Prepare to party at the Cultural Olympiad

What you should know about the Olympics is that it really doesn't matter if you don't like sport. It really doesn't matter if you didn't get tickets, either.

This weekend, to celebrate one year to go until the 2012 Games, there's a party coming to London - and there won't be a javelin or a discus in sight. As a taster of the Cultural Olympiad festival, which will take over the capital from June to September next year, The Open Weekend from tonight until Sunday has been packed full of cultural and creative arts, events and parties, most of them free of charge, and anybody can get involved. Here are 10 of the best in London.

SEARCH PARTY

A big party with cocktails, gourmet food and swing dancing - all for free. But the catch is you have to find it first. You'll get three hours to follow a treasure-hunt trail with clues and tasks to lead (and sometimes mislead) you to the party.
Get me in: Free. Saturday, register from 2pm at one of three start points (Search Hackney, Netil House, 1 Westgate Street, E8; Search Canary Wharf, Museum of Docklands, 1 Warehouse, E14; Search Shoreditch, Shoreditch Trust, 8 Orsman Road, N1) or online at createlondon.org/features/search-party.

TATE MOVIE AT TRAFALGAR SQUARE

You have to hope it doesn't rain tomorrow. The Tate is screening its movie project The Itch of the Golden Nit on a big screen in Trafalgar Square. The film itself is an animation, with a storyline thought up by and images drawn by children - and a cast including Catherine Tate, David Walliams, David Tennant and Harry Enfield.
Get me in: Free. 11am-5pm, Saturday, (each screening 30 mins), tatemovie.co.uk

PING

Okay, so this one requires just a tad of sporting ability. Ping is a travelling ping pong parlour, cruising the country in an effort to get everyone to try their hand at table tennis - complete novices encouraged. Find a table at Canary Wharf this weekend and get tips from professional coaches or challenge a former champion.
Get me in: Free. Jubilee Place, Canary Wharf, tomorrow 11am-7pm, Saturday and Sunday 12pm-6pm, canarywharf.com/visitus/Arts--Events1/Events, pingengland.co.uk

PORTAVILLION FLOATING CINEMA

Yes, it's a barge, but it's also a cinema - a customised narrow boat that hosts on-board screenings and canal-side film events. This weekend you can be one of the first to tour the Olympic park - on the waterways. Writers and comedians lead the tours, keeping you entertained. And there will be free refreshments.
Get me in: Free. 11am-1pm and 3pm-5pm Saturday; 11am-1pm Sunday. floatingcinema.info. No under-15s.

ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND

It's Alice, but not done the Disney way. The audience will fall down the rabbit hole and find Wonderland in an old library. You can move around the immersive theatre event to have tea with the Mad Hatter and play croquet with the Queen of Hearts.
Get me in: £5-£10, 7:30-9:30pm, tomorrow and Saturday, Manor House Library, Old Road, SE13, teatrovivo.co.uk.

BARBICAN WEEKENDER: EXTRAORDINARY VOICES

A big sing-song (and speak) at the Barbican will have free shows from offbeat choirs such as the London Gay Men's Chorus and Streetwise Opera as well as beatboxers, storytellers and poetry. Around the corner will be the Whitecross Street party - with food stalls, musicians and street artists turning the road into a giant canvas.
Get me in: Free. 10am-11pm Saturday, 11am-7:30pm Sunday at the Barbican Centre, EC2. barbican.org.uk/weekender

DYSARTICULATE

The idea is to create a nationwide art-installation - a sea of flags made of book pages. The London event is in Hackney but the flags (pages from worn-out paperbacks attached to bamboo skewers) will also be planted in the New Forest, Dover and Stratford-upon-Avon. They need you to help.
Get me in: Free. Sunday, 12pm-3pm. Arrive at noon prompt at Exchange Project space, Unit 14 Queens Yard, White Post Lane, E9 and set off walking with the artists to find your spot.

LIGHT OF THE WORLD PARADE

They performed at the Beijing Olympics, and they're coming back for London 2012. This weekend a parade of more than 100 dancers, puppeteers, performers, stilt walkers and artists will create a colourful procession through Roundwood Park.
Get me in: Free. Today until Sunday, 5-9pm at Roundwood Park, Brent, NW10.

A BAND IN A DAY - AND MORE

There is music, and lighthouse tours, by the riverside all weekend at the Trinity Buoy Wharf, including Asian, African and Latin-American music workshops (bring an instrument and get tuition from experts and improvise and perform with them). There will also be a live performance from the Grand Union Orchestra.
Get me in: Free. Tomorrow and Sunday, 11am-6pm, The Chainstore, Trinity Buoy Wharf, 64 Orchard Place, E14, trinitybuoywharf.com

CABARET DIVA

A medley of cabaret acts, packed into one night. This is a one-off preview of the Edinburgh Festival show, with characters such as French chanteuse La Poule Plombée and lounge crooner Bernie St Claire - all from an award-winning writer.
Get me in: Tomorrow, 7:30pm £11/£7.50 concs, Tara Studio, 356 Garratt Lane, SW18, tara-arts.com.