To help celebrate Dora's BIG Birthday Adventure during August and September we have put together our very own Dora Birthday Party to offer you inspiration.  

We stylised our party around the Pink Dora Personalised Party Banner and coordinated our table to suit.

Our Dora the Explorer Birthday Cake icing are so simple to use.  Easily peel them off their packing paper and lay on top of your cake.  Use your thumbs to gently push out any air bubbles and finally to hide the edges decorate them either with some piped icing or confectionary and Wah-La a beautiful Dora the Explorer Birthday Cake starring your child!  What little birthday person wouldn't love being on their very own birthday cake with Dora the Explorer?

In the image below is our Photo Enlargement Keepsake that we popped in a crisp white frame.  They look wonderful  hanging in a little girls  bedroom or resting on a dressing table.

Have you seen our scrumptious personalised lollipops?  Perfect as little take home gifts for all your guests. The small ones are flavoured strawberries and cream whilst the medium lollipops can be made in almost any coloured candy to coordinate with your occasion, we even have a variety of different flavours to choose from and each one is hand made the old fashioned candy way!

How cute are the Dora the Explorer Party Box Gift Cards?  Using a pretty pink ribbon we have attached them to our Party Boxes and then filled with coloured treats to compliment our party.

No birthday is a party without presents! Our personalised canvas range and pretty personalised mugs make a gift that will go on reminding long after your party....

I've known of a few small children that have a fear of monsters, fear of the dark, or fear of aliens which results in them waking in the middle of the night and running to mummy and daddies bedroom. Being scared of the dark, or having a child who has nightmares or night terrors when they are young is nothing unusual.  We have one of them!

Before we had children I remember staying at a friends house who had a beautiful little girl who was known for waking up in the middle or the night screaming and crying, it was really heartbreaking watching and listening to her and trying to settle her back to sleep as her fear was very real.

One night I gathered together some glitter and sparkly table scatters and told her it was magic fairy dust.  We sprinkled it around her bedroom whilst doing the secret magic fairy dance and singing the secret magic fairy song.

I told her that we only needed to do this once, that it was very magic fairy dust and even if we couldn't see it after a few days (when mum vaccumed it all up) that it would work forever and protect her from any monsters lurking about.  (Of course we had tried telling her that there was no such thing as monsters but since this didn't work I used the "if you can't beat them - join them" theory)

She went to sleep that night with a big smile on her face.  I tucked her in and told her to dream of all things fairies and magical. 

The next morning to our surprise she had slept through the night and came rushing in to tell me that she dreamt of fairies, bunny rabbits and a beautiful meadow.

Years later we have a little boy and although he doesn't wake up crying or screaming in the middle of the night, he does wake and ends up in our bed more often than not.  

Today I found some cute decorative star lights.. magical monster AND alien repelling star lights!  I have strung them across the window (the only way they can sneak into his bedroom) and the lights are there to warn off any monsters or aliens that try to enter.  The soft light is soft enough to leave on all night as a night light.  

Fingers crossed they work - (but if not it was a great excuse to buy them....aren't they cute?)

Well little Dance was beaten at the ORIA awards by appliancesonline.com.au - we are still thrilled to have made the finals and think its wonderful that a small business on a beer budget can swoon with the high rollers on champagne budgets. Congratulations to those winning their categories... now I'm off to kick my washing machine *chuckle*

We had a milestone in our family last month and it was my job to organise something special for his 40th! What to do for a male who has almost everything for his 40th?  I was stuck for ideas!

A friend and I put on our secret thinking caps and came up with the idea of a "Micro Brewery" Tour. What bloke wouldn't love a day of beer drinking with his mates?

We found Scruffy Bunch Tours and started the ball  rolling.  

The morning of our surprise tour I asked "the birthday boy"  to drop his kids off to their friends house bright and early.  Whilst he was out of the house I had organised his friends to arrive. He got such a surprise when he returned to realise the house was full of his mates at 9am. Saying that he still had no idea of what was happening!

