My daughter LOVES Dora the explorer and so for her 3rd birthday I wanted to throw her a Dora the explorer party. Her favorite Dora video is Dora Saves the Mermaids. So I decided to throw her a Dora Mermaid Party. The children that were invited were ages 2-7.

INVITATIONS: I made homemade invitations. I took purple stock paper and printed out an image of Dora's backpack. Then I cut them out and glued a matching back on. Then I made maps" to stick in the backpack. On one side of the map was a picture of my daughter at the beach dressed as a mermaid and on the other side was a map with Dora and boots on it and they are heading to "Chloe's house". On the back of the back pack I printed out the party details..it said "Dora would like to invite you to celebrate the third birthday of a very special girl- Chloe! Dora and Chloe will take you on a fantastic adventure where you will meet pirates mermaids and do many wonderful activities to help Dora and Chloe with their adventure! The adventures with Dora will begin date time at Chloe's house (address)." I also included a link to a Nick jr video clip of Dora in case any of the kids didn't know who she was and said "Here is a sneek peak of the fun that awaits you!" We handed them out personally.

COSTUMES: My Mom handmade costumes for all three of my kids. Mermaid costumes for my daughters and a pirate one for my son.

DECORATIONS: When the kids came through our front gate and walked up to our front door they were greeted by a playhouse that looks just like Dora's house (yellow with a red roof). It had a huge cut-out of Dora on one side of the door and of boots on the other, and a birthday banner across the front. I took a picture of my daughter with each guest as they arrived. Then we went in the living room where there was a a huge table set out with a plate and cup for each kid. The table was decorated with seashells and their were stars hanging down from all over since Dora likes to catch stars.

ACTIVITIES/GAMES: The kids then could make their own mermaid castle. They each had graham crackers ice cream cones frosting for glue and candy for decorations. When everyone had arrived and finished their castle I asked "Do you want to see the cake?" We then went back to our entrance table where a huge cake pan was laying covered with a bowl. I lifted up the bowl and Swiper was glued inside so that when I lifted up the bowl he dropped down and looked like he was standing on the bowl. Then a friend said "It's too late! You'll never find the cake now! I hid it in the mermaid kingdom but to enter the kingdom you will need to find 3 items! I then handed out their backpacks. Purple backpacks with felt faces on them. I said "Who do we call when we don't know where to go?" MAP! They all reached in their backpack and I had made them a map out of a toilet paper roll and felt. Then I pulled out my map which I had drawn to show where we needed to go. I explained all the places and then asked where we needed to go first. Pirate Island! We went into my daughter's room first. It was decorated with pirate decorations everywhere. There was a large empty chest and above it I hung a picuture of the pirate piggies Dora pirate and boots pirate. I said "The pirate piggies have lost their treasure! Can we help them?" The kids did a treasure hunt and found chocolate coins and a candy bracelet (our first item).

Then we looked at our map and went to the next location. Crown Cave, which was in my son's room. The door was covered in fake seaweed all around as was his bunkbed. There was a huge blue blanket on the floor and several sea theme stuffed animals sitting at a small table with several chairs. The room was decorated with fish and other sea creatures - some that my kids had made! The sea creatures had no jewels to make the crowns for the mermaids so we checked in our backpack to see if we had anything to help them. They had jewel stickers in a little bag. The sea creatures thanked us and gave us crowns (our second item) and they got to decorate them. Then we looked at the map and went to our third place- balloon sea. The room was decorated with beach toys and sea creatures. There was a huge blue tablecloth and net on the wall with fish stuck in it. I had laid down a blue sheet in our living room and covered it with tons of blue balloons. Inside only a few were rings were hidden. They had to find the right balloons to get the ring (our last item). Then we played pin the mermaid tail on Dora. Then we had everything we needed to enter the mermaid kingdom. On the door to the kitchen was a giant drawing of a mermaid castle. So when you opened the door it was as if you were going in the castle.

CAKE: We went in the kitchen where her cake was waiting- a three story sand castle cake with Dora mermaid on it (idea from familyfun)!

FOOD: Then I had the kids sit down to eat. I made them Dora and Boots open face sandwiches (on the nick website) hot dog squids Crab apples and a banana octopus. I had fish shaped sandwiches and snacks for the adults. They played a Dora verion of musical chairs after dinner. All of the characters of Dora were taped in a circle on the floor. They walked around on them to the music and when the music stopped whoever landed on swiper was out and could give the birthday girl their present. Then I just let them play with their backpacks and the balloons until they went home.

FAVORS: For favors they got to keep their castle creation backpack map bracelet crown ring and I also stuck in a Dora fruit snack and a Dora pencil. My daughter loved her cake the most and sleeps with her backpack and map every night. It was a lot of work but so worth it! I am going to print the picture of my daughter with each friend in front of the Dora house as a thank you."