You might be surprised but kids love bowling. Even 2 year olds can bowl. All they have to do is roll the bowl and look cute. How hard can that be? It’s not! Parents get tired of going to the same places for birthday parties. They also can get very expensive or be such a pain that you will never want to do them again (hint… if they are at your home). By going bowling you are not only entertaining the kids but the parents can also bowl if they would like too. But for you to be successful in this bowling party, you need to have the right knowledge and ideas about the sport. So to help you out, you can visit aboutbowlingballs.com for helpful information.
Most bowling alleys have birthday parties packages. These are great because you can choose to have food, decorations, centerpieces, utensils, balloons, cake, drinks and more in the packages. Usually they have different pricing options. So you can choose the package you want. They will have a set price for each package and then charge you for each additional child(if you go over the number of children in their package deal). Because bowling alleys usually serve all different kinds of food you can also purchase platters of appetizers to go with your food that comes with the packages too.
Lets start with the invitation: Try something fun and unique that anyone can do and its super cute! First purchase paper multi colored square disk envelopes with the clear circle window velum. You can purchase these at any office supply store or even Walmart, Target, Fred Meyers, etc… Get some cardstock in black paper (12×12 size). White round stickers (like you would use to label stuff for a garage sale). Now, cut the black card stock square to fit into the sleeve. You are then going to print the actual invite on white paper and then glue it onto the back of the black card stock (so you do not see it through the window of the envelope). On the outside of the envelope on the clear velum stick 3 white stickers next to each other on the top corner to make it look like a bowling bowl. Then you can stamp “Your Invited” in the middle of the outside circle or use a sticker that says that. *See my picture of what this looks like completed
Ideas to write in the inside;
- In your SPARE time come to my party!
- ______ Birthday Party is right up your alley!
- The king pin is turning 5!
- Strike the date: _______
- Spare the time: ________
- Bowl on over to: _________
- 555 Bowling Ave
- Get in the frame and RSVP to
- Leslie at 555-555-5555 or
- ________@hotmail.com
- (wear your shirt!)
- Parents and Siblings can purchase their own
- bowling and bowl next to us
Ok… So you think we are done? Nope, lets go one step further! As part of the invite make personalized shirts for all the kids. You can find very inexpensive tee shirts all over. I found some at Rite-Aid for a $1.00!! Then I purchased the iron-on’s from JoAnn’s and used my printer. I actually used a bowling clip art and added the birthday girl’s name, the word “birthday” and the number “5” to it for the front of the shirt. Then on the back I put their name on each shirt. One iron on sheet would be for one child. Print name on top of sheet and the big image on bottom. I even made some for my husband, son and myself. Total cost for the shirts and iron-on’s came to $38.00 (19 shirts). This way if they came to the party they had to show up wearing the shirt. If they couldn’t come then at least they got a little gift and it only cost you less then $2.00. Next wrap the shirts up so you can only see the name and like a taco use the invitation on the opposite side of the shirt and the put a rubber band around it. *see picture
Now the decorations are going to be pretty plain, so its up to you if you want to use theirs or buy your own. You can always use theirs and ask what colors they are going to use and then accent it with decoations.
Here are some ideas for some extra spark to your decorations:
- Solid color balloons; Color in 3 black circles to make them look like bowling balls
- Plastic kids bowling set; Take a kids plastic bowling set that you can purchase at many stores… Target, Walmart, Rite-Aid, etc.. and use foam or glittery stickers to make your kids name on it. You can also use the stickers to spell out “Happy Birthday _____” and “BIG 5”, etc… Place these around your bowling section. Sprinkle some candy around them.
- Centerpieces; Bowling pin and decorate it, Round die-cuts and color in 3 circles to look like bowling ball and place all around middle of table, Glo-bracelets, Mini-bowling sets (find at dollar tree, fred meyers for a dollar),
- Favors; Mini pails, Plastic regular sized pins and using a hand saw cut off top and fill, Mini paint cans decorated with fun paper and ribbon, Chinese boxes decorated w/ bowling stickers or the birthday/age, Trophies, A real bowling pin w/ each kids name on it.
Extras that you might like to have:
- Several hand santitzers around
- Little dishes of candy
- Extra toys (glo-sticks, candy, stuff from your favors) for the siblings that came
- Disposable digital cameras
- Reusable shopping totes to carry gifts and decorations back home
- Make sure to take a picture of each kid bowling to put in their “thank you” card
- Group picture to put in their “thank you” card
- Order extra food for siblings and parents
- Extra pitchers of water around for everyone
Hopefully with these helpful tips it will make you motivated to try your next birthday party at the bowling alley!! When it was all said and done I spent less then I did when I had it the previous year at my home when it was a Dora themed party.
