The London 2012 Olympics begins on July 27th, and to get you ready, Bird’s Party has a Sporty Olympics Party Theme that definitely qualifies as creative GOLD! Bird wanted to create a collection that could be used every year, in any city, and I think she succeeded… this Olympics inspired design feels timeless, fresh & fun!

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• 3D Olympic Rings backdrop  (+ DIY pictorial in the last photo below!)
• Gold cupcake liners flattened & used as “medals”
• Olympic torches made from paper & felt
• Super cute ticket style invitations

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Bird…

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Design & Styling

Although the Olympics takes place in London this year, and I am especially proud; I wanted to design a “universal” Olympics party printable collection so it could be used every year, no matter where it’s held at in the world. As such, the colors I chose for the designs were based on the Olympic rings: blue, black, red, yellow and green.

Olympics sports also helped to inspire me in designing the printables, and little sporty icons were used throughout the collection in the same colors.

Carrying on the sports theme, the printable party invitations were designed to resemble Olympic Stadium Tickets! Those are editable and you can add your own text to suit the occasion, whether it’s an Olympic-inspired birthday party or an Olympic Games viewing party!

For the styling, I was also inspired by the original Greeks Olympians, and thought that a white table and backdrop would be a great canvas to tie in all the colors used, and help keep things fresh and modern. And because every nation aims for the gold, a “Going for Gold” underlying theme was also incorporated in the styling and printables designs, which added a splash of fun to the table.

The podium centerpiece was created using boxes wrapped in white wall paper (which is more sturdy then wrapping paper and you can pick up for a few dollars). A gold chain-ribbon accent was tied to the top of each box and the front decorated with the printable podium numbers from our Olympics Collection.

A simple sponge cake covered with white sugar-paste fondant and embellished with a gold mesh-ribbon, was topped with an Olympic Rings Fondant topper from Lynlee’s Petite Cakes. The gold embellishments were simply flattened gold cupcake liners,
attached to the fondant topper with a little icing.

The Olympic rings on the backdrop were made by covering polystyrene rings (Cultura) with crepe paper in the colors of the party.

To complete the look, a pennant banner made from colored cardstock was hung on the front of the table, and Olympic Torches made from red and yellow crepe paper were added to golden candle sticks and placed on either sides of the podium centerpiece.

Food & Drinks

The desserts and rinks were inspired by what Olympic athletes would eat!

The fresh energy drinks were home-made from pure fruit juice and decanted into glass bottles (CASA), and wrapped with a funky “energy drink” label also from the printable collection. The labels also include a “barcode” and “nutritional information” to make them look like real energy drinks labels. The were then topped with a white straw and printable country flags.

In-keeping with the energy theme, shop-bought cereal bars were covered in the patterned scrapbook papers from the printable kit, and displayed in white platters also covered in the same papers. All finished with an editable, gold buffet card.

The home-made “hammer throw pops” were actually made from healthier carrot and sultana cake mixed with cream cream cheese for a dose of vitamins and calcium. They were embellished with mini printable country flags.

Cupcakes were also decorated with cream cheese frosting and topped with some prinbtable cupcake toppers in the shape of Olympic Olive Wreaths, Gold Medals, Olympic Torch and some edible fondant toppers from Lynlee’s Petite Cakes. The cupcake liners from Sweet Estelle Baking Supply were chosen to match the Olympic rings colors, and the cupcakes were displayed onto DIY mini cupcake stands!

The mini cupcake stands were simply made by spray painting wooden egg-cups and coasters with white gloss. The two parts them assembled together with superglue (Gorilla glue would do the trick).

The delicious but also stunning printed flag cookies from Whatever Whimsy also helped to tie in the Olympic theme.

Favors & Activities

To start our Olympics Gales, we held an Olympic Torch relay around the “stadium” (garden), where each child got to hold and pass on the fabulous, golden Olympic Torch made by Sew Can Do!

Activities include simple kids games like ring toss, egg spoon racing and obstacle jumping with old car tyres. Winners got awarded edible Olympic Medal Cookies from Whatever Whimsy, which were inspired by this year’s London medals.

As favors, kids got to take home a felt gold medal from Sew Can Do, embellished with a printable gold medal, and some sugar cookies from Whatever Whimsy – All packaged in cute golden-lined boxes, topped with a printable “you’re a winner” favor tag and cupcake liner rosette.