Sustainable Olympic-Themed Kid's Party

For the energetic kidlets in your life, an Olympic-themed birthday party or block party is a match made in heaven. They get to play with their friends, win prizes & feel like a real  part of a bigger sporting tradition.

Photo Credit: Happy Hooligans - Olympic Ring Art Project for Kids

Sustainable Olympic Party – Medal-Worthy Decor

First step in giving any venue that “Olympic” touch is to use the blue, yellow, black, green, & red tissue fan decorations from Ecopartytime to make the iconic Olympic Rings over your dessert or buffet table.   It is an instantly recognizable symbol which will get everyone ready for the games to come! Make the table even more Olympic with three different levels to represent the awards podium for gold, silver & bronze winners. Use Ecopartytime’s gold, silver, & bronze cupcake wrappers on the appropriate levels.

Across the front of your table, hang miniature flags of various countries.  Pay homage to the hosting city by adding a Rio flair with samba music & a cardboard cutout of this year’s Olympic mascot, the totally adorable creature called Vinicius, a mixture of several Brazilian animals, which represents the diversity & exuberance of the Brazilian people.

Photo Credit: DIY Inspired

Sustainable Olympic Party – Games for Every Olympian

On your invitations make sure to tell the parents the kids will be getting wet & messy & to bring an extra set of clothes for the “awards ceremony”. As the kids come in, divide them into 3-5 teams & let them pick a country to represent. Melissa’s tip: have a different colored souvenir bandana for each team to easily distinguish between teams during the games. 

When it comes to the games the guests will participate in, you have a wide variety of options. For summer parties, use “Track & Field” & “Water Games” as your main categories with two or three games in each.   

For Track and Field, You could do the classic “50 Yard Dash”, “Seed the Field” - a green version of the “Shot Put” where the kids throw seed balls as far as they can in a field you wish to seed with wildflowers, and maybe Tug-o-War.

For “Water Games”, your party-goers could run a “Wet Towel Relay Race” in which each team runs a 4 stage course while holding & transferring a dripping wet towel to the next person on the team for their part of the run.  Another water game which kids love to play is “Water the Flowers” in which kids have to pass through a series of obstacles carrying a cup of water.  The objective is to get as much water in a bucket as possible before running back for the next person to go.  Once you have a winner, let the kids use the buckets to water your flower or veggie garden. 

If you can, ask an adult party-goer to be your  announcer/master of ceremonies.  Have him or her comment on the games as they are being played, just like in the real Olympics.  Bonus points if they dress extra fancy for the awards ceremony! 

Photo Credit: DIY Inspired

Sustainable Olympic Party – Passing the Torch

As with all Olympics, I recommend an awards ceremony.  Use your stairs or sturdy risers to create a multi level platform for your award winners. 

Start with a parade of all your contestants in front of the parents to the olympic theme.  Once you’ve done that, call up the winners & present them with their gold, silver & bronze “medals” – these could be cardboard or recycled mason jar rings painted in metallic colors or maybe cupcakes wrapped in Ecopartytime’s Gold, Silver & Bronze Cupcake wrappers.   

Photo Credit: DIY Inspired

After each set of awards, move the children to your photobooth area for an “official” Olympic photo.  The partygoers and parents alike will love this idea & you get some unique and fun photos of all the Olympic fun!

Please post pictures of your own games and award ceremonies with the hashtag #Ecopartytime so we can share in your gold medal greeness!

About the Author

Melissa Wagner-Gens is Ecopartytime's Green Resident Expert. She is also a Green Event Educator, certified event planner & owner of Emerald Events and Weddings.