Free Summer Bowling for Kids!

Have you heard about the Kids Bowl Free program?  All around the country, you can register your kids (15 and under) to get 2 free games of bowling, every day, all summer long.  

Just go HERE to find the bowling alley closest to you and get your kid registered.  Just remember that your vouchers will only be good at the location that you register at, so choose wisely.

In Des Moines, you can choose from Air Lanes, Bowlerama Lanes, Plaza Lanes or Warrior Lanes in Waukee.  There are also locations in Ames and Norwalk.

BTW: It will give you the the option to purchase an adult pass for $24.95 to use for the summer, but if you'd rather not do that, just click the "no thanks" button.  You can purchase one game at a time for adults.

That's it. Log-in to your account every weeks to print your free games coupons.  Have fun!

Ps. shoe rentals rates do apply.  You can also purchase a summer pass for that or just pay by the day.

You don't have to be a warrior to conquer these lanes!

We attended a kids birthday party at Warrior lanes in Waukee the other day.  I have to say, it was a great venue for a birthday party, or just for some family or date-night fun.  The website states that parties run $7.95 or $9.95 per person based on the type of party you choose.  Great for a winter option when it's too cold to have an outdoors party.  The venue is clean and the staff is friendly.  There are plenty of lanes for bowling, they have a separate party room, a small arcade with video games and a bar area where you can purchase food and drinks.  You can also have food delivered to your bowling lane to eat too.

They list special events on their website such as St. Patricks day and Cinco de Mayo family parties.  They offer leagues on almost every day of the week and there are also coupons on their website too.

They are able to put the bumpers up on the lanes so kids (and mabe adults too) don't have to worry about gutter-balls and they also have a bunch of the launchers (anyone know what these are called?) that kids can just place the ball on and aim it down the lane to launch it, instead of having to roll the balls.  Those things are heavy you know!!  We had kids bowling as young as 2 and they all loved it.  Check it out!

Check them out for weekend fun for the whole family, a date-night, girls or guys night out or a kids birthday party.

Incredible fun for kids (and maybe adults too)!

Today's Groupon (click here) is for Incredible Pizza.  When Incredible Pizza Company opened in Urbandale, my first though was, "go-karts and bumper cars? Date night!"  While a pizza buffet, mini-golf, bowling, and video games sounded great sans kids, as soon as the little one got wind, we couldn't leave him at home. Darn it!  It ended up being pretty fun for the whole family anyway.

While the thought of that many germs in one place leaves me a little uneasy, they do a good job of having hand-sanitizer available throughout the store.

The buffet really does have a good variety of options including pizza, salad, pasta, tacos, potato bar, and daily specials including meatloaf, enchiladas, etc and dessert.  Nathan really likes the chocolate chip cookies and the cinnamon rolls are a favorite.  They even serve gluten-free pizza which is awesome.  You can see the menu here.

Entrance to the store includes the all you can eat buffet and is under $10 for adults and less for kids.  There are coupons all over the place, including on the website and the val-pak sometimes.  Groupon runs deals often too, like right now!

They run on a virtual ticket system where you register your card and it keeps track of your tickets earned.   It's kind of nice if you lose your card, they are able to issue you a new one and you don't lose your tickets.

While the game prices are pretty reasonable, .25- 1.00 per game, The "attractions" (like, go-karts, bowling, bumper cars and mini-golf) can get a little more expensive so if those are your thing, you can take advantage of days where they offer unlimited attractions for a discounted price.  They also do a good job with birthday parties.  The price (starting at $10.99) is reasonable considering parities include unlimited food, and game cards for each child.

They also have a "kiddie" area with kiddie rides and games and a jungle-gym type contraption which they seem to like.

For some family fun at a reasonable price (especially when you nab a coupon) we recommend Incredible Pizza Company.  Tell us how you like it!

Bass Pro Shop Bowling

I recently decided to open a Val-Pak and found a coupon for Free Bowling at Bass Pro Shop in Altoona. It was good for up to four people and I thought it would be a lot of fun to take my kids there on a cold winter day. I was not disappointed!

Pros: 

• Very Clean and Great Atmosphere--you feel a bit like you're underwater with the decorations and shark's mouth ball return. 
• Automatic Bumpers appeared for the kids and lowered for my turns. 
• Clean-ish shoes. They were the cleanest shoes I've seen at a bowling alley, but they are still bowling shoes.
• Great score board screen and I didn't have to do a thing! 
• My littlest guy--two years old--was able to use a stand to push the ball off of and he had a great time playing too!

Cons:

• This bowling alley has you pay per lane, per hour. It is too expensive for just the kids and myself to go to, but it would be a fun night out with friends or more people. 

Overall, we had a great time and look forward to going back soon!