Scruffy Bunch Tours turned up on time to collect us in a  their Mercedes Bus and we headed to the Yarra Valley to start our day of sampling ales.  The "Birthday Boy" still had no idea what was planned for the day and was being heckled by his friends that he was going sky diving in the Yarra Valley and they were along to watch.  

For the few weeks leading up to his birthday I would deliberately leave my computer monitor on - open to a site advertising adventure sports.  One night it may be shark diving, the next night sky diving, then bungy jumping... you get the picture? So when his mates were threatening to throw him out of a plane it was rather amusing watching his body language and expressions on his face.

Our first stop was at the small yet impressive Buckley's Beers.  (We told the "Birthday Boy" that  he needed some dutch courage for his jump and were stopping for a quick drink).  Buckley's Beers are made and bottled entirely by hand and are the product of a craft brewing process in which traditional methods, meet an environmentally friendly approach to brewing. We enjoyed  a small guided tour of the microbrewery, an explanation of the ingredients used in beer making, a lesson on how beer is made and a tutored tasting of the entire Buckley‛s range.

We grabbed a few keepsakes and jumped on the bus and headed to Coldstream Brewery. (By this time I gave in and told him the plan for the day so that he could enjoy the day rather than anticipate an "extreme sport")

The Coldstream Brewery is a fantastic microbrewery and restaurant located right in the heart of the Yarra Valley! We enjoyed a tasting of their fantastic range of  beers (which included even a chocolate beer) and then sat back and enjoyed a mouth watering lunch in the brewery restaurant. (I highly recommend the pork cutlet!!)  (Mental note - this would be an ideal place to take any dad on fathers day!)

Finally after lunch and feeling rather cheery we climbed back onto the bus for our final stop for the day - White Rabbit.  

White Rabbit beers are brewed using only the finest ingredients and are made to exacting standards. Quality beers are the result!  Opposite White Rabbit sits the "Innocent Bystander"  which was rather packed for a Saturday afternoon but the atmosphere (and beverages) were still enjoyed by all.

Late in the afternoon our chauffeur "Brenton" from Scruffy Bunch Tours rounded us up and coaxed us back onto the bus for a cheery (and rather jovial) bus drive home.   I'd also recommend Brenton for his jovial personality and wit and also for his capable driving (especially on the return trip)!

All in all the day ended successfully... full of great beers, great company and great food. Would we do it again?  Most definately and perhaps next time sample the Winery Tour! - perhaps a girls day out?

For the first time in Australia, the who’s who of the e-retail industry will converge for one spectacular night as the Online Retail Industry Awards (ORIAs) capture centre stage in Sydney on Thursday 8 July, later this year. 

Billed as "The night of nights for the nations best online retailers" The Online Retail Industry Awards was launched to recognise and reward deserving excellence in e-commerce.

Little Dance will be in the company of some of Australias online retail powerhouses including Deals Direct, Dominos, Red Balloon, Sportsgirl, City Beach, The ABC Shop, Clive Peeters and more! 

We are absolutely thrilled (and somewhat honoured) to be a finalist in the following category

1. Best Pure-Play Online Retailer

This category is open to new and established pure-play online retailers without a physical store, who demonstrate best practice in merchandising, service, functionality and customer experience. Judging will be based not on overall size but on efficiency, ingenuity, dedication to customer experience and return on investment -source http://www.onlineretailer.net

Little Dance Invitations will go head to head with three very impressive online retail presences - we are VERY excited!

The judges for this event include these representatives from the following organisations:

Chair: Andy Powell, Director of Multichannel, Deloitte

John Debrincat, CEO, eCorner

Chris Hitchen, CEO, GetPrice.com.au

Robert Kinkade, Senior Manager, Accenture

Paul Marshall, CEO, Salmat DigitalForce

Ross McDonald, Head of Retail and Consumer Goods, Google Australia & New Zealand

Martin Newman, DIrector, Leading E-Commerce

Steven Noble, Senior Analyst, Forrester

To be singled out as a finalist by these very experienced net citzens is in our opinion an award in itself!!!

http://www.onlineretailer.net/events/oria10