Family Olympic Games 2018 are a fun excuse to gather our family together to compete in a variety of summer backyard games! From water balloon dodge ball to homemade gladiator jousting, we beat each other up with the perfect excuse for some quality family time.

Life Lately | Family Olympic Games 2018

This year we celebrated our 5th annual Family Olympic Games! Two years ago, I first shared our 2016 summer Olympic Games and it was a huge hit. Lots of people shared it all over Pinterest and got great inspiration for their own family reunion games, kids competitions, etc. I thought it was time to share another edition of our family shenanigans this year!

Over the course of the last five years our family makeup has certainly changed. We have gained SEVEN children, one husband and a boyfriend to the mix. No longer are we able to casually beat each other up with water balloons and drink until our hearts are content. This year, it was more of a game trying to find places for all the babies to nap while juggling feedings! While all the extra children present a challenge throughout the day, we most certainly wouldn’t have it any other way! Here is a little look back over the past four Summer Olympics and how we have changed.

Over the years we have tried lots of new games. We keep some of them that work and always add a few new things each year. I continually have to force myself to not add too many games to the mix or it will end up being an all day affair! As it stands, we usually play games for a solid 4 hours each year though. 

Gladiator Jousting

The game I was most excited about trying this year was Gladiator Jousting! My sister and I brought our Balance Trainer Balls that we used for each team to stand on. I made some homemade jousting poles out of shipping tubes, duct tape and old pillows. We paired everyone up ahead of time so the competitions would be fair as possible. We made the moms play each other, dads, sisters, brothers, etc. It didn’t last near as long as I had anticipated, because apparently most of our family has terrible balance. LOL It was still really fun to play and watch though!

The premise of the game was very simple. Each team had one member go head to head against the other team. You got to wail on the the other team until someone fell off of their balance ball. Each team scored a point for a victory and the most points at the end was the winner. Blue team just barely snuck out a win on this game. 

A few years ago I purchased a couple large water balloon slingshot launchers for various games. They were misplaced by my sister last year, but when she was cleaning her garage she found them…despite swearing she didn’t have them. 😉 We put them to good use this year by creating a Sling Shot Catch game.

Slingshot Catch

Each team set up a slingshot station and launched stress balls into the air towards their teammates. Each team had four people standing back trying to catch the balls in their large buckets. You could catch balls from the other team though, so it became a free for all and a tad bit more aggressive than I had initially anticipated. There was a sliced finger at the end of this game…and I’m surprised nothing worse!

We let the kids be involved in this one by shagging balls. Any balls that fell on the ground they would bring back to the launchers. We put a 10 minute time limit on this game and everyone was huffing and puffing my the end. It probably would have been better as a 5 minute game. 

My sister was the only girl catching balls and couldn’t quite compete against the tall guys. Her team got smart really quickly and starting passing off their caught balls to her in the back so she could not only stay safe, but ensure her team’s balls didn’t bounce out of the buckets when they attempted to catch more balls. Our blue team tried to copy their strategy towards the end, but it was too late. Red team ended up victorious on this game.

Marble Toes

After all the huffing and puffing we mellowed things out with the next game. Marble Toes was an easy two person game that some of the players who weren’t as tall and aggressive could take part in. It would also be a great game for older kids.

Blue team came out with yet another victory in this Summer Olympics Game!

Cheeto Head – Kids Edition

In 2015, we played Cheeto Head and it was pretty fun. That time we just sat one player from each team in a chair and everyone threw cheetos at their head. This year we decided to bring back the game with a twist for the kids. We painted a chalk circle in the driveway and outfitted the kids who were willing to play with a shower cap covered in shaving cream and a colored bandanna to represent their team. The object of the game was to get your cheetos on the other team’s head.

The kids could run around in the circle trying to dodge the cheetos. Sadly half of the boys got grumpy and wouldn’t participate and one of the boys who did participate wasn’t moving around much. This worked out well for the Blue team though as we got yet another victory!

In retrospect, it wasn’t the safest game to play on pavement as one of the boys did slip and scrape his knee. It did make for easy cleanup though…

Bouncy Ball Pie

A new game we made up this year was Bouncy Ball Pie. We filled two pie tins with 10 high bouncy balls and whipped cream. One player from each team was on the pie and had to dig them out with their face, not using any hands. This obviously isn’t a safe game for kids, because the bouncy balls could be a choking hazard.

Once they dug out the bouncy balls they had to transfer them into a cup with a fellow teammate. That teammate then had to bounce the balls into a large bucket from behind a line. A third team member was behind the buckets shagging the bouncy balls they missed and returning them to them to try and get in. The first team to get all their balls in the bucket was the winner. This was yet another win for blue team!

Family Trivia Dunk

We brought back another game from last year that was fun, Family Trivia Dunk. Before the games, I sent out a Google Form asking for everyone to submit questions about different family members that they think might stump the other team.

From questions that were embarrassing, funny and just plain silly, each person had to line up and take their turn. If you got the question wrong, you got a cupful of water on your head. This ended up being one more win for the Blue Team.

Water Balloon Pop

We brought back a favorite this year with a slightly different spin. Water Balloon Pop is always entertaining and fun. I no longer have our clothesline to tie water balloons to, so we had to makeshift something new. My Dad tied a couple strings between the trees and then we hung water balloons from those strings.

Each team had a driver that would push around a teammate in a blindfold with a fork. One person at a time you had to pop a water balloon with the guidance of your driver. Once you popped your balloon, you had to return to your team to load up a new player.

This is where buying quick fill water balloons are a must. We go through so many water balloons at our Family Olympic Games that it would be nearly impossible to tie them all by hand. They are a little spendy, but absolutely worth the huge time savings!

A couple other games that we played, that I didn’t get a chance to take photos of were the Slosh Ball (which you can read about in the 2016 Summer Olympics) and Water Balloon Dodge Ball. Water Balloon Dodge Ball is pretty much just what it sounds like. We set up dodge ball boundaries with cones and placed a large bucket of water balloons in the center. Each team had to hit the opposite team with water balloons. If they happened to catch a water balloon, you were out. If you got hit with one that broke, you were out. The last team with someone standing won.

At a certain point, we stopped keeping score because blue team was winning almost all the games. It was futile to continue to mark all our victories at that point… 😉

For more game ideas, be sure to check out our 2016 Family Summer Olympics!