Party Like a Three Year Old, Dora Style

When I asked Greenleigh what kind of birthday party she wanted this year, she told me she wanted a “purple” party.  I tried to get more information out of her, but she was pretty tight lipped, just insisting that she wanted it to be purple.  I originally had planned a Minnie Mouse birthday party for her, but later changed my mind in light of this new purple craze.  I figured that I could work the purple in with Dora better, and besides, Dora was her new love at the time (good thing I didn’t wait much longer – now it’s DocMcStuffins; toddlers are so fickle).

We ended up selecting an indoor playground for her party.  Yep, that’s right, I had my daughter’s party at a party mill.  And it ended up being perfect.  Absolutely perfect.  The weather was damp and dreary, making indoors the best possible location.  I’m so glad I listened to my husband and his insisting on having this party indoors!  I don’t know how he knew it was going to rain, but he did.

Once again, I had Becca from Jumping Jax Designs make the invites.  She incorporated the purple as requested, along with Dora, Boots, and Swiper.I’d love to take credit for the decorations, but I had nothing to do with it.  That’s the beauty of having a party at an indoor playground – they take care of everything for you.  It was delightful, really.
Okay, so you might have noticed that the room is a little sparse when it comes to purple.  Yeah, turns out that the play place doesn’t really have a lot of purple on hand.  I did get them to make extra balloon bunches in purple.  They were plentiful, but unfortunately, not photographed.  You can kinda see them on the ceiling in this picture:
So what I lacked in purple on the decorations, I made up for in the cake (made by Shannon at Cups & Cakes): The lighting in the room wasn’t really ideal and the background sucks, but trust me, it’s all purple – right down to the sprinkles on the cupcakes!

Then there were the goody bags.  Nothing so special here.  Well, actually, a funny story – I got called out by a 3 year old for not including candy.  Apparently, one little boy tore through his goody bag and then exclaimed to his mother, “No candy?!”.  I didn’t hear it, but my mom was nearby and watched the exchange.  Poor little guy was really upset.  I’m not against candy in goody bags and even meant to pick some up, but I didn’t get to it.  I thought I was so clever for including sidewalk chalk, bubble kits, stickers, silly bands, etc.  I guess I’m out of touch.  The teething toys that were favors for the babies that attended were a huge hit though.Greenleigh was introduced in a carriage, which I never in a million years thought she would ride in…but it turns out she did want to ride in it, and insisted that her baby sister ride with her.  I’ll admit, this is the cheesiest thing that I’ve ever seen but she loved it.  And it was adorable that she wanted Hazeline to ride in with her.  Sometimes the love that they have for each other makes my heart swell.I forgot to get Greenleigh a special Dora t-shirt for the party, but K-Mart saved my butt.  They also happened to have the most adorable outfit for Hazeline.

Entertainment included a puppet show.  It started a bit subdued:But got a bit more interesting when Hazeline stormed the stage:And ended with an all out dance party:
There was an ice cream bar, which seemed to be a big hit with the kids and the adults.The popcorn machine was loved by many as well (especially the adults!).And of course there was playtime.  Lots and lots of playtime.We took the obligatory family photo where no one is looking the same direction at the same time.  Awesome, huh?  A must take.Then we had some cake and it was time to go.  Over far too fast, and yet 3 hours was the perfect amount of time.And by the time the whole thing was over, I was so sick of Dora, I couldn’t stand it.  So I sent her to school with this cake.I mean, she still thinks she’s a princess from last week – I figured a few more days wouldn’t hurt!