Olympic Watch Party — Savannah by Season

I've been itching to throw a party for quite a while, so I figured moving out of my apartment could be a celebration in itself. We've lived here at "The Blue Light" for 2 years and it's really an end of an era. We have several friends that have made weekly trips to visit us throughout these past couple of years, so I wanted to invite them over one final time (two days before move-out).

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It just so happened that party-day, Sunday, was going to be the first night of the women's gymnastics competition (which we're obsessed with watching), so I decided to go all out with an Olympic theme. It was pretty fun to play with the bright/bold Olympic ring colors. Here are a few simple (and cheap) ways to pull of an Olympic party in only a couple of hours.

1. I went to Party City and bought 5 Olympic-ring-colored balloons. They were $1.15 each, but that included the string and helium fee, so it's not too bad. I cut off the little curly strings at the top and taped the long strings to my dining table in the order and heights of the Olympic logo. It was a really simple way to create a backdrop for the food table.

$6.00

2. For the table dressing, I bought crepe paper in the same colors as the balloons. These were $1.00 for 2 rolls at The Dollar Tree and I ended up barely using any on each roll. I'll hoard the rest for other parties in the future! I taped one end of the paper to the back of my table and left plenty to hang in the front. After the table was covered, I trimmed the uneven crepe paper in the front (I just estimated each cut. No measuring).

$5.00

3. It's not a party until there's food! I had a few serving trays and bowls that were left unpacked, so I used them to place some chips, salsa and store-bought MM's cookies and Oreos. I bought some plastic plates from the Dollar Tree for the guests to use and in my slow cooker (in the kitchen) I had Velveeta and Rotel warming for nachos.

$12.00

4. I saw these cute little popcorn "Olympic torches" on Pinterest (originally from asmallsnippet) a week or so ago and I knew I had to add them to the menu. The jumbo ice cream cones fill up with barely any popcorn, so for adults it really isn't much food. I just used the "torches" for decor and kept a bowl with the rest of the popcorn nearby in the kitchen.

$4.00

5. One of my favorite parts of the table were the cute, bubbly cocktails with Olympic rings inside. I was browsing around and found this picture with ring-shaped candies in champagne, but I couldn't find the original source. I decided I'd have to make them with a twist of my own.

I looked everywhere for hard candies shaped like rings, with no luck. I ended up settling on the gummy-version of LifeSavers from The Dollar Tree, which is where I also bought the champagne flutes ($1 for 2). I set Olympic-colored gummies in the bottom of the flutes and poured in Sprite. Once it was done bubbling, I added a splash of strawberry rum.

$7.00

Overall, this setup (decorations and food) cost me around $35.00 (give or take a little), considering we already had a few of the necessary items (like serving platters and rum). Not too shabby for providing dinner, cute appetizers and cocktail drinks for a group of 6 ladies.

Now you all can host your own watch parties. Let me know how it goes.