Coolest Kid Birthday Ideas

Your country's Independence day decorations are excellent for an Olympics theme party - so, if your child wants an olympics theme, don't hurry to package them up this year.

Here are two of the best places to get US Patriotic supplies that'll fit perfectly into your Olympics theme:

Also, here is a really cool GYMNASTICS party pack for all those little Nadia Comanecis.

If it's an outdoor party (at a local park, for instance), one of the coolest birthday ideas is to have lots of sport competitions just like in the Olympics. Long Jump, Discus (Frisbee), Shotput, Running Races, Relay Races. You can come up with all sorts of neat variations, for instance that the baton of a relay race is a cone filled with ice cream.

You can make a platform with the 1st 2nd, & 3rd steps made out of cardboard boxes (use three hard cardboard boxes that are strong enough to stand on).

Here are some nice and inexpensive medals to give each kid at the end of the games. The awarding of medals and prizes is one of the best birthday ideas for an Olympics theme. It can be carried out with patriotic music in the background (here's an album of great Olympics Theme Music) and picture taking (this is great to send later with the thank-you notes).

*Marathon: This can be a fun rush of adrenalin. The kids can first make torches (explained in the invitation section of this theme). Then, when everyone has a torch (including the adults) you all run around the block or around an assigned track in a park or stadium with the torches. Each kid can get a medal for this and their picture taken.

*Loooooooooong Jump: This game is a standing long jump (when you don't run first and then jump; you jump straight from standing). Make a starting line with chalk or duct tape on the ground and let the kids see how far they can jump. Mark each jump with a piece of tape and write the jumper's name on it.

*Obstacle Course: You can use practically anything for obstacles. Here are a few ideas: tires to run through, picking up a jump rope and jumping a certain amount of times, running backwards, crawling under something, crawling through big boxes, Hula-Hooping, weaving through garbage cans, potato sack jumping, a relay race, jumping jacks to build up a healthy appetite, etc. While all this theme party action is taking place, parents and other spectators can blow whistles. Make sure you have medals and prizes for them once they're finished.

*Discuss Throw: This is a Frisbee toss in which each kid athlete has three throws to see how many milk cartons they can knock down from a fairly low table.

*Wacky Olympics: You can do anything so long as it's WACKY! For instance, balancing an egg on a spoon (or even harder - a feather), pie eating, silly faces while jump roping, chewing lots and lots of bubble gum to see who can make the biggest bubble (a must for pictures!), hugging a teammate and doing a relay race, etc. For the coolest ideas, ask the Pros - your kids. They'll surely be able to come up with silly and wacky ideas.

* Shotput PIEs: Here's one of the wackiest (and messiest) game birthday ideas. It's also tremendously fun! First off, you need a volunteer (best if it is an adult - DADS are perfect for this!). Dress them up with a tarp or blanket around their bodies, sit them down and have the kids (each one in their own turn) throw pie tins filled to the top with whip cream. Don't forget your camera for this!

*Olympic Ring Throwing: For this game you need rings (you can use diving rings). Make a starting line. Then from the line put stakes or sticks in the ground at different distances from the starting line. Then let the kids throw the rings and try to throw them onto the stakes; the farther the stake the more points it's worth.

* Weightlifting: you can make barbells out of a 1 ¼ inch x 6 foot dowel painted black. Then take two aluminum pie plates and face them to each other, hot gluing them together (you can put two or three on each side). You can take pictures of the kids holding this above their heads (tell them to act out as if it were really heavy), and take a picture of each kid. This is a great picture to send with thank-you notes.

Add the Olympic symbol to the front of your invitation and write your country's name, for example: "USA", and use the colors of your country's flag for the color scheme. On the invitations you can ask that friends RSVP with the name of the country that they want to represent.

One of the cooelst birthday ideas is to ask them to bring a flag of their chosen country, shirt, or dress up in the country's color scheme.

The invitations can also be torches. Use toilet paper rolls and cover them with colored paper. Write all the information on them and then glue the top to yellow, orange, red, and a little bit of blue cellophane paper for the fire.

For an Olympic feel, hang flags from other countries or states on walls, chairs, etc. You can also hang up a map of the world and show where all of the countries are and what their flags are. Once the kids come, their face can be painted with colors of the country that they choose to be.

For the color scheme use the colors of your country. (For USA you would use red, white and blue balloons, streamers, plates, cutlery, etc.)

One of the coolest birthday ideas is to make your own Olympic banner using a big white rectangular piece of fabric and with fabric markers or puffy paints draw on the five Olympic rings (top rings from left to right - blue, black, red; bottom left to right - yellow, green). Hang it up in the entrance to the party area and write: "Welcome Athletes".

*Flag making: The kids can make their own flags that will represent their own made-up country. Beforehand, purchase all kinds of different colored papers and different color markers, glue, scissors, etc. to give the kids (once finished, staple each flag on a stick). To make flags that look more authentic, get rectangular pieces of cloth and let the kids decorate them with fabric and puffy paints.

Food and Cake Birthday Ideas

To make a gold-medal cake, just bake a round cake and frost with yellow (tint vanilla frosting with yellow food coloring). Then with black shoestring licorice or with chocolate piping you can write "#1" and "Happy Birthday WINNER" with your kid's name on it. You can then set tiny flags around the outside edge of the cake or stick in cupcakes.

To make the Olympic rings cake, make five small round cakes and put them on a cake board. Frost them all white and outline each with the colors of the Olympic rings (you can use consecutive colored M&M's or jelly beans for outlining the rings). You can also make this cake by baking a rectangular cake, frosting it white, and coloring in the Olympic rings the same way.

You can also bake a batch of "international" cupcakes. Frost each cupcake with the color scheme of a different country's flag (there are lots of flags that are very simple to frost because they are made only of stripes). See if the kids know which countries they are.

Ice-cream cones can be the base of torches and then you can put orange, yellow and red sherbet on top for the fire (you can also bake cupcakes into the cones and once it cools frost with warm colors).

One of the coolest birthday ideas for "Olympics" food is to have traditional foods from different countries. The kids can then guess from where each food originates, for instance:

*Pizzas and spaghetti - Italy
*Croissants - France
*Kiwis - New Zealand
*Hotdogs and hamburgers - USA
*Egg rolls- China
*Sushi- Japan
*Pad thai - Thailand

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Coolest Kid Birthday Ideas for an Olympics Theme Party