go. 

They screamed "Puzzle Point."  We walked to next stop.  Puzzle pieces were scattered on the ground.  For the puzzle I drew a large Dora on about 6 posterboards placed together.  I colored her with oil pastels laminated her and then cut different pieces out.  We used her hair face chest backpack shorts and legs and shoes.  I gave each child a piece of the puzzle.  The character Swiper was placed near Puzzle Point.  I said "Oh no!  I see Swiper!  He's going to try to swipe our puzzle pieces!  What do we need to say to stop him?"  The kids screamed "Swiper No Swiping!  Swiper No Swiping!  Swiper No Swiping!"  Song #37 "Swiper No Swiping!" from the CD could be played here as well.  I said "Yea!  We did it!  We stopped Swiper!"  Then we worked together to put the puzzle together.  The kids did a great job doing this and it was a lot of fun seeing them work as a team.  After we finished I asked them where the next stop was on our adventure. 

They said "Pinata Playground" and ran to our swing set.  We purchased a Dora pull-string pinata from Wal-Mart.  I filled it with some of my daughter's favorite candies.  I taped stars to some of the candy so that when it was broken they would be sure to fall out.  I gave each child two strings and told them to wait until everyone was ready to pull.  I reminded them that we were looking for the missing stars and to look very carefully because Swiper may have hidden them in the pinata.  On the count of three everyone pulled and the candy spilled out onto a large piece of plastic we placed on the ground.  All of the kids ran to get their candy and stars.  They put the candy in their backpacks and the stars in their star pocket necklaces. 

Song #1 "Dora the Explorer" played in the background.  After all of the candy was picked up I asked the kids what their favorite part of the adventure was.  Each of them said a different part.  Then we went inside (because it was terribly hot!) and had cake and opened presents.  Afterwards we started the hamburgers and hot dogs.  The children (and some adults) played in a sprinkler outside to cool off as it was about 98 degrees.    Everyone had a great time.  It took a while to get everything ready for the party but it was worth it.  Without this site I would have been lost!