It’s no secret for those who know us that we love to be around people! We enjoy double dates, group dates, and parties. We realized early on in our relationship that the majority of parties fall in the same three months: October, November, and December. When we got married we decided we would throw a party each year during the “off season”. Our first year was a Cinco De Mayo party. As we brainstormed our party for this year we came across some ideas on Pinterest for a Couples Olympics. We took the idea and ran with it and last weekend we hosted the First Annual Couples Olympics. Yes, you read that right. We are planning on hosting a couples Olympics each year.
I meant to take pictures throughout the events… but being the competitive person that I am I got caught up in the events and unfortunately didn’t capture most of them. But it is what it is and sometimes it’s better to not focus on the picture and instead focus on the experience, right?? So, below are all the details of what we did for our couples Olympics! I wrote a lot and tried to include literally everything in one post so hopefully you can sort through all of it.
About a month and a half before the party we sent invitations out as we needed RSVPs early for all the things we had planned. This year we sent a video of the two of us formally inviting each couple to the Olympics. We asked for RSVPs back a week later and got our total of 8 couples that would compete.
Teams
Next was deciding what the teams would represent. After discussing we chose to have teams represent colors: red, yellow, pink, green, purple, orange, blue, and white. We put the names of each couple in a hat and the colors in another and randomly chose who would be what. From there we named the teams as you see below.
Swag Bags
We prepared swag bags to give each team with items they would be required to wear throughout the Olympics. Each team was given a pair of sunglasses, a bandana, two wrist bands, face paint, and 3 fake tattoos (we went with Disney princesses this year). All of the above listed items were purchased on Amazon. Each team was then given a “specialty item” as pictured below. The specialty items were purchased from the dollar store. The bags were also purchased from the dollar store.
We delivered swag bags to each team a week prior to the Olympics with the following information:
General Knowledge for the Couples Olympics
The Olympics will consist of 8 teams competing in 6 events. Below are the 6 categories of events:
- Balancing
- Obstacle Course
- Shooting
- Speed
- Strength
- Throwing
Rather than representing countries, teams will each represent a color. Your color is _______ and your team name is ________.
We encourage you to come dressed in uniforms representing your color. The crazier the uniform the better.
This swag bag contains items you will be required to wear throughout the Olympics. Each person must wear a minimum of two items. All items must be worn. Please apply tattoos where they will be visible throughout the events. Also be aware we will be collecting swag bag items back at the end of the Olympics to be used in future years.
Snacks and drinks will be provided.
We will be meeting at the Pavilion at _________ Park but be aware we will be in the sun the majority of the time so please plan accordingly.
Official Couples Olympics Rules
- One team member from each team will participate in each game.
- Each team member must participate in three of the six events. Olympians will submit which events they are participating in upon arrival.
- The winning team of each event will receive 3 pts., second place 2 pts., third place 1 pt. and the remaining teams will receive 0 pts.
- Each team must wear all pieces of the team gear provided. There is a two piece minimum per Olympian. If at any time the team gear is not worn during the competition, the team will receive -1 pt. for each infraction.
- In the event of a tie during a single event, Olympians will face off in rock, paper, scissors (best two out of three).
- In the event of a tie for total points across all Couples Olympiad events, the name of a team member from each of the winning teams will be drawn from a hat to determine the players in a one round playoff. The event will also be pulled from a hat. The winners of that event will be crowned the first annual Couples Olympiad Winners and will retain bragging rights for approximately one calendar year.
Now it’s time to walk you through the 6 events listed above.
Throwing: there were two targets (an indoor garbage can and a laundry hamper) placed at different distances. The smaller target (garbage can) was placed closer and the laundry hamper further. Participants threw 3 balls each round and could choose which target to throw at. The closer target was worth 1 point and the further target was worth 3 points. There was a total of 3 rounds making it a total of 9 balls thrown. Participants then were able to throw a frisbee to a can (we used our Kan Jam game). If the frisbee went in the can the participant was awarded 10 points. If the participant had landed all 3 ball throws into a target in one round they were awarded with an extra frisbee toss. The 3 people with the most points were given points for the place they finished in.
Balancing: participants placed a brown paper bag open in front of them on the ground. Standing on one foot, participants had to lean down and pick up the bag with their mouth and then stand back up without putting any other body parts on the ground. All participants who were able to complete this in the first round cut off an inch from their paper bag (we had drawn lines on the bags ahead of time) and attempted again. This continued until only one person was left. The last 3 people were given points for the place they finished in.
Shooting: Collin bought a dart gun (he was so happy to have an excuse to do this), and participants shot dart balls at little farm play people. Points were given for each target hit and if all targets were hit with remaining bullets, extra points were given for each bullet. The three teams with the most points in the event were awarded points for the place they finished in.
Strength: handstand contest! Each participant was able to attempt 3 handstands, being timed for each. The longest time was the time they kept in the competition. The 3 participants who held the handstand the longest were awarded points for the place they finished in.
Speed: this was our favorite event we came up with as we felt it was the most clever. On the baseball diamond at the park a table was set up at each base. On these tables were puzzles (not put together, just all the pieces laid out). At first base was a 300 piece puzzle, 2nd base 500 pieces, 3rd base 750 pieces, and home plate had 1000 pieces. Racing 4 teams at a time, participants would sprint to first base and looking only with their eyes, would find a corner piece. Once a corner piece was found they would grab it and sprint to the next base doing the same thing all the way around. When the final corner piece was found at home plate, participants sprinted to the pavilion. Each team was timed and the 3 teams with the fastest times were awarded points for the place they finished in.
Obstacle Course: sprint to the first spot, spin ten times in a circle with your head on a bat, sprint to a hula hoop and hula hoop ten times around your body, sprint to a croquet set and must hit a ball with a croquet mallet through an entire croquet course, sprint to a quintuple step and complete to finish. Each participant was timed and the three fastest times were awarded points for the place they finished in.
Points were awarded after each event on our scoreboard which I made out of two poster boards taped together and some sharpies. Our First Annual Couples Olympics winner was Wacky White! They were given a trophy to keep for the year until next year when they will be required to bring it back. They will also get to choose an event to get rid of and what they would like to replace it with. We’ve also discussed letting them choose their color first next year although there were suggestions for teams to represent countries, animals, and a variety of other things. So it may change next year, but luckily we’ve got a year to figure that out.
The snacks we provided were simple: water and gatorade, fruit snacks, granola bars, orange slices, and grapes.
We had an absolute blast hosting this event and have been talking nonstop over the last few days of what we want to add or change for next year. I’ve discussed doing a survey on survey monkey for our participants to give more feedback on what they enjoyed, didn’t enjoy, or would want to change or tweak.
We can’t wait for next year to come and to invite more people again! 8 teams was an absolute blast but we are not opposed to having more teams come. We will see who is available to attend from year to year.
If you have any questions about the Olympics or suggestions please let us know below! We hope this inspires you to host a Couples Olympics of your own.
