My daughter turned five on the opening day of the Summer Olympics this year. I have never been so excited to do her birthday this year to celebrate the Olympics. Thanks to Pinterest, I came up with some ideas, used some, but who cares, it turned out to be a great time! Here are some pictures of what I did:

I had tried to dig into my inner crafty side to make some wreaths for our teachers as gifts…wishful thinking on my part, but had a great idea to spray paint them to make the Olympic Rings. I think I was the only one who was excited she was turning five and there are five Olympic rings. Anywho, My son was into it, my daughter, eh not so much:

Before

After:

My husband nailed the three into the wall, then added nails into the foam rings and hung the bottom two to give it an overlapping effect.

We decorated the night before to surprise my daughter on her birthday. I bought Olympic colored tablecloths and hung them to the ceiling. I was trying to find balloons to put into the middle, but learned through Facebook that there is a helium shortage. So the tissue poof in the middle looked great!

Some of our backyard decor as we turned an empty planter into a pretty piece:

I had the idea of having cuisines from around the world. Our menu included:

Appetizers:
Cheeses from around the world including:
Feta and Kefalotiri Cheese from Greece
Munster Cheese from France
Rosemary Asiago Cheese from Italy
Swiss Cheese…
Hot and Mild Salsa
Hummus placed inside the peppers to save on doing dishes later.

Main Course:
Homemade Italian Beef
Brats
Hot Dogs for the kiddos
German Potato Salad
Pumpkin Pesto Salad (my daughter’s favorite, this was a vegan dish)
Mediterranean Chickpea salad
Oriental Broccoli Salad

I took some wine corks and put slits on them so our guests knew what was what. Takes the guess work and prevents you from sounding like a broken record (and yes, I realize this is a spelling error, someone moved ahead to assign the salads since I was busy doing something else, but Mediterranean is a hard word to spell from memory):

I bought the flags from a local party store, but the package itself lacked many regions. I would have liked to have seen more variety, especially for the Olympics.

I ordered a simple white cake with a cherry filling from the local grocery store. I was a tad embarrassed that they did not look up the order of the Olympic rings…but I don’t think anyone noticed except for my husband and I…my mom made gluten free/soy free/dairy free cake pops in the American Flag. I am saying that Namaste Chocolate Cake brand is by far the best chocolate cake mix that is free of the 8 allergens, corn and gluten. Our guests kept going back for the chocolate cake balls. Thanks mom!

Our drinks were simple:

I used a Limeade from the store to make Margaritas. Bought German Wines from Trader Joe’s, like the semi-sweet white on the left and a variety of beers

We did have a beach scavenger to keep the kids busy while they were playing. They had a blast!

Special thanks to my grandma for bringing my daughter’s favorite Greek cheeses and making the fantastic Italian Beef and her German Potato Salad. My Mom for making the cake pops and spicy salsa, my dear friend who made a mild salsa, my sister for picking up last minute items, my neighbor who helped us the night before and my mother-in-law decorating the back yard.

My daughter is blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who helped make her day special.

Ta-da! I Hope you all have fun with your Olympic party. Tomorrow I’ll post a few of the recipes!