We have been looking forward to this for an entire year! Last year we came across an idea on Pinterest for a Couples Olympics. We immediately fell in love with this idea and new we had to do it. (For last years post click here!) It was so dang fun we decided it had to be a yearly thing. Last weekend we hosted the Second Annual Couples Olympics! Below we are sharing all the details!
Things to do ahead of time
We send out invitations a little over a month in advance with a hard date for an RSVP. It's important to know how many couples will be competing for planning purposes.
Swag Bags
We randomly choose a color for each team and then start prepping the swag bags. Each team is given items they are required to wear during the Olympics. This year we gave every team a pair of sunglasses, a wristband, face paint and a bandana. Every team also gets a specialty item they have to wear that is different from the other teams. We go to the dollar store, walk around, and choose a random accessory in every color. They ranged from curlers to coconut bras and everything in between. The two pictures below are the information given in the swag bags.
The Teams
The Events
This year we had 7 events, 6 individual events and 1 couples event. Each couple decided which spouse competes in what 3 individual events and both competed in the couples event. We have the team members state which events they are competing in before they know the details of the event. They are told categories of events and that is it. In all 7 events, the final scoring was the same: 1st place = 3 points, 2nd place = 2 points, and 3rd place = 1 point. Points were kept on the scoreboard we created on our computer and had printed at FedEx.
Throwing
We borrowed our nephews blow up football guy for our throwing event this year. We did two rounds throwing 4 footballs each round. You got a point for each football you got in. 5 teams scored 1 point over the two rounds and that was it. So we had a playoff and the first three to score took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
Speed
This year the speed challenge was the quarter challenge. Competitors placed a quarter on their elbow and then had to flip the quarter and catch it. If successful, they added a second quarter and so on and so forth. The winner got up to 11 quarters. Super impressive!
Stoddard's Choice
The Stoddard's were the reigning champs from last year so they got to choose an event for this year. They chose a cartwheel race! One person from each team was timed to see how fast they could do cartwheels from one spot to another. Let's just say it was hilarious and it's been a LOOOOOOONG time since some of us have done a cartwheel.
Balance
Another repeat from last year. Competitors must stand on one foot and bend down, picking up a brown paper bag with their mouth. No body parts can touch the ground while attempting to pick up the bag besides the one foot you are balancing on. If successful, you cut off one inch of the bag and continue doing this until you are the last one standing.
Shooting
This year was a Marshmallow Shooting contest! We ordered a pack of Marshmallow Shooters off Amazon and they weren't the best... but that actually made things more fun! We had 3 plates of peanut butter at different distances. Competitors shot 10 marshmallows. Marshmallows landing on the closest place earned 1 point, middle plate = 2 points, and the furthest plate earned 3 points.
Strength
This was a repeat event from last year. Competitors were able to do 3 handstands, being timed each time. Their longest time was the one that stuck. First place almost got to 10 seconds. He probably could have gone longer but knew he had 1st place in the bag. Ashlee from the purple team did amazing at 30 weeks pregnant! 3 cheers for her!
Couples Challenge
This year we decided to add a couples challenge so that teams could compete together. We did an egg toss and I had no idea people were going to be able to throw an egg as far as they did without it breaking. We used raw eggs. If teams dropped the egg but it didn't break (which happened often surprisingly) they were able to try again from that distance. When an egg was caught successfully, teams took a step further away from each other.
Wrapping Up
It was a close call this year for the Gold Medal! The Yellow Team (reigning champs from last year) were in the lead going into the final event! Blue team ended up pulling it out though to not only win the final event, but win the entire Olympics knocking yellow to second place! Orange and Pink tied for third and after rock, paper, scissors orange ended up in 3rd!
The blue team gets bragging rights for a year and they get to house the trophy until next year!
Check out our Instagram "Couples Olympics" highlight bubble for more pictures and videos from our epic Olympic Games. Let us know if you have questions or any suggestions for how we can improve next years Olympic Games!
xoxo The Average Daters
