Kids Bowl Free

I have mentioned this program before when I talked about Zeppoz. I highly recommend this. Kids Bowl Free gives each child registered 2 free games at their chosen bowling alley every day through the summer. When we first registered years ago, the shoes were an additional charge. I bought everyone bowling shoes at the beginning from Zeppoz. For three people the shoes were less than $100. To rent shoes is $1.25 per person per day. The math was in favor of owning shoes. Having our own shoes meant that there was no reason not to go bowl our two games every day (I said our - meaning adults too but I am getting to that). I didn't want there to be any reason not to go. Some days we drank water and was thankful to be out of the heat (that summer was hot and we moved into a new apartment on the 3rd floor so we spent a lot of time moving heavy things in the heat and then retreating to the bowling alley's air conditioning). Other times we indulged in fries and nachos. The food is a little pricey at Zeppoz but the "snacks" are rather filling. We'd all split one soda to make the cost go down.
For $24.95 you can add 4 adults to the "free" bowling. Twenty-five dollars for 3 1/2 months of bowling is a bargain that is too good to pass up. If you sign up and pay the fee before May 1st (I know it's a really short notice but I found out today) you get a $25 gift certificate to restaurants.com. For the Pullman area, that means a $25 gift certificate to your choice of Rico's, Fireside Grille or The Broiler. Rico's and The Broiler require you to spend $35 when using the certificate and Fireside requires a $45 purchase (still a bargain).
I got my certificate to Rico's because I didn't know they served food and it will be a fun outing for me and my husband (and no kids allowed).
I have my certificates all emailed to me so printing is required (I don't know if there are other options at all or if it's just the emailing part vs logging in). The great thing is that if I forget to print them out I can stop somewhere and print them out (like my Dad's house if he is going). We add my dad and my brother so we can treat them to some family fun too.
You won't regret this - bowling is a great activity and does get a body moving. Watch for high calorie snacks and this could be a really healthy experience.

Zeppoz's, Pullman WA

My son turned 14 last week and all he wanted for his birthday was a party at his favorite place - Zeppoz, the local bowling alley. It's funny to see bowling come in and out of fashion through my life. Bowling is picking up again, especially since they now have Cosmic Bowling (bowling with black lights) and a full bar (and a casino).
Zeppoz's is a popular place but not necessarily for the bowling. So the parking lot may be full but the lanes may not.
We discovered the joy of Zeppoz when we moved to Pullman. It wasn't until we discovered the summer Kids Bowl Free program that we learned to love Zeppoz. I will share more about that program when registration begins. We bought our own shoes and I have to say that if you think you are going to bowl more than 10 times, buying your own shoes is cost effective. We bought 3 pairs of shoes from Zeppoz for less than $100. They have more than paid for themselves.
The party package at Zeppoz is so affordable that we are planning on going there for every birthday this year (that's a lot of bowling!). For $6.50 a person, you get a nice little area for your party, a bowling pin for the birthday person, 2 hours of all you can bowl (the reservation is for 2 hours so the all you can bowl is during that time), soda and shoes. There is an option to add pizza but we wanted to have complete control of the pizza so we opted to purchase the pizza seperately.
Speaking of pizza, we got a pepperoni and a kingpin pizza. That was great pizza. The kingpin pizza has a garlic cream sauce (not heavy so it's barely noticeable but tasty), grilled chicken and I can't tell you what else but it was heavenly. The chicken was huge chunks not those little bits you get with some other pizzas. We were almost sorry that we got a pepperoni because the kingpin was so good. The pepperoni was good too but I gotta recommend the kingpin. They have great fries and nachos as well but our meal this time was really the pizza.
The staff was so helpful, even loaning us a knife to cut our cake and supplying plates (I didn't even think of that stuff because it was our first party away from home). The staff is always helpful even if we don't have a party. They make sure your experience there is a great one.