Olympics Birthday Party: DIY Obstacles

This is a really great party theme for kids 4 and older.  The kids kept asking what game/race is next!  Funny enough, I was worried I had too much planned and didn't want it to be too structured.  Luckily I was prepared because they couldn't get enough!  Here's of few looks at our course.  Some of the activities we did were: Egg and spoon race, Crab crawl, Shopping cart derby, Backward team race with baton pass, Disk toss through Olympic Rings, Obstacle course run and Egg Hunt.

I made the hurdles with PVC pipes and spray painted them red. It only cost $4 in materials. It was a much better solution to buying them for $40 retail. I made them 7 inches tall. After testing a few heights with the boys, this seems like the best height for most ages/sizes. For each hurdle, you need two 90 degree elbows and two T caps. The olympic rings and arches are made with pipe insulators and decorated with duct tape. The covers were only .80 each. Another great solution to save money on pricey retail arches.

Our balloon table was the first obstacle. The kids had to crawl through that first. I strung about 6 balloons together and tied them to the table. I repeated that pattern all around. I made sure to keep the balloons loose around the entrance/exit so the kids wouldn't get caught up in them. I also used blue painter's tape to create the flow of the course. It helped keep the kids on track and added to the decor

I used $1 plastic table cloth covers to create the ceiling decorations and added a few balloons in the center.

After each race, all the kids received a metal but the winner received a trophy. I also handed out t shirts with a number on it. Here are the kids getting ready for the next race. It helped to have a designated start line and finish line each time. When they approached the finish line, I strung up blue painter's tape across the hall so they could run through it like champs. Even though the first place winner broke the tape, I kept replacing it so the other kids could feel the viceroy of breaking the line. They love breaking the line and will wait for you to put it back up so they can go through it!

These were our Olympic Batons. I made them out of PVC pipes and PVC pipe end caps. You would never know after a fun coat of spray paint ;) These were .40 each to make. If I held another party like this, I would absolutely use these. The kids gravitated toward the team races and wanted to use them. I had an odd number of guests and my poor middle child kept getting left out of the races so I had to stop using them.

How to make the Olympic Rings and Arches

You can find the pipe insulators in any hardware store.  You want the ones that are not semi cut.  

Just wrap tape around and cover completely.

I was able to duct tape our arches to the floor but if you're party is outside, you can use these faucet covers as the base and fill with sand or rocks.

Cut a hole in the center

Cover with duct tape and voila! You have arches.

For the ring, apply the tape and form insulator into a circle. I found that the thinner insulators made better circles.

If I had more time, I would have cut the insulator down into 8 inch pieces, covered with duct tape and created  spears for the kids to throw through the rings.  The insulators don't fly well without the duct tape.  We ended up using plastics disks for that activity instead.