Beach Olympics event

Hello Ladies,

I thought it would be fun to plan a beach Olympics event for my guests one of the days before the wedding.  Many of my guests will be attending for a week.  I was thinking of splitting people into teams and organizing a relay race, hula hoop contest, potato sack race, and other games like this.  Has anyone seen an event like this? Any ideas would be appreciated.  I've also seen a trampoline that floats on the water! I would love to incorporate it somehow. 

Thanks,

Jen

This definitely sounds like a cute/fun idea for your guests!  It's a great ice breaker if you have people from different groups that don't already know each other.  

Just make sure you don't make it too complicated planning wise, you're already going to have a lot on your mind without this!

Sounds like a cute idea, but just remember that resorts already have events planned and its a vacation for your guests also so you don't want to tie them down with too much going on when they may want to plan excursions.  I know my guests would look at me funny.. because they just want to relax by the pool/beach & drink.

Yea, if your group likes to "join" activities, and is a group that would appreciate it, I say go for it! I think it is really neat! 

The only thing is, make sure you do not have to take too much stuff down there.

I might try something like this, only I would only plan events where I do not need many materials, and I would be ready to cancel when we got there, based on what people end up doing. (example - if we get there and half the people do not want to leave the palapas, for example). 

I am totally jealous if you do have a group that would be into games like that!

We are doing a few group activities/games.

Our family and friends are very active so I know they will participate, but I also don't want to overbook myself and everyone else, so all activities are optional.

We are doing a volleyball, Beer Pong tournament so far. 

This is a super cool idea..could be fun before a welcome dinner..but then everyone might be sticky hot and gross..hmmm

Thanks for all the feedback.  It's true, some people may not want to participate. I think the people that are going for the whole week will be more into it than the people that are only going for 3-4 days.  I will ask my guests beforehand to get an idea of how many people are into it.    Also, I ran the idea by the wedding coordinator at the resort and she said I can rent equipment like the floating trampoline but, they can't control other resort guests from using it because it will look like it's part of the resort.  This does not bother me at all.  In fact, it would be even more fun in my eyes to get other resort guests in on the activities. 

Jen G,

This sounds like so much fun! I have been playing with the idea of doing something like this as well at the Azul Beach Resort. I have an email in to see if they would set something like this up. I am getting married on Saturday (Dec. 17th, 2011), and I thought this would be a great way to spice up a day...maybe even do just do a girl's beach Olympics and the boys can go fishing or something. How memorable!! I have already started buying some funny stuff to make Olympic kits, such as colored zinc oxide and really awful 80's glasses! I am glad there are other fun brides out there to bounce my ideas off of!

Sounds like it could be fun, but for me, I don't have the added time to plan a whole event like this.  We have a social group that does a beach party every year and we have different competitions.  Like a water balloon toss, cornhole competition, three legged race, stuff like that.  It's always fun and some don't like to participate, but just about everyone likes to watch

I love this idea and was thinking about hosting a beach olympics too. But my resort will host it for me so I can play along in the fun. Perhaps your wedding planning can get someone to run it and not just rent the equipment. That'll make one less thing for you to plan.