For my son's 5th birthday, we had a party at the bowling alley. We invited all the children in his preschool class and his cousin. 11 out of the 15 children came and we had a great time.
I made shirts for all the children using a template from familyfun.com. The party was on St. Patricks Day, so I died all the shirts green, then I printed the designs onto iron on transfer sheets using the template. The shirts had each child's name on the front and a picture of a bowling ball hitting pins and the words Darien's bowling party" and the date on the back. It was really helpful in keeping track of the kids and also knowing their names. While we waited for the last couple kids to show up I read the book "I Can Bowl" the children enjoyed that. We chose cosmic bowling so we could have a room to ourselves. They liked the fact that their new shirts appeared to glow in the dark. After bowling each child got a little medal that said "winner" since they all did such a good job They were just cheap little party favors but they made each child feel special. I let my son choose his own cake and he chose a power ranger one since that is what he is into right now. We made it a cupcake cake with half chocolate and have vanilla so the kids could have their choice. Cupcake cakes are alot easier because you don't have to worry about cutting up the cake. We had ours made at Walmart. If you are going to do a cupcake cake I would suggest the whipped frosting because they use alot of frosting to fill in the holes and the whipped is not as heavy. Before going home each child got a favor bag with a little activity book pencils and a finger bowling game. They also each got a free bowling pass which was included in the party package. Bowling party's are a great idea for children in preschool. I was skeptical about cosmic bowling because I thought it was more for teenagers. However it was not real dark and provided us with our own private area with lights and music which is fun for small children too. At our bowling alley it was only $15 more so I think it was worth it."
