Host Your Own Backyard Olympics for Toddlers

My baby just turned 3! I cannot believe I have a three year old already. Before I start sobbing, let me get to his party. Lucky enough, he has a birthday in the summer. It’s a lot easier to throw kids’ parties in the summer because you can let all those kids run wild in the backyard.

Since the Olympic games were set to begin the following day, I thought an Olympic-Themed birthday party would be fitting. I just love the Olympics. There’s something so inspiring about seeing all those impressive athletes from all over the world come together to put their hard work to the test and compete.

My son loves nothing more than running/jumping around (well, maybe cake), so I was hopeful an Olympic-themed party would be a hit. Here are the ways our Backyard Olympics for Toddlers came together.

Host Your Own Backyard Olympics for Toddlers

1. Games 

• Basketball– I already had a hoop and some balls, so this one was simple. If you don’t have a hoop, use a laundry basket or cardboard box.
• Soccer– Again, this was easy since I already had all the equipment. You could also make your own net with some pvc pipes and some netting or go for the cardboard box again.
• Swimming– Fill up a blow-up/baby pool for the swimming events.
• Gymnastics– This was so much fun. I set out a mini-trampoline and balance beam. I was going to attempt to make my own balance beam, but then I realize it would end up costing more than if I just bought one off of Amazon. I also made a bunch of ribbon dancers with some craft sticks, hot glue gun and ribbon.
• Bean bag toss– Set out some hula hoops or you could use cardboard boxes again (just tape them up with colored duct tape or color them with markers). Let the kids see if they can get the bean bag in the corresponding color hula hoop or box.
• Frisbie Toss– See bean bag toss, but substitute colored frisbees.

Some more ideas we didn’t use…

• Make an obstacle course
• I just wanted to set up the games and let the kids go to town, but if you want to run the games yourself you could do a lot more…
  • Races (regular, three-legged, backwards), long jump, vertical jump
  • Obstacle course
  • Balloon toss
  • Hurdles (you could make your own using PVC pipe-check out this demo from Your Therapy Source)

2. Food 

For kids’ parties, I like to keep it simple. I order a bunch of pizzas, put a fruit salad together along with some veggies and dip. There are so many great ideas for Olympic-themed food though. For dessert, my mother-in-law made the most amazing dinosaur cake for W (his request!), and I made a few vanilla cupcakes with white icing and m&ms on top to represent the Olympic rings.

Some other ideas…

• Summer Game Fruit Torches from Twitchetts- These are just so adorable and so simple to make!
• Amazingly Easy Olympic Snacks for Kids from Toddler Approved

3. Decor 

Like the food, I like to keep the decor simple and easy for a kids’ party (well, any party, really). I stuck with the colors of the Olympic rings as my theme, and added some gold utensils too. And, I couldn’t have an backyard Olympic party without an award podium. So, I just used some plastic milk crates, flipped them over and glued some numbers on top. With a few leftover plates, I made our own Olympic rings. I just cut out holes in the center, made a cut so I could connect them and then taped them shut together. Easy and cute!

4. Favors 

What’s an Olympic party without gold medals? I put a plastic gold medal by each place setting along with some fun, Olympic-ring-colored bracelets. I also got a little crafty and glued some chocolate coins to ribbon for some edible medals.

Don’t forget to check out W’s Car-themed party last year!