Mara's 4th Birthday Party! Dora the Explorer

Thanks to the inspiration of my friend, Cara- Mara's Dora the Explorer Party had a vision.  It started with the invite.  My brother made each of the kids their own coloring sheets for Christmas with them IN the picture with their favorite characters.  This was in black line so the kids could color ( original is in a frame in their bedroom).  I colored it in and turned it into the invite for the day!

The premise...Swiper steals Amara's birthday treasure and takes it to Treasure Rock Island.  Dora and her friends must make their way to Treasure Rock Island to get the treasure and be able to celebrate Amara's birthday together.  

Here's her treasure!

 I took the treasure and made it into treasurer rocks so it would look as if the real treasure really did turn to stone when Swiper took it to Treasure Rock Island  ( I had to do this 5 days in advance).

 We ask that no one brings gifts to our parties and instead, each child picks a service project.  Amara has been learning about hunger at church and therefore she decided she wanted to collect food for a local food pantry.  When the guests arrived, this bucket (and Dora and Boots) said thankyou!

 Swiper and the treasurer were positioned.

 The pink seamonsters were put out in the park as well and were ready to go!

 Everyone recieved a backpack ( it didn't fit on their backs...instead they carried.  Thanks to my friend Jill for helping me cut out the faces!

 Ribbon strung on the back made it look like a backpack!

 This little girl couldn't have been happier when Grammy arrived bringing the cake she made. ( scroll back up to see how amazing my mom did matching the invite)

 Then friends began to arrive.  Amara loves being with her friends.  Here she is with her two best friends from school!

 When the party started, we began at the Food pantry drop and talked about what it was and why we were doing it.  Then I told the kids to come with me and look in Amara's treasure box up front.

When we got there, the treasure chest had already been stolen.  Who could have taken it?  SWIPER!!!  He left a note and a picture of Mara with her treasure.  It said,

I took your treasure and made it all mine

I wanted the loot and don’t you whine!

There’s only one place I can take it, try to find me there

I’ll be on Treasure Rock Island, without a care!

We needed to go on an exploration to find this treasure.  First they each got their backpacks.  Then we got out the maps.  The map said we would need to get to the Fulton Waterfall, boat to the Pink Sea Monsters and feed them and solve the riddle that will take us to Treasure Rock Island.

Off they went to the Fulton Waterfall (slide)

They got to the waterfall and were shocked to see that all the food pantry items were spread all around the bottom of the slide.  Oh no!  Who would have made this big mess?  SWIPER!  The only thing to do was to travel down the slide and when you reach the bottom, pick up some food items and put away.  Each child went down the slide.  Once everyone had done that, the children were asked what inside Backpack might help them see where the Pink Sea Monsters were so we could boat to them and feed them.  The binoculars ( spray painted toilet paper rolls that had been hot glued together)

When we got closer to the Pavillion, they could see the see monsters through their binoculars!!!  Over there....we paddled our way to the Pink Sea Monsters

In order to get our riddle that would take us to Treasure Rock Island, each child had to feed to Sea Monster.  So away they went to feed them!

While they fed the monsters, Brian put on his fox ears and remained in hiding at Treasure Rock Island, waiting for the kids.

They did it and they received their clue.  It said, 

          Use a compass and have it point the way

To the Pavilion made of bricks that lay

Not in it but around, on the back side

Find it quick before Swiper takes it to tide.

Away they went!

When they got to Treasure Rock Island, Swiper was waiting for them but he wasn't happy.  When he got the treasure to the island, it turned to stone.  He couldn't even enjoy it!  He said he would give back the treasure if they could figure out how to get it out of the stones.

So everyone grabbed a stone

And started breaking them apart to find jewels, whistles, and small toys!!!!  They loved it!  ( I loved seeing their faces as they realized the treasure was IN the stone and they could break them open)

Time for pictures!  While I did take a regular one, this silly picture was much cuter and more telling about our crazy kids!!!!)

Now time for cake and icecream!  I stole the idea of my friend and pre-scooped and re-froze all the icecream into muffin papers.  It made serving the icecream SUPER easy and as the icecream melted on the kids' plates, it didn't run everywhere but stayed contained in the paper.   Brilliant!

Happy girl!!!

Everyone hydrated and enjoyed their cake and icecream!

Look at these happy girls!!!

And Jack was pretty content with his icecream too!

The kids had freeplay after cake and icecream and they LOVED the merry-go-round!! ( Mara and I liked to be pushed by everyone else)

And the girls finished with 500 rounds of ring around the rosey!

What a wonderful day.  Amara was just in heaven with her friends all around her celebrating and pretending!  Well worth the effort to make it extra special for my almost FOUR YEAR OLD!!!!!