Dora Birthday Party Menu

The food for our Dora Birthday Party was fairly simple- the party was at 2 pm, so I didn't have plans to feed lunch or dinner, but I knew that swimming would make everyone hungry.

The main dish was the delicious subs from my father-in-law's restaurant, Gabriel's Sub Shop.  We had these same subs at my son's Dino-Four Birthday Party last October.  You can see a photo of them at this post.

I tried to keep a variety of other items for guests to snack on during the afternoon.... fruits, crackers, savory snacks, healthy snacks, etc.

Swiper's Salsa Bar was a fun way to display several different types of salsa in a creative way.  This plastic tray was from the Dollar Tree (I think I got it last year) and I used all of the outer compartments for different salsas.

For the center, I made a circle from cardstock and glued various colors to make the "wheel".  I had three different kinds of salsa:  Green Salsa, Medium Salsa, and Black Bean & Corn Salsa.  I used a sticker of Swiper to join the middle together.

I made these little food tent signs on the computer.  I'm not really that handy with graphic designs and such, but this was very easy.  I found the images on Google, and imported them into Picasa.  Then, I made a collage with a single image and added the text (the font is Jokerman).  I printed them on white paper and glued them onto cardstock.

One thing I try to do with parties is to pick two or three colors that are the "party theme colors".  For this party, it was bright pink, lavender, and orange.  These were the colors of my cardstock, my balloons, my bunting and anything else I could coordinate.  It makes things flow easily and keeps your theme forefront.

For a healthier snack, I used this recipe to make "Tico's Toasted Chickpeas."  I seasoned them with Lawry's Seasoning Salt and they were yummy!

For the kiddos, I had a big bowl of bananas.  I don't think many were eaten, but it was a bright punch of color in my food display and added some height, too.

I'm not too much into games at parties- my kids are still a little young for that- but I did make this "Animal Rescue Center", which was simply an old applesauce jar filled with animal crackers.  I had everyone -kids and adults- guess the number of animals in the rescue center.  It was really funny to hear the kids guess, especially my daughter, who guessed 5!  In actuality, there were 241 animals in the "Rescue Center" and my mom won the game!

Of course, I had a big bowl of animal crackers for snacking, too!

One of the most popular items was "Benny's Berry Sticks".  I debated for a long time if this was worth the investment, since berries aren't exactly cheap.  I looked at Aldi and Winn-Dixie for berries- Aldi didn't have a good selection, and Winn-Dixie was way overpriced, but Target came through for me!  I found the most delicious looking blueberries and strawberries there and bought two packages of each.

And would you believe that the birthday girl, stinker that she is, got a package of blueberries out of the fridge and ate them the day before??!?!?!  I'm sorry to all of you guests who wished there were more blueberries on your skewer- it's not my fault!

These were really easy to make though- just chop the tops off of strawberries and skewer the two fruits in any order you choose.  I mixed it up to keep things fun and different, but this could also be a fun patterning game for preschoolers!

The drink table was outside, and I hung the birthday girl's Dora beach towel above the table for some added color.  I made two drinks- Raspberry Lemonade and Orange Lemonade.

The Raspberry Lemonade is from this recipe, and the Orange Lemonade is two parts Orange Peach Mango Juice (Winn Dixie Brand) and one part lemonade (Aldi Brand).  I did alter the Raspberry Lemonade, too though, since I couldn't find frozen.  I used Crystal Light packets and made the lemonade a little more concentrate than usual, then followed the recipe as directed.   Both were yummy!

My mother was a huge lifesaver and made the cake for me!  I actually baked the cake, which I can do, but decorating cakes is so far out of my league.  She saved the day and made this adorable cake for the party.  The topper is from Amazon.

Tomorrow we'll talk about the fabric bunting I made.  You won't believe how easy it was, and what my next bunting project will be!

Many of these ideas were found via Pinterest.  You can see more details (and additional ideas)  on my Pinterest Board.