Dora, la exploradora, 3 years Anais looks like Dora and loves her, so her third b-day celebration was an expedition to "Borinquen Rainforest" with Dora the explorer. The invitation had a picture of the puertorrican parrot and it read: "Hi, I'm the puertorrican parrot. I heard that Dora the explorer, is in the Enchanted Island(Puerto Rico) and will be exploring Borinquen's Rainforest (Puerto Rico's indian name is Borinquen) during Anais's birthday. You've been selected to join the expedition team as an official explorer. Please read the map and follow the directions to get there and join us in the adventure" On the other side of the invitation I draw Puerto Rico's map, draw a heart where our town is (Caguas) and a star where the Rainforest was. The birthday was at our neighborhood's club house that has a gazebo, slides, teeter toter, swings, basketball and tennis courts, etc. The kids arrived and they made their unique backpacks. I ordered the backpacks and wiggly eyes from oriental trading. Using fabric the kids made the mouths and eyebrows.  Using Dora's Backpack as the model, each kid made their own. They just loved it! Then we were ready to explore the Rainforest and every kid received a bracelet and a name tag. I explained every kid that I was going to guide them trough Borinquen's Rainforest, then cross the Caribbean Sea and that's how we were going to get to "munecolandia" (the puppets island). The Rainforest was an area in the park with a big tree. I put real lovebirds in the tree and stuffed animals of the puertorrican parrot, the coqui(puerto Rico's frog), squirrels, toucan, frogs, monkeys, etc. Each kid had to name one of the animals they saw in the tree and in the "rainforest" and we talk a little bit about each animal. We mentioned that the puertorrican parrot and the coqui are endangered species and that they were native fauna of our island. We moved like and made the sound of the animals also. Then, we had to cross the Caribbean Sea. For that adventure I borrow my brother's kayak and prepared the "sea" with sea creatures(stuffed animals) like: sea turtles, manatee, fishes, lobsters, etc. All the kids sat in the kayak and we pretended to cross the caribbean sea (were Puerto Rico is at) by moving the kayak around . The kids had to say which sea creatures they could see and of course we had to talk about the caribean manatee, which is an endangered species also. At last, we found "Munecolandia" which is the name of the Puppets Theater that we had as a surprise gift for our daughter and her friends. The kids were amazed because the puppets asked them about their adventures to get to their island and all the animals that we saw. (I talked to the puppet's company to tell them the birthday's theme and relate their show to all the things the kids did during the "expedition") The puppets show was fun fun fun. As the kids enjoyed it, we served them pizza and Dora cookies (home made) At the end of their show we sang the happy b-day. The cake was a masterpiece. Aunt Thelma did it again. She made a Rainforest with a waterfall and everything. (she used one of those mini waterfountains used for relaxation). It also had a talking Dora's map that said "I know how to get there) and had a drawing of the sea, and an island. Using miniature Dora and friends figurines, she recreated what we did : Cross the rainforest, cross the Caribbean Sea and get to Munecolandia. She also used a boat, a bridge, a coqui, frogs, squirrels, birds. etc. to decorate it. Everybody was amazed with the cake.  The goody bags included "things you use to explore" like magnifying glasses, flashlights, kaleidoscopes, whistles, pencils (engraved with Anais's name), notepads, bubbles (Backpacks bubbles bought at party city), crayons, etc. And we also included a Journal of the expedition with pictures of the animals we saw and all the adventures to get to munecolandia. (we made them in our computer). It also included a Thank you note from "DE Angel Figueroa adventures, inc." (our last names) for joining us at the expedition. At the end we had the pinata filled with candy.  All the kids put their goodies in the backpacks they made and went home knowing a little bit about our island, Puerto Rico and our native animals that are also endangered species. And of course, their imagination flew as the puppet's theater entertained them giving positive advises, singing and dancing. Our daughter enjoyed it from beginning to end.