My daughter wants to have a Dora birthday party this summer. I already bought the Dora cake pan, I figured I can make the Dora cake pan for the guests. I want to do a small cake just for her.( I guess like a smash cake) I do it for every birthday. I usually pay someone to make the cakes but now that I have taken my Wilton classes, I am going to do them. Any ideas for the individual cake for her? Should I do just a cupcake What colors do I use for Dora's skin color? What have you done for a Dora party. Thanks!

For my daughter's Dora party I did a Dora Beach Party theme. I have the cake in my photos. As far as what to do for a small cake for your daughter... sorry but I'm runnin' dry of ideas for that one.

what about making her cake "backpack" ?

We had a Dora party for my daughter's 3rd birthday last year. Instead of using the Dora pan, I made a star cake (since Dora is always catching stars). You could use a mini star pan and make your daughter a personal star smash cake. You can decorate it like one of the star characters on the show.

Or, I typically use a a one-layer 6-inch round for a personal smash cake. You could decorate it with small Dora figurines, or with stars on top, or try one of the frozen buttercream transfers. (I haven't tried that yet, but what to do one soon).

I'm not sure about what to use for the skin tone - maybe a combo of peach & light brown? Do the pan directions suggest how to get the correct color?

Well I did a dora cake last weekend- it was my first FBCT - which was fun to do lol- I just did a scene from one of the stories (beach scene)- but I did the FBCT instead of a 3D as I probably would have done because my 3 yr old niece LOVES jigsaw puzzles and I wanted to make the 'scene' into a jigsaw-

anyway , someone I know (not from CC) who has been planning huge illustrious affairs/birthdays for her kidsover the years told me about a site - I personally would get the Dora ideas from here cause these CC members ROCK totally- creative and aawesome helpful people! But for the rest of the party (like decorating, game ideas and what not, I went and checked out all the posted Dora parties :
http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/dora.html
If you go back to the main pages, you can find /search a zillion other themes.
In case you're looking for the map to print out- it's on the NickJR site in a really obscure place (parent party planning pack- hard to find- took me about 2 hours of clicking on every damned link

have fun and good luck I would imagine by the way that you can either get the exact colours in the store where they sell cake kits- possibly- I know I've seen winnie the pooh and scooby doo colour sets in my store. (or just copy down the colours at the store and mix your own lol

I just did my daughter's 3rd birthday with a Dora theme and her friend's birthday too. I don't know how old your daughter will be, but here's some ideas.

1. For the cake we did a FBCT. I looked up Dora coloring pages and used one for the desing. I used a drop of brown for her skin coloring, and a drop of copper for Boots'. They're in my photos. We also had a cupcake tree.

2. We had a Dora pinata - I bought a round pinata that had a blank side and we attached a Dora mylar balloon.

3. We did a craft project with buttons that were about 4 1/2 inches. They opened up and you can put in whatever picture you want. I copies some pictures from the coloring pages online and let the kids color them. (Boots, Dora, Stars, Princesses, etc.) Then they could put them in the button and have their own. (This went okay, but since we had outside stuff going on, they mainly did that).

4. I read about doing a Dora treasure hunt too -- having the kids go on an explore. They each get a map showing a place to look for something. THey can find little prizes. We thought the kids were too young for this, but it sounded cute.

5. They could also decorate their own cupcakes with Dora stuff (like the little Dora heads they sell at Michaels), and sprinkles, etc. Your daughter could decorate her own smash cake or something like that. Just depends on how messy you want to get!

Anyway, these are just some idea.

HTH -- Sarah

Few more ideas:

http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/dora-the-explorer-cake.html

Hi there,

I don't know if your store has it, but the one I go to (AC MOore) has a box of coloring that goes with the Dora pan. It has all the right colors for skin tone and clothes. Michael's Crafts sells it too I think.

Making Star cupcakes with different color icings may be a cute idea to go along with the pan. You could set up the dora cake in the middle with the stars all around her. That way each of the kids get a "special cake" an the adults get to partake in the big one.

