What to do with two four and a half year olds? It's a special occasion, you want to spoil them but cannot bear the thought of chasing them around another park or patting another furry animal? Consider this – ten pin bowling.
Rosemount Bowl - friendliest bowl in the West
Rosemount Bowl in North Perth is set up for kids, and the kids just adored it. At $12 a game including shoe hire (bowling shoes look much cuter in kids' sizes) it was a relatively cheap way to spend an hour or so. Not only do you have the option of 'ball walls' in the gutters to prevent their (and your) balls ending up in the gullys, they have brilliant bowling ramps designed for littlies and others who cannot carry the weight of the balls. Simply line up the ramp, get your munchkin to put their ball (available in extra small sizes) at the top of the ramp, give it a good shove and with any luck they will be knocking pins all over the place.
Bowling shoes look cuter in kids sizes
It's not very pram friendly with two flights of stairs, but once up there it is a paradise for energetic kids. While they are not flinging balls down the lanes, they can dance to outrageously cool (?) music from the 80s (yes, Mummy and Daddy were young once too), play on the juke box, or attempt the range of pinball and video machines. At night time, the disco lights get turned on and the carpet starts glowing in the dark.
Ball ramps help any kid be a superstar
About three frames from finishing our game, with the almost five year old genuinely winning (he also got the first strike of the day), we ordered lunch from the cafe. Fish and chips for the kids, vegetarian nachos for the mums, plus pink milkshakes all round.
The
menu is what you would expect (and hope for) from a bowling alley – burgers, pizzas, chips plus a range of freshly made sandwiches. They were very happy to split the fish and chips ($11) into two serves for the kids, and it was a decent sized serve, even for adults, with four pieces of fish, a generous portion of large fries and a serve of salad (strangely enough, left untouched by the kids). The nachos ($8) were spicy and cheesy and came with separate containers of guacamole and sour cream. Rosemount is also fully licenced and there is a bar for those a tad older than four and a half.
You should book in advance and ask for the kiddy equipment, but that being said, there will inevitably be quiet periods during weekdays when you can probably show up without a booking. All in all, it is a fantastic, all-weather thing to do with your kids. And they might even thank you for it.
