Go For Hosting Gold With These Fun Olympic Watch Party Ideas
Gather your friends for the ultimate Olympic watch party!
The Olympics have an uncanny ability to bring people together, just like other shows and sports that we all love to watch as a group. Whether you’re in person with others cheering at the screen together or having a virtual watch party (ahem…you can find folks at Remarkist watching Olympic coverage together on Discord), it’s a lot of fun to watch the games with others and experience epic moments together as they happen live. But for those in-person parties, it can be all the more fun to commit to a theme and get into the spirit! Here are a few theme party ideas for Olympic watch parties from theming to food to decorations.
Opening Ceremonies Party
Patriotic
Whether you’re gathering to cheer on your own home country’s athletes or choosing to celebrate the international spirit of the games, there are lots of ways to theme an Opening Ceremonies watch party. Americans, feel free to recycle your Fourth of July décor and menu: American flag decorations everywhere, and hot dogs, hamburgers, pigs in a blanket, beer, etc. for snacks and drinks. You can make Olympic rings out of just about any circular or malleable snack food: Onion rings, Twizzlers, Jell-O, etc. Or, you can simply arrange cut fruit in the Olympic rings colors. Try some Oreo medals and Olympic torch fruit snacks in an ice cream cone shell. We’re also loving these Olympic-themed homemade cookies in the shapes of barbells, Olympic torches, and this Jell-O “pool.”
International
If you're going international, you can feature varied cuisines from around the world. A little research can go a long way with your guests–or better yet, make it a potluck and ask everyone to bring a dish that represents a different nation. You can even turn this into your own medal ceremony: Every guest can vote on their favorite dishes and you can award “medals” (try these homemade crafty ones) for first, second, and third place winners.
Paris!
Or maybe you want to focus on the 2024 host city: Paris, and go for a full Parisian theme. For food, you can feature croissants, a variety of French cheeses, fondue, macarons, quiche, crepes, or baguettes. And of course, your favorite French beverages like café au laits, champagne, French soda, and wines. You can decorate with mini Eiffel Towers and florals, or go full Moulin Rouge with feathers, glitter, and low lighting.
Sport specific party themes
Maybe you and your friends are super jazzed about high diving. Maybe your family tradition is gathering for the women’s gymnastic final. Or maybe your office volleyball team wants to gather to watch Olympic athletes in the sport compete for gold. Whatever your preferred event, you can host a theme party based on that event alone.
If you’re into costumes, you can have your guests dress like their fave athletes from that sport, past and present, or simply wear sport-inspired outfits (swim goggles and sweat bands are fun accessories). Your décor can reflect the sport as well. While you can certainly purchase decorations and paper plates and such that reflect your theme, think outside the box too: create a “balance beam” out of a few small cardboard boxes to display some snacks, use a blue tablecloth and colored tape to make your table a “pool” (or swap out a brown tablecloth for a track and field-themed surface). Love archery? Set up a darts station in your home for commercial breaks.
For food, get creative with your dishes and go for some puns, whether about the sport itself or names of your favorite athletes, like Butterfly-stroke crackers. Think about your sport’s equipment and hallmarks: Make “balance beams” out of any straight rectangle, like Kit Kats, or wafers–even pretzel rods. Snacks can be served in so many ways, like in a sailboat toy if you’re watching sailing or arranged in a horseshoe for equestrian. Serve small bottles of Gatorade or drinks in mini sport water bottles that your guests can take home.
Finally, if you have downtime before the events or after they end, a killer music playlist is necessary to keep your party energy up. You can include nods to the Olympic events like Taylor Swift’s “The Archer” (or on brand for 2024, “Paris”), Harry Styles’ “Golden,” Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”…you get the idea. Also include theme songs from past Olympic games like Gloria Estefan’s “Reach,” Katy Perry’s “Rise” and Celine Dion’s “The Power of the Dream.” (You can find a full list of Olympics theme songs here!)
Whatever kind of party you choose to host, make sure to check local air times of events and streaming options! We want to hear all about your party ideas too–be sure to include them in the comments below!
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