Cosmic Bowling at Home
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Besides for the obvious favorite events like holiday parties and field day, perhaps the most highly anticipated event at our elementary school is cosmic bowling. I believe it’s a weeklong P.E. event, and it’s a BIG DEAL. I remember volunteering at school and sitting out in the hallway, where I could see a little bit of bowling in progress, and I have to admit it did look like a lot of fun. Lots of excited faces coming and going from the gym.
My youngest has been talking about how sad he was to miss cosmic bowling this year, so that inspired me to bring it home to him. A little creativity and some time shopping online is all it took.
We already had a tent set up in the house, so why not a bowling lane?
We’ve actually had our bowling set for a long time. Almost 7 years to the day! We bring it out from time to time, and the kids just love it. It’s something the whole family can enjoy together. The best part is, it was super easy to make. When we entertain, we end up with a bunch of empty soda bottles. I took 10 of the clear ones, washed them out, and put some colorful feathers inside once they were dry. The bowling ball I ordered online. It’s dense foam and only weighs about a pound. It was perfect when the kids were little, and it still works for us. We keep the whole set in two fabric bins that we keep in our coat closet.
To make a cosmic bowling lane, I had to up my game a little. I was able to find everything I needed on Amazon.
First up, black lights to line the lane. I thought about trying to hang some black lights from somewhere, but this ended up being easy and plenty effective. The set I ordered has 40 feet of lights, and it comes in two 20-foot pieces. They connect together and plug in. You could actually peel the tape off the back and stick them somewhere, but our foyer is not where I want these to be permanently. We used a little scotch tape to hold them down, and it worked great. They came on little spools, so we’ll wrap them up and save them for next time!
To make the pins glow, we used glow sticks. I found a set that had the more substantial kind as well as the bracelet. We put one substantial stick inside each pin, and then we just took them out once we were done. We let the kids go to town with the bracelets. The set has more than enough to be used for another bowling session, but the kids may have gone a little overboard. Worth it!
One of the things that is apparently coolest about cosmic bowling at school is the disco ball. I found a small, reasonably-priced version to hang up, and the look on my kids’ faces when they saw it was priceless. It would have been even cooler had we been able to properly light it up, but maybe we’ll figure that out next time. I really don’t think it mattered, because…
…In my quest to find a disco ball I found this little party light that projects colored lights all over the place. This thing is small but seriously impactful! The kids loved that it came with a remote, so they were changing the colors and having a lot of fun with it.
Cosmic bowling was a HUGE success. We shut the kids in our room while we set everything up as quickly as we could. When we let them out, I think we blew their minds. All three of them absolutely loved it. They immediately started cracking glow sticks and lighting everyone up. Even the dog got in on the action. Well, sort of. Let’s just say she’s a really, really good sport.
All ready to go! 
Action shot 
Gutter ball… 
Such a good sport.
We’ll pack away some of the things we used for next time, but I have a feeling some others will migrate around the house to be used regularly. The disco/party light might be too cool to pack away, for example.
I’m already looking forward to our next cosmic bowling party! We’ll get the grandparents involved next time to make it extra fun.
We just had a “glow dance party” last week, and our next glow activity will be more light painting. My daughter had to do some light painting for a school assignment, and she used a DSLR to do it. I’m going to have her teach me how to do it. We even have some new colorful light sticks to use.
