Take one games-mad kid and one party mad mama. All this adds up to a pretty good formula for a fun-filled occasion otherwise known as a Kid's Olympic Party Extravaganza.
You could of course have coloured the cupcakes themselves too, but I drew the line at coloured cases and icing as that in itself took enough time.
The flag bunting was simple enough to create from paper templates glued onto cardboard and held together with string, whilst the Olympic torches were made from rolled up cardboard, wrapped in gold wrapping paper with red and yellow cellophane cut out to look like fire to go in the middle.
Olympic torch popcorn added to the theme - microwave popcorn popped inside ice-cream cones.
And Olympic ring jars painted in the colours of the Games and filled with co-ordinated tasty coloured sweets.
The themed plates were standard heavy duty cardboard plates with an Olympic ring template glued in the middle, and the drinks were a pack brought from the supermarket where I'd just removed the labels and replaced with our very own Olympic-ade labels, perfect for giving our guests a mid-party sugar pick-me-up.
Our teams arrived ready for action - we'd chosen Great Britain - the host of the last games in 2012 and Brazil - the host of the next Olympic Games in 2016.
We kicked off our Olympic Games with the Javelin throw. The kids did a great job throwing with all their might.
And surprising us with how far they could actually get.
Next up was target shooting at the rifle range.
Where a steady hand and straight aim guaranteed the biggest points.
Next up: the hoop relay.
The hoops gave the kids a good run for their money for a while on the slippery court.
They won in the end though.
Then it was time for a hearty balloon stomp.
The balloons also proved quite tricky to pop, easily sliding out from under foot on the shiny court.
The best plan of attack proved to be holding one's foot on the balloon gradually with more and more weight.
Inside each balloon were points to be gathered - 1, 2 or 5 points. The little chap below somehow managed to score 25 points and beat the rest of the crew in this game!
Then it was kai (food) time. Burger rings and Stripes ringed biscuits accompanying our Olympic theme, and the country flags in the club sandwiches proving a good discussion point over dinner time.
Although it never fails to surprise me how very little kids end up eating at parties. They are always having way too much fun talking and generally mucking about to be seriously interested in gobbling up the food!
Then it was time to sing our guest of honour Happy Birthday.
And the candles went out in one big puff!
Then it was back into the games. The kids loved Ping Pong Pitch (although you might know it as Beer Pong if you're an adult), but rest assured there was only water in these glasses and no sculling was required.
The last game saw the teams battle it out to match up the flags with the countries in the quickest time and they all did it surprisingly fast.
Then it was time to add up the team points: Brazil took out the Silver Medal winning position and Great Britain the Gold Medal place. In the next picture, Noah looks like he is howling in tears but he is in fact cracking up at his dad's resounding rendition of God Save the Queen just out of shot.
Before he decided to join in too.
And if your wondering how you can tell whether the party was a success? When the birthday boy comes home, flings his arms around you and declares it to be the 'best party ever'. That is until next year anyway!
