The Best Bowling Birthday Party Game

My sister was struggling to come up with a fun and interesting birthday party game for her daughter's eighth birthday. She knew she wanted to hold it at the local bowling alley, but how could she make it more interesting? Together we came up with the perfect bowling birthday party game: Challenge Bowling.

We gathered up several ideas for challenges and came up with the description for each one. We wrote the names of the challenges on slips of paper and put them in a bucket. Before each child could bowl her turn, she had to draw a slip from the bucket to see how she would have to bowl. This birthday party game was an instant hit. Even the girls who had never bowled before were having a blast.

We designed a twist to the scoring system: whoever got the lowest score won, because that meant she was really putting an effort into the challenges!

Here are some of the challenges we came up with for this fun bowling birthday party game and the descriptions we used.

Belly Bowl. The bowler has to approach the lane on her belly, either by slithering like a snake or by doing a "commando" crawl, then push the ball down the lane from her prone position.

Disco Bowl. The girls has to disco dance while approaching. We recommend she hold the ball in the opposite hand she is disco dancing with and stand still while launching her ball.

Granny Bowl. Push the ball down the lanes in a traditional "granny-style" position!

Backward Granny. Pretty self-explanatory, but in case you aren't familiar, the bowler has to stand with her back to the pins and send her ball down the lane from between her legs.

Butt Bowl. This one is super easy for younger bowlers. Simply sit down on your butt and push!

Ballerina Bowl. Since this was a party for young girls, we had to have an ultra-girlie theme. Pirouette your way to the lane and send your ball down the lane as daintily as possible.

Tunnel Bowl. Use adults to form a 'tunnel' for the bowler to bowl through. Simply stand three people facing the pins with their legs open to form the tunnel. Careful though, the floor is slippery The awkward positions caused everyone to break out with the giggles!

These are only a few of the challenges we used for our bowling birthday party game. Feel free to use these and add your own, as this birthday party game is flexible to entertain the young and the young at heart. Check back and let me know what different challenges you come up with!