Whether you are cheering for your favorite decathlete, waiting for Bela Karolyi to raise Kerry Strug to new heights, or marveling at the teeny splashes generated by the best Olympic divers, the Summer Olympics can provide a foundation for some terrific entertaining ideas. This series of articles will introduce several variations on the Olympic party – some events are appropriate for adults and others work best for a children’s party. The key to all of these Olympic Party suggestions is to seamlessly weave the Olympic ideals, the sporting events and the trademarked Olympic rings throughout the celebration.
Children’s Olympic Themed Birthday Party
Concept
Host a children’s birthday party that enables the kids to compete in kid-friendly versions of some of the more well-known Olympic events.
Invitations
- To set the mood for this party, you will want to create an exciting first look. The invitation could be something as simple as a glossy photo of Jackie Joyner-Kersee or Flo Jo crossing the finish line in victory, with the party details added in a Black Sharpie.
- Conversely, you could create faux Olympic medals out of tagboard and ribbon. Spray paint the medals with gold metallic paint, and then use a fine Black Sharpie to add in the party details.
- One additional invitation idea would involve creating a multimedia invite. Use software like Microsoft Powerpoint to create slides of Olympic highlights – Mark Spitz’s seven gold medals, Kerry Strug’s triumphant vault, the race collision between Zola Budd and Mary Decker in the 3000m finals. Add captions similar to the old Wide World of Sports introduction --- “spanning the globe to bring you the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat…” The final slide would include the invitation to the Olympic Celebration Party, and would include all the details of the party. This Powerpoint presentation could be emailed to the guests or downloaded onto CDs and mailed to the guests. Children love to receive non-traditional invitations, and interactive ones that include and engage them set the stage even better!
- Be sure to request a RSVP date that is at least four days prior to the party. Since you will be creating events and Olympic medals, it is imperative that you have enough lead time to finish the preparations. Once the RSVPs come in, you will want to look at your guest list and begin to create viable teams. Although best friends may want to compete on the same team, it is in your best interest to spread the athletic ability evenly amongst the teams you create. This single action will create a more exciting event, since one team won’t be “the ringers” that win everything!
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