Olympic Party -1yr- Family Against Family

We had an Olympic Birthday party for my one year old son.  Since so many of the kids coming to the party were in the 4-10 year old range (cousins and siblings), I decided I needed to do something that would keep everyone involved. 

First I mailed invitations to each family "requesting the honor of their participation in the First Annual Birthday Olympics".  Times of the party were indicated by the time of the "opening" and "closing" ceremonies.  Each family responded with the name of the country they would be representing.  As hosts of the Olympics, we represented the USA so we could do all the decorations in red, white and blue. 

The opening ceremonies had the children walking into the back yard carrying a huge Olympic Flag to the John Williams Olympic Fanfare song (its the one all the TV stations play when talking about the Olympics).  I made the flag from an old white sheet that I attached cardboard rings(in the 5 Olympic colors)to make the Olympic Symbol.  Once the flag was in, the kids ran back to the front of the house and each family of siblings walked in with a sign stating the country they were representing.  Some families even dressed up for their parts. 

Next came the Official Events.  First there was horseback riding.  With the dads down on hands and knees, the kids all got on their dad's backs and raced down to the finish line (trying not to fall off).  I don't know who had more fun, the kids or the dads.  Then we had the fencing competition with a big blow-up bat.    Then we had shot-put the kids used croquet balls and the dads used a bowling ball.  Then we had a water relay game with the moms against the kids to see who could fill up their bucket the quickest (the kids had bigger cups of course). 

Next came the discus (Frisbee) but the best competition had to be the weightlifting category.  I had taken empty milk jugs of various sizes and filled them with differing amounts of water depending on the age of the kids.  Then I attached a jug (same weight) to both ends of a study pole and let the kids try, in increasing order of weight, to lift them over their heads.  We never kept track of scores and the kids absolutely loved it , eagerly wanting to know "what category came next."  

Next we ate and had cake.  The cake was just a regular cake with red, white and blue sprinkles around the sides and then I made the Olympic Flag Symbol (Five Rings) on top with the correct colored jellybeans.  I also made twelve miniature country flags to stick in down the sides of the cake. 

Presents were opened next and finally the closing ceremonies had each child receiving their gold medal and their goodie bags which consisted of patriotic tattoos, pencils, airplanes etc.  The possibilities are endless for the competition categories.  We never got to the long jump or the mini-triathlon but you see what I mean. 

The thank you cards had the Official Birthday Olympics Committee personally thanking each country for their participation and the gifts bestowed upon them during the Games.  It was a great day.