USA! USA! USA!
I always look forward to the Olympics and the excitement has been building for quite some time in my house as the 2018 Winter Olympics approached. This year, I decided to throw an Olympic Party for the opening ceremony and host my own game competitions and award medals. I asked friends and family that were invited to wear red, white and blue to get into the theme. I decorated with Olympic-themed decorations as well as other “America” decorations I pulled from my July 4th box in the basement. I have tons of American flags and placed those in vases, pots and arrangements around the house.
My goal was to have fun but not break the bank…so Dollar Tree became my favorite go-to for the party supplies.
The Olympic Cauldron was made from a candlestick, plastic planter, tissue paper and battery operated tealights–all from Dollar Tree.
Here’s a photo of the materials used to make the cauldron. I used E6000 to glue the planter to the glass candle holder. A few coats of black paint once the glue dried was all that was needed.
My Olympic Rings were simply Dollar Tree foam wreaths spray painted. (Note: Traditional styrofoam cannot be spray painted. The spray paint will eat away at the styrofoam.) Honestly, purchasing the spray paint was one of the most expensive materials. I did not have green or yellow spray paint in my stash so I had to splurge and buy them.
After painting the wreaths, I glued them together with hot glue. I added two rings (for hanging) to the top of the Olympic Rings because I had planned to hang them. Afterward, I decided to not hang them but to put them on the table as part of the decorations and then move them to the living room while we were playing our games.
I took the easy way out and ordered pizza for dinner. I was feeding a bunch of teenagers and pizza always seems to go over well. For the snacks, I purchased $1 plastic trays at the Dollar Tree and placed colored snacks in a ring pattern to mimic the Olympic Rings. All of the blue candy came from Party City. Cheese and crackers were representative of the yellow ring. Oreos have actually came out with a Limited Edition Team USA package with the American flag and other winter olympic figures on them…very cute! Strawberries and green vegetables round out my Olympic Ring trays. These were very simple but offered a variety of snacks for the guests.
Kaytlen brought this Olympic Ring dessert made out of Rice Krispy Treats and M&M’s. It totally went with the theme and tasted delicious.
It wouldn’t be the Olympics without the games! Britni from Play.Party.Plan. took the time to organize some awesome games with Winter Olympic themes here. Why reinvent the wheel? I took her ideas and made them my own for some super-fun games. We played snowboarding, ski jumping, hockey and speed skating. I also started off the party by making my own game of Headbanz by writing Olympic-themed words on index cards. We played boys vs. girls. Of course, the girls won. Some of the words I used were: mascot, Tara Lipinski, skeleton, zamboni, figure skating, national anthem, rings, snow, gold, silver, bronze, flame, Olympic Village, snowboard, luge, France, Greece, USA, hockey puck, cold, 2018, penalty box, speed skating, slopes, bobsled, Pyeongchang, Miracle on Ice, curling, etc.
Below is a photo of Mary and Trevor going head-to-head in curling. Britni had suggested using bracelets. I found a six pack of glow bracelets at Dollar Tree and used them. Who knew teenagers would get so excited over a pack of glow sticks? They loved them.
We played hockey by using oversized checker pieces as the pucks and chopsticks for the stick. Players had to put the chopstick in their mouth and push the checker piece into a kleenex box taped to the table. This photo of Kaytlen and Pop playing was taken right before Pop cheated and was penalized.
The medal ceremony was more of a participation ceremony because everyone went home with a medal. I did keep score and the bronze, silver and gold medalists were acknowledged. Here’s a photo of everyone during our closing ceremony. (We also had an impromptu interview with one of the medalists using a candle as a microphone. That was fun.)
This was one of the easiest parties I have hosted but definitely one of the most fun! If you’re looking for some good family fun, pull a few decorations and snacks together and get the kids to join you for your own Olympic games.
USA! USA! USA!
Thank you for stopping by today!
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