Smokey, this is not ‘Nam

This is bowling.  There are rules.

Man, I wish I could have prepped our party guests of that fact ahead of time, but the Big Lebowski remains a tad shy of appropriate movie fare for 8 year-olds, no matter how awesome they think they might be.  Quinn requested a bowling party this year and his Dad and I were happy to oblige.  Since we’re Albany folk, the Playdium was really the only choice for venues.  If you’re kicking it old school, may as well go all the way, right?  It really was the perfect activity for a bunch (there were 10, it felt like 15) of kids on a snowy afternoon and it was declared by the guest of honor to have been the “best party ever!”

This type of party is not for the faint of heart – the kids get pretty excited by all the open space and voices echo, and seem to amplify, in an alarming manner.  And don’t even get me started on the rental shoes!*  Despite these physical challenges, there is no better way to entertain and amuse a gang of 2nd graders, particularly at $10.95 a child which includes 60 minutes of bowling, 2 slices of more-than-acceptable pizza, individual ice cream cups and a couple of pitchers of soda.  Truly a bargain.

A couple of observations, including one that made me smile – one of the two girls invited to join the insanity festivities noticed that the lane shared by 3 boys and two girls, finished their game 2 frames ahead of the 100% boy lane.  A quick discussion with her about the efficiencies of females vs. males will hopefully stay with her for her entire life.  Ten kids seemed to be the perfect number.  Mathematically that came out to the age of the guest of honor (8) plus 2 parents.  More than that would have been too much, I suspect.  For all involved.  This was a pretty relaxed party – it was simple enough to add the latecomers to the bowling computer system and the employees we dealt with were beyond easy-going.  The Playdium may not be a fancy place, but it definitely beats driving around and the occasional acid flashback.

*According to a close friend, that stuff they spray in there is some variant on napalm.  I doubt if that’s really true, but it sure does help to support the whole Vietnam/Big Lebowski thread.