Carston's Birthday Olympics

We had a great birthday party for Carston this year when he turned 9.  He had about 25 people he wanted to invite (old friends, new friends, and cousins add up quickly).  I hate to leave people out, so we bravely invited everyone.  We decided if we were going to have that many boys, they would need to be separated in groups for the majority of the party.  That was wise.  The parts where we were all together were CRAZY loud and a bit wild!  We started out dividing everyone into "countries."  They wore an olympic colored bandana, gave their country a name, made a flag, and made a torch.  After that, we went outside for opening ceremonies and let everyone introduce themselves.  We had one combined event: The Olympic Dash.  Thankfully we only had 1 casulty.  Poor Ethan fell down at the start and decided for a minute that he "hated these stupid olympics."  After that, the boys rotated through stations and completed 10 events.

Football 

Long Jump 

Relay Race 

Javelin and Paper Planes 

Shooting and Discus 

The opportunity to shoot airsoft guns made this the favorite event for the boys.  Thanks to Jake (Carston's cousin) for setting this up so well.  Each boy had their own target. 

Basketball

There was also a balloon pop event (try to pop the balloon tied to everyone's ankle without letting yours get popped) and a beanbag event 

Carston was extremely spoiled when it came time for presents.  John said it looked more abundant than Christmas. 

Here are the partiers.  I wasn't kidding when I said there were a lot.  We were grateful for our couch which was able to accomodate most of them. 

We had closing ceremonies and gave out Gold. Silver. and Bronze medals.  The boys all thought it was cool to take their places on the platform.  Carston must have had Birthday Luck with him because he came away with more medals than anyone else.  He was pretty excited about that.  I debated about rigging it so everyone got a medal, or just letting things fall where they would.  I decided to not rig it.  When everyone is a winner, then really no one is a winner.  We aren't really celebrating and recognizing people's efforts and hard work if everyone is honored the same.  I was crossing my fingers that between all the events, and especially the Relay where three whole teams won, everyone would still get one.  Well, everyone but one little boy.  The same boy who fell at the beginning of the Olympic Dash.  His brother was so sweet and tried to console him by giving him one of his own medals.  It kind of broke my heart, but I don't think the medals would have meant as much to the boys if they knew it was rigged.

 

Cake and Ice Cream completed the party.  I was so blessed by a girl's kind deed.  I normally love making the cakes, but this year, it was the last thing I wanted to do.  I meant to call earlier and see if I could get one made with the Olympic Rings but I of course forgot.  When I ran to Walmart earlier that morning to see if there was anything I could tinker with, the woman in the bakery asked what I was doing.  She said she was just frosting a plain white cake and she would be happy to make it just what I needed.  So sweet. 

It was a great party.  Carston is so blessed to have so many friends that are so kind to him.  We love all of you!