This fabulous balloon we recently were given from Party City is what inspired me to show you this party from the past. The balloon is amazing and the kids are in awe of it. This Dora balloon stands 52 inches tall. The “gliding balloon” is available in a number of different characters and is a great addition to a party. I wish I had this balloon when we did our birthday party a couple years ago. The kids went nutty over the balloon and even decided Dora needed to go down for a nap at the same time they did (see bottom right picture above).
OK – I just have to give a quick shout out to Party City. I sent a text to my husband from the store asking to be a professional party planner. I was seriously in party planning heaven. I could not believe that aisle after aisle was packed with stuff that you’d need. Even classy looking options for every occasion. The nearest one is about 30 minutes away from me, but I’ll make the drive. I had no idea how much they’d have.
“I’m the map! I’m the map!” Most parents are pretty familiar with this phrase. A Dora party wouldn’t be complete without a map, right? I made a really simpmle map of our property. Then, I rolled up the map and added google eyes and drew on the Map’s face. I rolled it up and each child received a map to try and follow. The first went to the lollipop trail, which was a whole path where lollipops marked the sides of the path. They were able to pick up lollipops along the way. Next, we did the pinata at pinata playground. Finally, they went to goodie bag garden where all of the goodie bags were hidden. My husband had fun making the little “Abby the Explorer” which was on the map as well as was sent out on her invitations.
The cake, of course, is always an important feature of a birthday party around here. I struggled so much with Dora’s head. My husband did the final head in one shot after I had many misses.
Overall, it was a really fun party.
Holy Cow! That is a awesome party. I’m pinning this for next year because I have a feeling that my 2 year old is going to want either Dora or Diego. Great Ideas. I’m your newest follower. I’ve been clicking on your links every week at the linky parties.
What an adorable cake!! I love that balloon too. I didn’t know those existed. How exciting!
-All Grown Up Parties
This is a dream party for a little girl. Thank you for sharing the fun details!
I really like the Map! It looks just like the one on the show. Pretty Awesome cake too. Thanks for linking up at Mom’s Library!
Love the map idea, My oldest is turning 3 on the 25th this month, so I am pinning this for the map idea for her party! 🙂
OMG!! I love the map! My daughter is turning 3 in August and I’m giving her a Dora birthday party! I love it if you could provide me the details on how you created it. If you need my email address just let me know. Thanks for sharing your beautiful party ideas. I know your daughter loved it. Thanks
Thank you so much. With the map, I just did a very simple publisher document that I copied and pasted clip art from the Internet. Once I had the basic outline of our property and the elements for the treasure hunt on the map, I just printed that out. I then rolled the map and put a ribbon around it. I added the Eyes and face by hand. Good luck.
Hi Jodi,
I don’t mean to bother you, but if you can remember, can you please tell me where you found the lollipop clip art. You also stated that you use a publisher Document. What is that? Do you have to purchase that? I’m not that computer Savy, but I try my best to learn as much as possible.
Thank you so much! I’m go to see if I can locate some clip art for each stopping point. I tried looking for lollipop, but I didn’t have much luck. Thanks again.
Hi! I have a question. If the goodie bags were at the end of the map route, what were the children using to put the lollipops and candy from the piñata in? Also, if the candy wasn’t a part of the goodie bags buck they were separate stops on the map, what kinds of things did you have in the goodie bags? I’m having a dora/Diego party for my 3-year old twins on Saturday june 1st, 2013 and I’m using some of your ideas but wasn’t sure what you did about this part so thought I’d ask. Thanks!
Michelle
It has been a while, but I’m pretty sure I gave them little plastic bags for the first part of the journey and then they dumped all the candy into their goodie bags. You could also make your map different, and put the goodie bag garden first. I can’t quite remember what I put in the goodie bags, but knowing me it was just a bunch of Dollar Store trinkets. Sorry it took me a little time to get back to you. I now see the party is tomorrow. I hope it is fun. Let me know how it goes.