Sneak Peek at the Dora Birthday Goodie Bag

Ever since my first son's 4th birthday party I have been making his birthday goodie bags.  The first year it was very simple: Spiderman with red felt on one side and blue felt on the other side.  One side had a large spider painted on it and the other side had a spider web and a smaller spider painted on it.  Other felt goodie bags have been soccer, mini golf, Elmo, and Pokemon.  Then I made a felt and fabric combo to create a tiger in the forest.  The tiger was his first webkinz, and it was a webkinz themed party.  After that I just made fabric goodie bags.  He was to old for the cutesy themes.  Now it is my youngest son's turn.  He is turning 4 next month.  He isn't having a big party with lots of friends like my oldest son did for his 4th birthday.  His birthday is during Spring Break, and we are going to celebrate at my parents' house.  So I only needed to make one goodie bag (unlike the 8 to 30 that I have had to make my older son in the past  (Yes 30, for his whole class plus a few other friends).  Anyway, he wants a Dora themed party, so here is his Dora goodie bag.... Well, it is almost a bag.  The paint is drying right now (puffy paint).  I'll sew it tomorrow, I hope.  Sometimes they take a couple of days to dry.  The felt is eco-fi felt, made from recycled plastic bottles.  I also bought some Dora felt stickers to add to it.  He picked out a ribbon with popsicles on it for the handle.  I am going to cherish this quick little goodie bag, because it will probably be the only time that I will be making only one for him.  Also this will be his first real party, so it makes it even more special.

In the past I would start making 8 or more of these 1 to 3 months before the party.  It doesn't actually take that long to make them.  I just like to be able to take my time when making them.  However it is good to start making them at least 1 to 2 weeks before the party, because the paint needs time to dry.

I am also video taping myself making it.  The 2 year anniversary of my local access t.v. show is coming up, and I would like to have a birthday themed episode to celebrate it.