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My seven-year-old son wanted to go miniature golfing for his birthday, but he didn’t want to leave our house to do it. He wanted to build an 18-hole miniature golf course in our yard. -So, we did! Afterward, I thought this would be a fun party with several families. You could have a pile of supplies and let each family build three holes.
Invitation
Here’s the simple invitation we sent to all of his golfing buddies:
Mini Golf Invitation
Golf Clubs/Balls/Tees/Scorecards
As the guests arrived, they checked in at the club house and received their scorecard, ball, and putter. We borrowed putters from lots of neighbors. Many of the kids were able to bring a putter from home. In the end, a couple of kids used random irons. That worked out just fine. I purchased a box of golf balls and tees. You can find these online or at any sporting goods store. I printed my own score cards and gave each foursome one card and a pencil. Here’s the scorecard with the rules printed beneath. Mini Golf Scorecard
The Golf Course
Dividing the Yard into 18 Holes
I bought four rolls of brightly colored plastic marking tape at Harbor Freight & Tools. They use this tape (which is not sticky) to mark off areas during construction projects. I used this tape to divide both the front and back yards into 18 sections. I used 3-inch-long nails to pin the ends of the tape into the grass. These were our 18 holes. Most holes were long rectangular sections, but a few were triangles. In each section, I stuck a flag with the number of the hole. This helped our golfers know where to go next and where to mark their score. I made the flags with dowels and paper. You could also use sprinkler flags.
Building the Holes
We found that the best thing for the actual holes were large 24 oz. paper cups. We laid them on their side and stuck a nail inside and through the cup into the ground to hold it in place.
We used all kinds of stuff to create the obstacles leading up to our holes. Here are some of our ideas:
PVC or dryer vent pipe for tunnels
Multiple 2 X 4’s, rocks, and bricks made great tools for building obstacles.
A castle made from a cardboard box with a hole through the middle (the doorway).
A ramp that drops into a toddler’s potty. (The kids thought that was hilarious.)
Weave the ball around a bunch of boots or shoes.
Make an animal face with a hole for the mouth.
We built a wooden ramp up and over a small kiddie pool—water hazard!
Plastic rain gutters make great ramps and slides.
Boxes- Oh what you can do with boxes! Ooh- and plastic crates or bins are great too.
Tree branches are challenging to hit a ball through.
Tires are great obstacles.
Orange cones (We have them for soccer drills.)
2 X 4’s set at different angles are fun because balls bounce off them and go a different way.
Toys! You can incorporate any cool toy buildings into your course. Think Little People, Legos, blocks, etc.
You can also use a lot of other toys. We used our big stuffed alligator and plastic snakes for a fun swampy hole.
We used a bicycle right in the middle of a hole. They had to hit the ball between the wheels to get through to the hole.
Treats/Cake
We served golf ball cake pops- which were donut holes on a stick, dipped in white chocolate, and sprinkled with white nonpareils (sprinkles).
The birthday cake was frosted with chocolate icing, then sprinkled with green colored coconut (grass) and white Sixlets that looked like tiny golf balls. I wrote the birthday boy’s name with red golf tees and stuck a flag made from a bamboo skewer with a 7 (the birthday boy’s age) written on it. We saved the cake to eat after dinner and gave the kids cupcakes. The cupcakes were frosted, sprinkled with the coconut grass, and had a large white gumball on top. You can kind of see them on the far right side of the photo above. Super easy and super cute!
This party is a simple idea but with tons of possibilities. It was a big hit with our 9-year-old birthday boy. It would be an awesome neighborhood party too. We had over 30 guests at this party with kids ages 2 -12 competing in the events. We also had eight adult helpers, each dressed as a judge from a different country. The adults played a huge part in making this party a great success. I am sure this party would still be great with a smaller group. There’s a lot of flexibility with this party plan.
The honorable judge from the nation of Mexico.
Invitation
Here was our invitation for the party. It was an official letter from the International Olympic Committee. Notice that the kids had to RSVP themselves and tell us what country they would represent at the party.
Olympic Uniforms
After I had a list of countries, I printed paper flags from each country. I made these simple pinnies from one square of felt, and some elastic ties. I wrote the name of each country with fabric paint.
Here’s an up-close view of our simple Olympian uniform. It’s made from a square of felt, paper flag, fabric paint, and a bit of elastic or ribbon.
Decorations
Other than the people themselves, my only decorations were strings of plastic flags purchased at a party store. I hung them around our church’s gym (the location of our party). This party would be great in a backyard or park. Too bad our birthday was in January!
Flags
As the guests arrived, we gave them each an 18” X 30” flag to decorate with fabric markers. Most of the kids looked at the picture on their chest and copied it. I sewed a line down one side of each flag creating a sleeve for a dowel to slide inside. I didn’t hem them, just left them with cut edges. You could use pinking shears if you wanted them to stay a little nicer.
Our Olympians wave their flags at the Opening Ceremony.
Opening Ceremonies
My husband had all the kids line up. He announced their name and country and they walked around the gym waving their flags. We had an adult lead the line, and they followed. I played the Olympic Fanfare by John Williams. Then we began the competition!
Olympic Events
We made a big scoreboard with the list of events for the night. We listed all the events down the left side, then the names of the countries along the top. If the kids wanted to keep track of their scores, they could write on the board. If they didn’t care, they didn’t write anything down. It didn’t really matter to us– but some of the older boys really wanted to record every score. Here were the events we did. You’ll notice that some are big group games, and some are individual events. Most of the time we had two events going at once, so the kids didn’t have to wait.
Discus (Frisbee throw)
Javelin (swim noodle throw)
Shot Put (throw a foam ball)
Archery (Shoot rubber bands at targets)
Long Jump
Basketball (shooting from three different points on the court)
Rhythmic Gymnastics (Hula Hooping)
Cross Country Skiing (The goal here was to move your whole team across the gym on paper plates. Individuals had to pass paper plates up and down the line as they moved.)
60-yard dash
Marathon (run around course 4 times)
Hockey (with swim noodles cut in half for hockey sticks, and a foam ball for the puck)
Bowling (2-liter bottles as bowling pins)
Cycling (Tricycle Race)
Cross Country Skiing Event
Awards
Every participant stood on the medal stand. We had 3 crates which were all the same height. Each child received a sports drink and a medal. The medals were made from canning lids and ribbon (super easy). My husband announced each of their names/countries and had them stand on the crates for everyone to cheer. They each had their moment in the spotlight.
Our awards were homemade medals and sports drinks.
Cake
I made a big chocolate sheet cake with the Olympic rings made from M&Ms.
