Saturday was Rascal’s golden birthday! For this special birthday we decided to give him a Bowling Party and let him invite his friends.
We were not able to find any bowling themed invitations locally, and since I am such a procrastinator! never did order any, I decided to make our own. I kept them simple, using only supplies I had on hand: leftover card stock from last month’s Little Flowers, white card stock, and a bit of ribbon cut in half (left over from our St. Nicholas Hot Cocoa!). I downloaded a Bowling Pin pdf which I re-sized in Photoshop and added Your Invited! at the top of the pin, and “Rascal’s” 7th Birthday! on the bottom. Then I glued on a piece of red and white ribbon for the lines on the pin. I also downloaded a bowling ball, reduced the size, erased the finger holes and added: Roll on over, there’s no time to spare. We’re going bowling, and we want you there. I added a few white hole punches for the finger holes. Then I just glued the pin and ball to the front of the folded card stock card. I planned on making envelopes like these, but I only had a couple CD envelopes and so the rest got mailed in plain white envelopes… Oh well. They were pretty simple, but Rascal liked them!
Since I had made Captain such a fun cake for his last birthday, I knew I needed to try and find something fun for Rascal too. I ran across the directions for a Bowling Alley Cake and decided to give it a try. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to find the bowling pin/ball candles, but it turned out that a friend of mine mentioned she had some and gave them to me!!! I thought it would be fun to make, but let me tell you, at midnight the night before the party I was wishing I would have just ordered a cake!! I know, I say that EVERY time, but if you don’t look too closely, it didn’t turn out too bad! I also made a bunch of bowling ball cupcakes. (Chocolate Cupcakes, Frosted with Dark Chocolate icing mixed with a bit of black icing coloring, and 3 white chocolate chips pushed into the frosting upside down.)
I wasn’t quite sure whether or not to try and add a few games to the party, but when I saw the suggestion for Bowling Bingo I thought that would be fun. The boys agreed, and it sure made just getting 2 or 3 pins exciting! 😉 I also had a big jar of gumballs to give away to the boy who guessed the closest (with a little help from his momma!).
We had four lanes with a total of 21 bowlers, plus a couple more lanes for all the adults that bowled! I didn’t take very many pictures… (I was just too busy, and my camera wasn’t doing the best with the lighting anyway, but another one of my friends took a bunch for me!! Yay!!!) … Anyway, here are the few that I did get.
Rascal’s friends totally spoiled him, and he was given such thoughtful gifts. When he was all done opening his gifts, each boy received their party favors. For these, I used the same bowling ball image (adding each of the boys names to it in Photoshop), and glued it onto the front of colored gift bags. With so many bags, I had to keep the bags fairly inexpensive, so we included 4 different coloring books, a bag of gumballs, a bag of homemade carmel corn, and some candy.
WOW, Jessica!! You are so creative!!! Your kids will look back on these parties with fond memories! And it makes them even more special since you only do them occasionally – I think kids get too spoiled with big parties every year.
Oh Jessica! You are amazing!
What a fun party it must have been!
Happy Birthday Rascal!
~Angela
Thanks! It was a fun party!
Katy ~ I agree! We had initially started out thinking we would have “friend” birthday parties at ages 5, 8, 13 and 16, and Captain has, so far… However, for Rascal’s 5th birthday I was pregnant and just not up to it so we went out for pizza with his Godparents and one other family. Soooo, this was Rascal’s year! I am thinking that 7 will be a good age for the girls too! We’ll see… =)
Wow!! What a great party! I told you my son wants to go bowling for his 9th birthday in March? You did all the work, I just need to come here for the ideas!!
He’s only having 2 boys though (3 if Sarah comes from Fargo) 21, wow!
Jamie ~ That will be so much fun for him!! Family Fun’s website always has such great ideas!
Two or Three boys will be SO MUCH EASIER!!! We sent out 12 invitations (some were to multiple boys in the same family) and I was SURE some of them wouldn’t be able to make it!! EVERYONE came!!! I wasn’t expecting that! I also had a few girls that stayed and bowled with my girls, which was nice!
You’re amazing! That’s a good example of why we only have birthday parties for 6, 12, and 16!
looks like loads of fun.
r
What a schmuck I am… I will get those photos up and available for you tonight before we leave. Geesh, I should’ve known that you didn’t just want them for childhood scrapbooks!! 🙂 Will upload them… going to my other computer, now!!! Sorry… By the way, it was a great fun party and my kids thought it was super cool!
It was so much fun! I loved the cupcakes (though I was good and didn’t eat one!!!). they were adorable. And {W} loved his bag of goodies!! Plus the gumballs (heaven help me!).
21! Your children are very blessed having so many friends, wow!
And their biggest blessing is having a creative, loving momma:)
MY oldest turns 16 this year and I have NEVER sent party invitations, blush.
We have our friend parties, for their 5th,8th,10th,13th,16th and of course their 18th and 21st. It means I have generally a couple a year. I’m going to have two major ones this year in the same week (plus a minor one) and of course I won’t be able to combine,sigh.
What a fantastic party! What an amazing mom for making it so special!
How exciting! It looks like a good time was had by all.
I had to wait until I turned 31 for my golden birthday!
you are amazing. I love reading what you do. It gives me inspiration and joy!
Elm~ It isn’t a big deal!!! REALLY!! Thank you so much!!
Amy ~ I was good too! Although, had those cupcakes not been frosted black, I would have really been tempted…
Erin ~ Yes, we have really been blessed with lots of Catholic friends for our children… Although, none of them live in our town… =(