For Cody and Jaden's 4th birthday, we decided on an Olympic-themed party for our family and friends. Since we had a wide variety of ages attending the party, we figured this theme would appeal to all the kiddos. I copied a pattern from Pinterest for the invitation to make it look like an Olympics ticket.
About a week before the party, Cody and Jaden helped me package some candy bags to be used as party favors. I forgot to take a pic of the final product, but these photos of the process are more fun anyway. :) We bought some candy with gold wrappers, put samples of each kind in a bag, and labeled the bag with "Go for the Gold!" It was so wonderful having helpers this year! Jaden and Cody loved this task and took it very seriously.
In addition to having great almost-4-year-old helpers, I also had the wonderful blessing of Grammy's live-in assistance. Grammy was staying at our home for a few days while Papa was finishing out his work in NM. Even though she was busy with many moving-in tasks, Grammy took time out to help with various aspects of our party planning. One night, she helped me make the boys' party T-shirts. The iron-on transfer pattern was made for us by my cousin Becky who had an Olympic party for her twins two years ago. Thanks, Becky, for this cute idea! (I actually borrowed quite a few Olympic party ideas from Becky and her sister Marcie, two pretty amazing party planners! Thanks so much to you both!)
I had never before done a print-it-yourself iron-on transfer, but it was a surprisingly easy process.
Super cute, don't you think?
The night before the party, Grammy helped with the birthday cake. What a blessing to have Grammy and Papa living less than 15 minutes away now. We love it!! I decided to make one cake and cupcakes this year rather than one cake for each boy.
I always give away the tough job of frosting the cake. :)
I just step in for the fun part and add some decorations. We used blue and red M&Ms and marshmallow halves for our cake border. The torch was just a cupcake in a cone with loads of orange frosting on top.
And... ta-da! The cake and cupcakes are done!
I decorated more for this party than I typically do-- partially because I found some nicely priced Olympic decorations online and also because I figured the boys would actually enjoy the decorations more now that they're older. This easel display welcomed the guests at our front door.
I lined two of our archways with small flags from around the country and then added paper chains in Olympic colors (another Becky idea).
Of course, we couldn't forget about the beautiful banner from Aunt Sarah. I love how festive this makes our entryway!
We hung two Olympic banners on our garage door that could later serve as a photo backdrop for our whole group of guests.
I hung all of Jaden and Cody's birthday photo posters in the kitchen. It was fun to compare their pictures from one year to the next. They certainly look quite different from their "first year" photos! On this table, we set out Olympic themed picture books for our guests to sign.
Soon after our guests arrived, we planned to offer them a small trail mix snack and a water bottle to help them prepare for their Olympic competitions. We attached a personalized Olympic label to each water bottle so the kids could find their water later.
We put up most of these decorations two nights before the party. It created even more anticipation for Cody and Jaden. They were thrilled with the decorations-- "Our house looks so beautiful, Mommy!" Those kind of comments make all the efforts worthwhile. :)
Gift bags-- check
Cake and cupcakes-- check
Decorations-- check
Bring on the party!!
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