Dora the Explorer Party: Favors

March 30, 2011 • 9 Comments

For the kid’s 1st birthday party, I knew I needed to give out favors to the dozen kids that we invited, but we were broke, so I had to get creative.  I googled “jungle theme favors” over 112 times and decided to make rain sticks out of rice and paper towel rolls and drums out of painted formula cans.  Genius, right?  WRONG.  It was a horrible mess.  The “drums” were peeling paint before I even packed them up and my dad and cousin were punching holes in paper towel rolls up until the party started.  It was a mess.

So, this year when I told Matt I was going to make the kids Backpacks for Allison’s party?  Let’s just say I see that look quite often.  You know the one.  The “you’re absolutely nuts but I’m not going to get involved” look.

But this time was different.This time they turned out.

Want to make one for your little Dora addict?  Here’s how.

Tools:

1/2 yd purple felt (I was able to get 3 backpacks out of 1/2 yd)

1 sheet red felt

1 sheet white felt

1 sheet yellow felt

Backpack template

measuring tape

scissors

thread

glue

ink pen

black sharpie

1.  First cut out all your pieces.  (All dimensions in inches.  Because I’m in America, dammit.)

      2 – 11.5 x 11.5

      2 – 1.5 x 16

      1 –  3 x 11.5

      Backpack’s face

2.  Then assemble by lining up the edge of the straps to the edge of one the large felt squares.  It doesn’t have to be perfect.  Felt is very forgiving.  And they are kid’s backpacks.  Are they going to criticize??

3.  Sandwich the straps with the rectangle piece of felt and stitch together the top edge to make Backpack’s back.  I used a loose zigzag just to add some extra stability.  Because I’ve seen my kid with toys and frankly it’s a little disturbing.

4.  Placing right sides together, stitch the other felt square to the back piece on the remaining three sides.  (Don’t forget to pin the bottom of the straps in place to keep them from going all crazy crooked.)  Turn Backpack right side out.  Sorry there’s no picture of this, but when I try to take photos of items in my sewing machine, they always turn out horrible.  And kinda creepy.  In an Unsolved Mysteries kinda way.

6.  Apply Backpack’s face with glue.  Eyebrows on the flap and face below.  I used Elmer’s glue for this and frankly it didn’t hold very well, so maybe fabric glue would be better.  And I was thinking that the pupils would be really cute with buttons.  But I stopped while I was ahead and used a sharpie.

7.  Lastly, round the edges of the flap for that signature “Backpack” look.  I actually folded the bag in half and cut both sides at the same time to make it a little more symmetrical.  Because asymmetry makes my OCD a little crazy.

That’s it.  A project even I can’t screw up. 

Then stuff to your heart’s content!  I just went to Party City and bought Dora puzzles, notepads, and stickers and printed out some coloring pages from nickjr.com.  But honestly, the kids loved the backpacks much more than what was inside them. 

The kicker: The entire thing cost me about $3 for 5 Backpacks* (+ backpack contents).

*I made two more Backpack’s for my older nephews in dark blue (to be more masculine, of course) and just increased the dimensions of the squares to 13 x 13, the rectangle to 3.5 x 13, and the strap length to 2 x 18 inches.

Dora the Explorer Party: Invitations

I’m one of those crazy people who would rather spend 4 hours trying to mail merge her address book into labels rather than take an hour to hand address envelopes.

So, it should come as no surprise that I hate filling in pre-made invitations. 

Besides, I like to pretend I’m all Martha-esque and make my own invites.  Because beautiful invitations set the stage for the tone of the party.  At least that’s what I think Martha would say. 

These Dora the Explorer invitation cards really only took a few hours to put together.  Assuming you know what you’re doing.  And because I like you, I’m going to provide a tutorial. 

This just saved you like 6 hours of your life. 

You’re welcome.

Tools:
White 8.5 x 11 cardstock 
Purple (or color of your choice) 8.5 x 11 cardstock
Digital Image (this one is courtesy of Google Images)
Computer with Microsoft Word
Color printer
Glue stick
Paper cutter (this will save your sanity)

1.  Set up your MS Word document with the following formatting: landscape, 3 (3 inch) columns, 0.5 inch margins all the way around (including between columns), text (centered).

2.  Add your text to the top of each column.  I used 18pt as the top line and 14pt on the next line.  I’m lazy, so I just copied and pasted it in each column.  Because typing 26 more words is just too much work for me.  

