Olympics Birthday Party for Kids
My Mom Friend Nathalie is my guest author with ideas on how to throw a great Olympics party for kids. Use these ideas for a birthday party, a half-birthday party, or just as a way to experience the Olympics as a great play date!
————————
Olympics Games Party Theme for Kids
What better way than the Olympics to inspire your kids to be active this summer? Throwing an Olympic-themed party is a perfect way to get your kids and their friends outside for an ideal combination of play, education, and celebration.
Perfect for ages 6 and up, the Olympics is a fun theme for a summer birthday boy or girl. They will feel like gold knowing that their friends had so much fun celebrating this special day at an exciting time of year.
As ring-leader, it’s up to you how rounded-out the Olympic theme is. An easy decorating idea is to use blue, green, yellow, red and black balloons or streamers — the colors of the Olympic rings — to keep the party on-theme.
With appropriate themed activities and snacks, you can educate and promote healthy and active lifestyles for your future Olympians a as well. I’ve included some easy-to-prepare snacks and tidbits that fit the Olympic theme perfectly.
From invitation to closing ceremony, your party guests will feel like gold medalists with this Olympic themed party. Rainy day? These ideas can also be altered to indoor play and keep the spirit of the Olympic torch bright even inside! Make sure you have your camera ready so you can capture highlights.
Olympics Themed Invitations
Set the Olympic precedence early by sending themed invitations to guests. Challenge guests to bring their best Olympic spirit – and cameras for the parents – to the party along with their game faces!
Instead of “start” and “end” times, use “Opening Ceremonies” and “Closing Ceremonies”. Encourage “participants” to dress casually in sports gear and sneakers so they know they’ll be in for an exciting and active time.
Here’s an example we love:
Welcome to ___________’s Olympic Village
Flags From Around The World
- Learning about the facts and flags of competing nations is a great way for the little Olympians to learn about other countries.
- Line or chalk your driveway with flags and Olympic imagery such as the iconic rings, medals, and torches.
- Set up a table for Olympian check-ins; have guests pick out of a bowl what country they will represent for the day. This will ensure fairness and no hurt feelings!
- Create “flag badges” by printing several countries’ flags and writing the name of the country with a fun/wacky fact about the country on the other side (ie: April Fool’s Day originated in France).
- If you are celebrating a birthday, the boy or girl can represent the home country (USA).
- These flag badges can be worn by the Olympians for the duration of the party when pinned to their shirts.
Party Favors
Create personalized water bottles and sweat towels that can be used throughout the day and taken home later as party favors. Reusable water bottles can be purchased at your local craft store and towels can be decorated by hand. As an activity, let the kids decorate their water bottles with Sharpies or stickers. You can use fabric markers for the towels.
Start the Games off Right
Play some marching music and announce the Olympians one-by-one. Have them each take a turn carrying the Olympic Torch by marching around the group as a proud athlete. You can even create a fun Olympic torch like this using a construction paper, glue and colored tissue paper.
When they’re done, have Olympians tell everyone the fun fact about their country on the back of the note card. Have the hosting boy or girl lead a parade of Olympians around the yard and scope out the day’s events.
Let the Competition Begin!
Put a spin or two on traditional events to even out the playing field. Sack races, hula hoop hurdles and skipping contests are fun and easy for individual events. For group events, relay races, group jump rope contests and 3-legged races are fun ways to practice teamwork.
If outdoors, a water balloon toss or set of slip ‘n’ slides for racing is a fun way to stay active and cool. If you are lucky enough to have a pool, challenge the kids who are strong swimmers to race one length.
As the ring-leader, wear a whistle around your neck and carry a clipboard to keep score of the day’s events, even though everyone is a winner in the end! You can add points for things like good sportsmanship, teamwork, and even the most spirited challenger!
Rehydrate and reenergize your Olympians by providing them with the nutrients they need after competing!
Stock a snack bar with Gatorade, water, fruits & vegetables, protein (cheese, milk), and carbohydrates (granola bars). Explain the importance of these snacks as they replenish bodies with nutrients and help build strong bones that the kids would need to one day really compete in the Olympics!
As a main course, pizza is always a crowd pleaser – and 5 of them and stack to make a perfect set of Olympic rings! You can also form creative shapes with fruit, snack bars, and cheese.
If you are celebrating a birthday, start the awards ceremony by singing Happy Birthday to the Olympian of the day!
Bake cupcakes and have the kids frost them – if you are indoors, you can even play the actual Games on a TV in the background. Otherwise, put on some fun kid music to keep the spirit alive.
Remember, everyone is a gold medalist at these Olympic Games! Call Olympians up to a podium (a decorated step stool) one-by-one to award them with a medal you’ve purchased.
Send Olympians home with medals they will love – cookies! Wrap homemade cookies (m&m cookies to sport the Olympic colors) in gold foil, secure and super glue ribbon to the back to make the necklace. This is a great rainy day preparation activity for your son or daughter to help with. Remind the kids to take home their water bottles and sweat towels too!
This is also a good opportunity to give the kids some fun facts about the Olympics host country, including things that pertain to the culture and people there.
There are so many fun ways to incorporate the Olympic theme into a party. The best part is that it serves as a great educational opportunity in geography, history, and personal wellness.
Collect photos from all of the events that you took, and ask other parents to send you theirs as well. Create a memorable photo album for your family and friends to reminisce and remember your own version of the Summer Games. Woven, a free photo viewing app, will let you upload your photos from the celebration, as well as photos from other past memories, all into one place on any mobile device. It can pull photos from Facebook, Instagram, Picasa, Shutterfly and even your favorite device itself into an organized series of albums, so you can spend your time outside making more summer memories, instead of inside finding and sorting through photos.
To learn more about Woven, watch the video.
This is a sponsored post.
To examine any of the items listed, please click on image of item. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN’S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 is a book that I created to highlight books written by authors who share the same marginalized identity as the characters in their books.
Very cute–I love all the great ideas, especially the torch. How fun!
Hi Asian Mommy,
Thanks so much! An Olympics party might be a fun way to end the summer and have kids reconnect in time for school. I am thinking about that myself…
Neat idea! Love that it encourages health and fitness, Love opening and closing ceremonies : )
Hi Ann,
I also want to say that you can pick and choose activities if you wanted to throw a party, either for a birthday or a special play date. I am thinking of doing one at the end of summer to reconnect all my kids with their friends who were out of town most of the summer.