A Very Dora Party

My niece has learned a lot from Dora the Explorer, from being able to count to at least 10 in Spanish before she was 3 to exclaiming "delicioso" at the dinner table. It seemed only fitting that her 3rd birthday be themed to her beloved Disney character, Dora.

The party was simple enough, outside at a local park on the most beautiful day of the year so far. (That's not saying too much considering the spring we've had here in Oregon.) But it was sunny enough.

Birthday girl Addison's best friend, Ellie, enjoying the simple things in life.

Addie giving baby Olivia (Ellie's little sister) some attention.

Birthday girl herself excitedly opening presents.

All of the party supplies (invites, thank yous, cups, plates, napkins, table cloth) were store bought, with the exception of the cake that I made. Ellie and Olivia's mom made a super cute "Feliz Cumpleanos Addison" banner, but unfortunately we couldn't find a spot to hang it at the park. If she posts pictures of it (or sends me one), I'll link back to it here.

With Addie's mom finishing up dead week of her 3rd year in the accounting program at OSU, heading into finals and her Auntie Mal sorting out moving details, we unfortunately weren't able to add as much uniqueness to the party as we would have liked to since it snuck up so fast. As an after thought (and because I love to), I searched Etsy and found a couple cute ideas, even ones that couple be applied to other character themed parties in the future.

Crayon rolls have been all over blogland and Etsy forever, but as suggested in this listing, what a great idea for a party favor! Especially if you don't have too many kiddos at the party, as was the case at Addison's 3rd birthday, with the adult:kid ratio being 3:1.

There are the numerous listings for cupcake toppers too, but we didn't need those at our party since we had a cake. The thank you cards would have been cute though!

How easy would these have been to make?! Party favor bags made to look like Dora's Backpack!

Of course, there are many more Etsy listings for Dora custom birthday shirt appliques, tutus, sugar cookies, place mats, felt clippies, even entire birthday party pack PDF files and one of my faves, creatively adorable hair pieces. Oh Etsy, where I go to be inspired, but at the same time, feel completely unable to create something no one has thought of before because there is just so much listed there! Over 2,000 listings for Dora. Go wild.

Until next birthday (or tomorrow morning), Dora says, adios!