(And if you were wondering how I got the accent above the A?  Hold down the alt key and type 0225.  That will type an accented lowercase A.)

3.  Copy and paste your image below the text.

4.  Add a text box below the image and to add background color go to Format → Text Box → Fill → Color and select the color of choice.

5.  Type your party details in the colored text box.  I used 18pt for her name for emphasis and 12pt for the what, when, and where.  More copy/paste…

6.  Below the text box put your RSVP information (10pt).  And of course, copy/paste.

7.  You might have to tweak the spacing to make sure it all fits and looks proportionate.  If anyone knows how to upload a Microsoft Word doc, I’d be happy to post the printable, but Google Docs kept ditching the formatting.

8.  Print out as many invitations as needed, remembering that you’ll get 3 out of each sheet.

9.  Use a paper cutter to cut background cardstock into three equal pieces.  Making sure they will fit in a normal legal sized envelope…

10.  Cut and trim the invite cards so that there is roughly an even amount of background card visible.  

11.  Glue the invite card to the background cards.

12.  Stuff envelopes and mail!  If you are really an aspiring Martha, you can also use this fantastic tutorial on how to line an envelope with pretty paper to make it all fancy like.  But I’m not that ambitious.

And of course, this type of invitation could be adapted to virtually any party theme and embellished in a variety of ways.  The best part?  It fits into a regular, easy to find envelope.  I’ve got a harrowing story about trying to find 5 x 7 envelopes…  But I’ll save that for another day.

Flip Book: Peek-a-Boo

 

1 million 51 thousand 200 minutes

Two years ago, at 4 in the morning, my water broke.  6 1/2 weeks early.  Barely 4 hours later, at 7:49am, little Allison Grace was born a tiny 4lbs 2oz.

But she was tough.  Everyday she spent in the NICU she grew stronger.  And 12 days later, we brought her home.

And we couldn’t imagine our lives without her.

Say Cheese!

I haven't been great about posting lately, but we have been pretty busy, so I'll try to catch you up on the high points...  (Otherwise known as what I can remember.  Which will probably only cover the last week or so.)

Starting with my exciting new purchase!  I have been lusting after a new lens for my camera since, well, since I bought it.  Because, let's be real, the kit lens sucks.  And in my house?  It sucks even more.  Because we live in a black hole that never sees the natural light of day.  And now that I'm working, and I don't get home until it's practically dark, I'm pretty much screwed if I want to take a photo after 6 o'clock. 

Enter the 50mm f/1.8 lens... It's not a top-of-the-line piece of glass, but it's definitely an upgrade.  And with my budget, it will suffice.  Check out that depth of field.  It makes my heart go pitter-patter.  I've been having a lot of fun taking photos the last week.  And while it's still tough to shoot upstairs at night, it's an improvement. 

Allison is getting smarter every day.  Today I asked her to get me a soda out of the mini fridge and after some detailed instructions (specifically, "open the fridge like I tell you not to do."), she got me not only me one, but Matt, too.  She didn't want Daddy left out...  She's also started saying, "CHEESE!" instead of running away (or towards) me when I'm holding the camera.

This?  Yeah, there was an old-fashioned bird brawl in our back yard.  And there are feathers all over.  We thought it was weird, so I took a picture.

Playing video games with Daddy.  I attempted to take some other cool shots, but most of them were just off a little.  But that's what happens when you are shooting a moving target with a fixed focal length lens.

This is an ugly fruit.  If you can find one, buy it.  I'm working on my food photography for my other blog, but I still have a ways to go.  Perhaps more lighting would help? 

We bought a Gymboree Groupon awhile back and finally made it to our first class last Sunday.  She was very apprehensive at first, but towards the end of the class was having a blast.  I have to admit that the place is great.  I'm just not sure if it's $70/month great.

We've been lucky enough to have some nice weather in February, too.  We had a breakfast picnic at Carondelet Park one such Sunday morning.

And of course, there were birthdays!  We only made it to Claire's party since we were all hit with a cold in the middle of February (and incidentally are now sick again) and had to miss Shelby's party.  This isn't a great picture, but I wanted to share this idea.  My cousin had rented a room to throw the party and without any toys to entertain the kids, she decided to provide this cheap and easy entertainment for them.  It was a HUGE hit!

And that's where my memory ends.  So, hopefully I will have lots more pics to post from now on! 

Flip Book: Swinging