The first EVER Shanghailympics

When a mother approached me to ask whether I could help her plan her son's party, I immediately agreed. Young Maxi is a very sporty type so the first thing that sprang to mind was, "Hey, 2012 is an olympic year, so why not hold the first EVER Shanghailympics?". The look Maxi gave me when I voiced that suggestion was all the confirmation I needed. Two days later, he came and picked up the hand-made invitations (mini olympic torches) and proudly took them to school. The next day I got a call stating that they needed two more invitations. Apparently, the theme was really popular.

I started researching the Olympics and got busy on the decorations. Being alone with three kids all under 9, and the father was out of town, the mother asked me if I could also be present at the party to help out. No problem. I took my daughter along as a party helper and we had a blast. We had the lighting of the Olympic torch, archery, bobbycar racing, street football, discus throwing, javeline throwing, and many more games. Photo opportunities were made by printing out past Olympic posters. All food was Olympic themed. The medals were handmade and even the going-home present was an edible medal. There was a quiz about the Olympics during cake time and I was astounded about how much the boys already knew. Apparently, they also researched in advance to the party. We all had a blast and, from what I was told, all the boys had no trouble at all falling asleep that night. Many of them took their medals to bed with them.