Get creative with these home bowling ideas

If you're child has ever been to a birthday party at ZONE BOWLING you'll know just how much fun they can be, for both you and your kids.

Some parents aren't always so enthused, however. Our parties give kids such a bowling buzz that they often head straight home and try to cobble together makeshift games of bowling, chucking everything from oranges to toy cars down the hall and creating a right mess.

We can't come round and clean your house for you, but we can give you a few ideas for fun ways that you can play bowling at home with your kids and, hopefully, keep the mess to a minimum.

Recycle? How about re-strike-le?

This one is the old reliable. What better way to recycle empty water bottles than using them as makeshift pins? And a soccer ball is the perfect size and weight to stand in for a bowling ball. Perfect for an indoor game on a wet day or some sunny outdoor bowling in the park.

Have fun with food

A melon might not be the exact same shape as a bowling ball, but it is fun to chuck around and who doesn't love watching it explode everywhere when smashed against a wall? To keep the food theme going we recommend slicing the end off cucumbers to give them a flat surface and use them as pins. It's a little unorthodox but no-one said you had to play by the rules to have fun!

We've probably broken our promise about keeping mess to a minimum here. Oops!

Use your head ...

... as a bowling ball. No, we haven't gone crazy - we're talking human bowling. Allow your child be the ball and let them run head first towards the pins.

As for what the pins are? You can make them out of anything, but we find that large cardboard cutouts usually work best - anything harder and it gets less fun and more painful for the poor bowling ball.