Thursday, October 8, 2009

Avery's Third Fiesta

After weeks and weeks of rainy rain rain, we finally got a little sunshine just in time for Avery and Faith's third birthday party last weekend. The beautiful, crisp weather set the perfect scene for our outdoor fiesta.

A few weeks ago, Kris and I found our invitations on Tiny Prints and just had to have them.

Unfortunately, they didn't show up until a couple of days before the party, so we had to send out e-vites.
Boo.
Boo, boo, boo.
BOOOOOOO.

Because we paid for them, I'm putting them on the blog.

Here's what they looked like.
Mostly. Give or take some info.

Cute, huh?

Too bad no one saw the actual invitations.
Boo. Boo, Boo, Booooo.

Anyway ---
Kris and I loved the little Dora on the invitation so much that we decided to dress the girls in matching felt appliqued t-shirts.

I couldn't leave Little Charlie out, so I made a Boots shirt for him.


We decorated the park gazebo with tissue pom poms, paper chains and mexican banners in light and dark pinks, orange, lime green, and turquoise.

The paper flowers that Kris and I created turned out really cute!

And it only cost us 4 hours, around 55 cents per flower, and a few grey hairs from the stress of trying to keep our kiddos distracted while we worked.
Worth it.



Our special guest, Dora, arrived 30 minutes into the party.

As she walked across the lawn, the kids literally RAN to hug her.

Avery was a little shy, but thrilled that Dora was at her party.

After greeting Dora, the kids were each given a backpack for a special adventure.

Faith's momma, Kris, and I ordered white backpacks from Discount School Supply.

Kris dyed the backpacks purple for the girls and orange for the boys. Then she hot-glued felt for the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth.

How cute did they turn out?!
(Was it worth the purple fingers and cramping hands, Kris?)


After the kids were given their backpacks, we gathered everybody around Dora for their "Big Adventure".

Each of the kid's little backpacks contained a few things to help with an "Adventure" with Dora.

FYI: I searched all over the internet for different Dora party ideas and came across the following activity here. It was a huge hit with the kiddos.

Dora opened her backpack, took out her map, and showed the kids the three destinations for their "Big Adventure".



Then, Dora told the kids to take their Spy Scopes out of their backpacks to help them look for "Cupcake Mountain" (the playground slide).

After their climb over Cupcake Mountain, Dora led the kids across the Silly Snake Pit (plastic snakes on the grass)

Finally, they made their way to the big surprise (a wrapped box under a tree).

Dora told the kids to take the whistles out of their backpacks to wake up the sleepy bear on top of the present.

Then they all opened the present to reveal The Big Surprise: A pinata!

We took the Pinata to a tree and let the kids take turns hitting it.

After the Big Adventure, everybody had nachos from the nacho bar.

Then, it was time for CUPCAKES!


and presents!



The BIrthday girls had a blast partying with Dora.

Now it's time to start planning Charlie's 1st birthday celebration NEXT MONTH!

9 comments:

Jill@Barnes Yard said...

Fantastic job! My kids would have died! Fun, fun party, I bet the girls will remember it forever!

Molly said...

OOOO!!! That is adorable!!!!!
Love the crepe paper flowers!!!

Tiffany said...

Where do I even start? That has got to be one of the cutest parties ever! Love it. Love it all. Those invitations are adorable. Boo on Tiny Prints for sure! The Dora and Boots shirts were so precious and I LOVE the flowers in the hair! Too cute! The pom-poms and flower centerpieces were the perfect touches! Also, Dora looked great and I love the adventure activity! Wonderfully creative ideas! Looked like such a fun party! My Avery would have been in heaven! : )

Colored With Memories said...

oh my! una fiesta buena!!!

such a great job on everything!

i'm guessing you won't be using tiny prints for charlie?!?

Wendi@EveryDayMiracles said...

Martha...er... Jennifer, YOU ARE AMAZING!!! This party is just awesome! I'm so glad you shared the details! So cool...

And really???? Charlie turning ONE next month? Oh.my.

SarahHub said...

What a cute, fun party!

Nice to meet you, my name is Speed Bumpie said...

Late birthday invitations isn't acceptable - I have my own 3 y/o birthday coming up in a few days.

I do work at Tiny Prints however and encourage you to look me up so we can do whatever we can to rectify.

We apologize for the inconvenience!

Jennifer said...

LOVE it!

Brittany said...

I LOVE, love, love this idea!
I still can't stand loudmouthed Dora, but this is a precious theme!

Ya'll did a FAB job, and your Dora is pretty cute, too. :)

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