There was no question as to what Macey’s theme for her 3rd birthday should be, Dora was the only option. I had way too much fun planning this party, it’s going to be hard not to do one every year!

I scoured the internet for ideas and combined/adapted what I found into Macey’s Sweet Dora Fiesta.

Here’s the invitation and party bags I made:

You can’t have a Dora party without the Map and Backpack, so I decided we were going to have a Dora type scavenger hunt. This means I had to make backpacks and maps. I used purple gift bags for the backpacks and Paul made me the awesome map.


Swipper (we had a paper bag puppet) swiped the Pinata (which caused a moment of tears from Macey) and hid it from everyone. The kids then got their backpacks and had to get their maps out to see which way to go. They first got their binoculars out to find Cupcake Mountain. After going down the Mountain, they went through Rainbow Tunnel, and then to the Princess Castle. Macey loved having to look at her map and find the next place to go, just like Dora does.

We had the corresponding Music playing on the laptop as they went (the swipper song, backpack song, map song, ect), but the kids were really too busy to notice.

When they got to the princess castle they had to find something in their backpacks that would wake up the sleeping animals that were blocking the door (whistle). They then excitedly crawled inside to rescue the Dora Pinata, which Macey happily carried upstairs to break open.


The kids quickly filled their backpacks with candy from the pull string Pinata.

One of my favorite things about the party, and Macey’s, was the cupcakes I made!

I divided the cake batter into 5 bowls and dyed it with gel food coloring. I then layered them into the cupcake liners one at a time. It took awhile, but I was so happy with how they turned out- bright and happy, just the way I like things!

Here’s some of the festive decor:

Having sick kids and being in the hospital with Miles, put me a little behind on making my decorations. But, thanks to Michelle’s Cricut and Jenni’s help we were able to get most of what I wanted done.

Paul even made me these cute, yet scary, Dora’s with Macey’s face. They were definitely my favorite decorations.

I also had a coloring table set up with different Dora pages, crayons, stickers, and even some candy. This way the kids were busy upstairs coloring, and also playing with balloons, that they didn’t wander down into the basement before we did the scavenger hunt.

Macey loved her party, she told me her favorite parts were the tasty cupcakes and using the Map. It was nice to have something fun to look forward to after a long few weeks! Thanks to all our friends who came, Macey felt extremely loved!