~ Curious Charlie ~

Happy Birthday to Me! - Bowling Party @ Strike @ Saturday, July 27, 2019

Sunday 18th March

We're having a party! A pretty chill one, which is really something because I'm someone who loves picking things like stationary, napkins and party bags (I forgot the party bags). Instead of going all out as I usually do: booking a venue, rooftop dinner, huge balloons, furniture hire, permits, chefs and all that jazz, oh and live music (strings quartet and baby grand); we just had it at Strike, ordered food & drinks, and got a cake from the freezer (an ice cream cake).

Thanks to Strike I won $500 to spend and the timing was perfect, with everyone back from holidays. This is one of the coolest things I've won, along with two hotel stays, an exclusive donut factory tour, kayaking experience, high tea and my first win: gold class tickets and food.

Through emails with Katelyn (Strike GW) we arranged a time/date, food/drink options and packages. The contract was signed online too, with a phone confirmation. All we had to do was turn up, bring a balloon, cake and the guests. Never has planning a party been so easy!

With a 1pm booking, we checked-in, popped our names down for the board (turns out we all have boy names listed, except Andy's girl) and swapped out shoes.

Tip - Bring socks, if you're not wearing them already. Red and shiny with velco straps these are easier and prettier than the lace up AMF ones I recall (last time we went bowling was high school).

Been more of an adult but not "adult" ;) venue they don't sell balloons, so we bought our own. Huge numbers or a giant light up well lights are popular, but no I'm not a photo person, and going with the retro theme we just bought a red balloon from Lombards (we were really lucky to find a party shop open on a Sunday out here).

We played two games, had 6 jugs of soda/fruit juice (some of us are alcoholics, more than one), veg/dips platter (serves 10), fish tacos (15 serves), chicken & chips (15 serves), pizza and a drink card each (for tap beer, wine, soda). For 10 people that's the minimum. Serve 15 on most platters. There are also burger options. We started off healthy so that counts XD.

Dips & Crudités Platter

Crispy Buttermilk Chicken & Beer Battered Chips with

Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce (we didn't actually get sauce otd).

Fish Tacos. Grilled - Served with shredded red cabbage,

fresh mexican salsa yoghurt & thyme dressing in a Tortilla Wrap

Cheese Pizza!

The food came at a steady rate, though drinks were slow, so we ended up with 4 jugs at the end/bar. The booking time is for the booth/play area, for 10 people we got two lanes. There are 6 lanes in total, best to book. After the games we moved over to the bar for cake and drinks. They provided spoons and reusable plates.

Being a Sunday it wasn't anywhere near as loud/crazy/bar-ish as I'd expected, with one other kid's party, so it was pretty chill. No sticky floors or anything. There's a few bar tables around for waiting, $3 games of pool and they do escape rooms here too.

With a retro-ish theme party we bought the classic classic Peter's ice cream three colour cake ($13 from the freezer). Tastes exactly as expected, though could have used more sprinkles... I'm totally cool with a low key not trendy cake, as we've had a great wedding cake this week already, and high tea yesterday.

Service was very friendly, though a bit slow with the drinks. Overall a great experience, with minimal planning required in person (compared to my usual events). They forgot the sauce on one of the dishes and water, but other than that it was all good, the food too, average good but not bad. I've rated it 4/5 on zomato for the experience, of a fun retro party. The main feature was bowling with friends.

Sunday afternoon was absolutely the perfect time, for someone who isn't keen on clubbing. I much prefer going to the theatre and dinner, my ideal of a great night out doesn't involve loud music, strobe lighting or sticky floors.

Definitely recommended for a fun and easy minimal set-up/clean up/damage afternoon with friends. The bill would have been $500 for 10 kids ($50pp, minimum) though think we had 8 (2 didn't turn up till the end, but meh it's all about me!).

Ticking 'bowling party' off my party theme list! We've still got 50s, Camelot, Fantasy, Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian themes on the list. Half these parties will end up being balls and dinner parties with chamber orchestras.

In hindsight we should have made this bowling party a 50s theme, and gone to a diner afterwards for fries, shakes and cake. But still we had a great time!