Dora plus Chuck E Cheese equal...

...one happy birthday girl!

(Well she liked the place, not so much the big giant mouse)

A few days prior to Carlee's 3rd birthday party, we had decided to move the party to Chuck E Cheese because we weren't sure what the weather was going to be like. I was bummed because we had planned to have a little Dora party at the house with a jumper. But if it was to rain, it wouldn't be much of a party so I went ahead and booked Chuck E Cheese.

The morning of the party was beautiful and sunny, but it had rained the night before so I was still happy we made the decision to have the party inside. And after having a party at Chuck E Cheese, I would definitely do it again. We had a great experience. I just kept envisioning a bunch of screaming kids running around. But we were fortunate to be the only party at that time slot, so we had the whole room to ourselves. There weren't many other people at Chuck E Cheese during that time either. We also had a "party hostess" that did everything for us and was on top of everything. She really made an effort to make sure we didn't have to do much.

Carlee was kind of overwhelmed by the day. She was bouncing off the walls the morning before her party, so by the time we got to Chuck E Cheese she was a little tired. Then throw in the bright lights, giant animals singing on stage, a ton of games and she's not sure what to make of it. But overall she had fun and definitely like the part of eating cupcakes and opening presents.

Still stuck with the Dora theme...

I think this face explains it all.

Cupcakes that Grandma made.

Goody bags.

I had glued the little faces on to resemble Dora's backpack. I thought they looked kind of ghetto but when Carlee saw it she said "Backpack!" So I guess they serve their purpose.

Another tired/ overwhelmed expression.

Chuck E.

Blowing out her candles (sorry its out of focus).

Definitely enjoyed licking the frosting!

The only picture I got of her opening her gifts. Its hard to take pictures and help her read the cards and stop the kids from digging into every present.

The nice thing about the party was that it was over in 2 hours which I felt was just the right amount of time. We also didn't have to clean up a thing! That was probably the highlight of the day. We just got to leave and go home to nap.

Hope you had a great 3rd birthday, Carlee!