Dora the Explorer Birthday

Sami's 2nd cumpleaños was celebrated with a Dora the Explore theme. 

the invitation

I just LOVE this invitation, made by Tiny Prints.

the cake 

Technically, the cupcakes.  It's made from 23 cupcakes (not sure how that 24th went missing *wink).  I LOVE cupcake cakes!  There's no cutting involved and they're so much easier to eat.

Tutorial on making this cake.

the decorations

Lots of pink, yellow and orange were used, as these are the colors of Dora's outfit.  I bought wall scene setters from Party City.  Got some gold star balloons from a local party store and added faces to resemble the estrallas on Dora the Explorer.

The food table added it's own touch to the decorations.

the food

Guests enjoyed a 7 Layer Mexican Dip, Cheese Quesadillas, Mini Beef Tacos, Chicken & Cheese Taquitos, Tortilla Chips (with an assortment of dips), Sweet Tacos (with vanilla yogurt, strawberries, bananas and granola for fillers), Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Tortilla Chips, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Fruit Kabobs and Jello Margaritas.   

To make the Jello Margaritas, I prepared lime jello, and poured it into plastic margarita glasses.  Once firm, I dipped the rim into coarse sugar and added a lime fruit slice to the edge.

the favors

 Each child had a placemat with their name and a photo of Dora on it.  I printed them onto cardstock then covered them in laminate purchased at my local office supply store.

They also got a "backpack" filled with Dora the Explorer goodies.  Rings, candy, toys.  And they each received a maraca.  Each bag also contained a personalized cookie.

I made and frosted sugar cookies then placed edible images on top.  The images were purchased from ediblecakeimages on eBay.

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Dora the Explorer Cake Tutorial

I drawing an idea of how I wanted the cake to look, I layed out the cupcakes.  I marked each with a colored toothpick to indicate where the "grass", "river" and "road" would go.

First I frosted the "river" in white, later I sprayed it with Wilton Color Mist.  I then began laying out the "grass" sections.  Note how I blended them together on top.

Then built the "road", since it was in the center, so I could build outward and avoid messing up the frosting.  I coated the "road" in brown sugar to give it a dirt look.

 I then added the remaining "grass" areas.

 I made a little bridge out of fondant to cross the "river".  I cut a piece of cardboard to the size I wanted, rolled it until it held the curved shape then topped it with fondant "boards".  I placed that across the river and then used the Wilton Grass Tip to pipe frosting into the spaces where the frosting wasn't blended.

Little "bushes" were added here and there.  Then I started placing figurines.

The final product.  The "SAMI" stars are made of fondant.  The rocks are candy, as are the little flowers placed around in the grass.

Back to Dora the Explorer Birthday.