Dora the Explorer!

Rachel's 3rd birthday was DORA! Every 3 year old loves Dora! I almost did it for her 2nd, but decided to wait until her 3rd. This is the first party she really remembered and it started the love of birthday partying in her! I found a coloring sheet on the internet and pasted it into Word. I lined up the back for the writing and the inventation said this... Rachel's turning 3 on March 13th I'm the Map, I'm the Map, I'm the Map. The party starts at 12:30. I'm the Map, I'm the Map, I'm the Map. We will party on 4563 Corie Lee. I'm the Map, I'm the Map, I'm the Map. Please be sure to RSVP. I'm the Map, I'm the Map, I'm the Map. Dora, Rachel, and Boots hope to see you there!
I had each one copied onto purple card stock. I then cut them out around the backpack and mailed them out! So easy!
Now. . .preparing for her party was little more work! I made a map just like on Dora that had 3 stations. I had Rachel's cake set out on the table with a huge lock and chain holding it shut in the box. My brother made animal balloons while we waited for all the guest to arrive. Of course, everone kept asking why is her cake locked up? Well... my husband made the Swiper noise in the other room and said You'll never find the key now!... I cued in and said Oh no! Swiper took the key to the cake! After the kids ooh.. oh noed, etc.. I said who do we ask for help when don't know which way to go? All the kids shouted THE MAP! I pulled out the Map from a backpack and opened it. I read it and it said to find Rachel's key you need to go through the Candy Jungle, up the Bubble Tower, then you will find the key in the dark cave. I set each place up in a different bedroom. Before setting off to find the key each child got 1 drawstring backpack with a flashlight in it. Jungle Room.. I hung lots of green crape paper from the ceiling with scotch tape ( no damage that way) just straight down about 2 feet off the floor. Then I dumped lots of suckers on the floor for the Candy Forest. I told the kids to find all the red suckers. (ofcourse the younger ones that didn't know their colors just grabbed suckers). Then we got our map backout and read it together. My 4 year old neice was very keen on this she kept shouting the next place because she could tell from the pictures. Bubble Tower - I had my husband get this going while we went over the map. When we opened the door to the Bubble Tower there were Bubbles EVERYWHERE! I used my handy bubble machine (nec for so many parties) . The kids had to pop all the bubbles before we could leave. We stayed in there a few minutes.. when it was time I turned it off when they weren't looking and eventually all the bubbles were gone! I also gave each child a small container of bubbles for their bag. Again, we got out our map.. and went to the Dark Cave. I choose my darkest bedroom and kept the blinds shut with no lights. My husband, bless him for letting me give him such long HONEY DO list, spray painted two large boxes black. Each child used their flashlight to crawl through the cave .. At the end they got to pick one key off the floor. Then we lined up to see who found the key to the cake. I made sure it wasn't the birthday girl, I wanted a guest to have the honor. Once the cake was open we ate! We also had tacos, cheese dip, and quesdillas to match the Spanish theme.
I also put out an easle with a canvas I painted with different squares. Each child painted their handprint and put their name on it for Rachel to keep to remember her friends from her party. Their goody bags were the treats they had collect during our hunt. It was really an awesome party that went soo well!