Have a Great Day!
Teresa

I did Dora several years ago - so my memory's a little fuzzy. I didn't use the shaped pan - just cut it out freehand. I picked a picture from a book, one that had Dora kind of looking over her shoulder, so you could see Backpack and Map, too. I remember that I used a yellow fruit roll-up for map, and I used malted milk balls for Dora's eyes. For the skin color, I think I used "copper"?

Why not do "Boots" as the smash cake? Or does your daughter have a favorite character (besides Dora)? Or maybe do regular Dora for the cake and then "princess Dora" for the smash cake.

My cake's a little too big for what you're looking for, but check out the dora cake in my album. I used figurines, but used color flow to make stars and decorations, it turned out pretty good.

Thanks so much! Wonderful help. I will let you know how it goes. It isn't until August 19th, but I should be prepared with your help. Thanks!

We had a Dora party, though it wasn't for a birthday. "Dora" came to a mall nearby, and we took my kids and a friends daughters to see her. They got to pose in a pic with her, they were so excited! Since the friends stayed over night, in the morning we made "Boot's Monkey Bread" (the kids made it with a little supervision). Here's a few other ideas:
*Make the invite look like Map, with directions to your house.
*If you don't already own the Dora CD, get it, and play freeze dancing to it. This is a great game that even toddlers love!! (Plus Dora does it at the end of some of the older episodes while the credits roll.)
*Play a version of pin the tail on the donkey by cutting a backpack shape out of purple felt, and draw a face on white felt w/velcro in it.
*Have kids reach into a backpack and try to identify the items in there just by feeling them. Points for every item they can identify.
* Make a list of riddles and have kids answer them when they arrive, like you are the grumpy old troll. Make sure they are easy enough for the kids, depending on their age!
*Play "Slick Banana", like Hot Potato but with a plastic banana instead.
*Enlarge a coloring sheet of Dora's face on heavy cardboard and cut out the eyes. Let kids color them and wear them as a mask.

If the kids are 3yo or younger, I'd just pick ONE of these games! As much as I LOVE to plan parties, I've learned the hard way that the little ones don't have the attention span for structured games. They just want to play, eat cake and open presents.

Dora is big in my house.

I've done one for a client/friend a few months ago - it was a topsy turvy cake...maybe bigger than you are looking for - but you may like the color combo. For a personal little smash cake I love the little star idea...or even the backpack.

The treasure hunt idea is great too. We've done one for 3 years in a row and the kids look forward to that the most. I give them the first which leads them to the next location, and so on. I got a treasure chest from the card store and filled it with goodies....they love it.

Here's the cake if you are looking for other ideas.

I've also done another for my dd's 3rd birthday - but it had a mixed theme with Strawberry Shortcake and Spongebob...so I don't think that one will help you.

Good Luck.


sorry - I posted the wrong pic first, here is the correct one.

Wow, what great ideas! I especially love the two new links for cake ideas. Thanks!

I love the idea of making backpack for her and the Dora cake as the main cake. I bought the Dora coloring set for my Dora cake.... and it worked GREAT.

I just did a Dora party for my DD 3rd b-day. I did a Dora cake (in my photos) for the family party, and backpack (also in my photos) for her playgroup party. I also did star cookies, and filled the goody bags with stuff from Orientaltrading.com. I tried to go with the treasure theme (telescope, mini maraca, gold plastic coins, pinwheel, compass, Dora fruit snacks, etc.) I also did Jell-O jigglers in star shapes. That was the biggest hit of the party.

Coloring pages are a great addition to a birthday party, not to mention cheap, you can either give it to the "guests" to take them home or simply have them draw them in a "break time". I found some really cool ones on this site called supercoloring, they have hundreds of them, so if you have other themed parties you'll most likely find what you need there. Here's their Dora the Explorer coloring pages. Have fun