How to Plan a Bowling Party in Less Than a Week

I love a good kid's birthday party. Especially if it is a theme party with lots of fun details....and that is usually the kind of party that I plan for my boys. But somehow life got SUPER busy these last few months and Henry's 8th birthday got here way too fast. It probably didn't help that his birthday was a few days after Easter and during the boys' spring break! The week before his birthday, I hadn't done much of anything as far as planning goes....actually I was still trying to decided between a baseball party or a bowling party. I had considered taking Henry and a few of his friends to a minor league baseball game in a nearby city, but in the end bowling won out mostly because it was easier to take kiddos to the bowling alley during the day than to have them out at a baseball game until 10 o'clock at night!

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The first thing I did to get ready for Henry's birthday was to make him a birthday shirt. I printed out a clip art bowling pin and bowling ball, cut them out with some felt scraps, and sewed them onto a t-shirt.  I added the 8 to the bowling pin since it was Henry's 8th birthday:) He LOVED his shirt {and so did the manager at the bowling alley...she took Henry's picture in his bowling shirt to add their website!}

 I made a dozen cupcakes and decorated them like bowling balls. I used a black sheet of that sugar paper stuff that they have in the cake decorating section, and then I added a few dabs of white icing for the holes in the bowling balls using a ziploc bag.

 I also put together some cute party favors for the boys. I bought a pack of plastic trophies at the party store, then I added a sticker that said "Best Bowling Buddy" along with each of the kiddos' names. I also added a sticker to the back that said "Thanks for making Henry's party a BALL".To finish the party favors, I filled the trophies with gumballs and put them in small clear bags.

 And then we went bowling:

 We also had a small family party the next day. Instead of just having a generic party, I decided to continue the bowling theme. I decorated the house with bowling ball balloons that I made by sticking small white circle stickers onto black balloons. I attached 8 of the bowling ball balloons on the stairs just for fun:)

 For some reason I didn't get a picture of the cute bowling ball plates that we put together for the party, but they were simple black plates with the same white circle stickers stuck on to make them look like bowling balls. I also bought a cute plastic bowling set for the kids to play with during the party, but it ended up being WAY too windy for they played bowling on the wii instead:)

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After a little wii bowling it was time for food! We had some yummy bowling ball treats made with Ding Dongs and a little leftover icing.....

 ...and we also had a SUPER yummy cake that matched Henry's birthday shirt.

Considering that both of Henry's bowling parties were planned in about a week, I thought they turned out pretty cute...and I know the boys had a ton of fun celebrating Henry's birthday!

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