REAL PARTIES: Wii Bowling Tournament
From the second i laid eyes on the ultra-creative “bowling lane table runner” pictured above, I knew this Wii Bowling Tournament was going to be a fun party to check out! Even better, the party’s hostess with the mostess: Robin Chowaniec put the tournament together as a mini fundraiser for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.
Read on for more for more info on all the creative details – from Wii controller candy dispenser favors to Margamiitas and Mowiitos – straight from Robin herself!
“To get my husband more involved with Relay, I formed a team named: Team Wii Fight Cancer. The bowling tournament seemed like a good excuse to have friends over to play the Wii, eat and raise a couple hundred $$ for ACS.”
Pictured above: (Image 1) The table runner was a kitchen cabinet liner that looked like bamboo with red masking tape added for foul line and cut for direction arrows. The plastic bowling pins & ball are from Oriental Trading Company. (Image 2) I glazed a handful of dense pound cake cubes to look like Wii remote controls, then used a frosting pen to duplicate power and home logos.
Below: a “Team Wii” sign made from cardstock:
For easy Caprese Salad on a Stick appetizers, I stuck the sticks into halved mini watermelons with printed Mii’s of those attending amongst the food:
I found *mini Wii remote candy dispensers at Walgreens, just repackaged in clear cellophane bags for favors:
Margaritas and Mojitos were labeled as “Margamiitas” and “Mowiitos” for more Wii friendly atmosphere:
Evite had a Wii Sports themed invite:
Other things to note:
- Etch-it Cups from Celebrate Express were a big hit.
- We used a mini white board to keep track of top 4 scores.
- Top score got mini plastic trophy from Party City and a restaurant gift card.
***
Thanks so much for the inspiration, Robin! I can already think of a bunch of my own Wii-addicted friends who will love all these ideas!
*Note – I had a hard time finding a good place online to purchase Wii Remote Candy Dispensers, but there were a couple on ebay, and someone on Yahoo! Answers said they’ve seen them at Cost Plus, and then Robin found hers at Walgreens, so maybe they’re more of an in-store thing…but if anyone knows of any good places online, please share!
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This is such a great idea. I been trying to think of something unique to do for my husband’s 40th birthday. THIS IS IT!!!!! Thanks so much!
Now the big question…where do I rent a Wii?
What a fun theme. You put together a darling party and helped a worthwhile cause – great work!
The best place to check for rentals is your local video store like Blockbuster…or maybe even borrow from a close friend.
OR – you could make the Wii your husband’s b-day gift and keep it ;) Chances are good that you’ll want to keep playing once you start…and you can also use it to surf the web on your TV because it has built-in wireless internet capabilities (or you can plug it in)- and you can get a web browser for it for a couple bucks.
You can also download old-school Nintendo games onto the Wii like Super Mario Bros, Frogger, Tecmo Bowl, etc. for a more “nostalgic” gaming experience, as my husband puts it :)
How fun! I so want to go to this party!
What a great Idea for a great cause, there are so many other great games that you could expand on…golf, racing, etc.
I adore this party! The table runner is fantastic! I love how well thought the theme is and how well it is incorporated into every detail of the party! Fantastic!
This is fantastic!
this is one of the best theme yet! i’m doing it for my husband birthday as well!
This is a fabulous idea, does anyone know how to print out their mii like that? Can you email your mii to a computer?
I think I know what our next party theme will be!
So glad everyone likes it. The party was fun…perfect for all ages. Unfortunately you can’t email your mii to a computer. I’ll go find the website we used to create the mii’s and post it here.
Robin did you post details of how you set up the tournament if not could you?
Here’s a couple of websites that will make the mii’s into jpegs. The second one makes tshirts! ah, I’ll have to remember that for next time.
What a great idea! Everyone loves food. Combine that with a little Wii bowling, some cocktails, and raising money for a good cause and you’ve got a party that can’t be beat!!
I love the mini-Wii remote candy dispensers. And the drink names are adorable (as well as very creative!)!! Where did you come up with them?
I must have those Wii remote candy dispensers!
I am also doing a fundraiser using my Wii, only with Mario Kart. It is for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. These are the perfect touch!
I hope someone can help find them online, as I have neither a Walgreens or a Cost Plus near me.
I went searching and only found one site where you could purchase online and of course they are on back order. Sorry.
http://www.sweetcitycandy.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=wii
I love the Mario Kart idea though. Maybe I’ll have a 2nd fundraiser as my Relay isn’t for a little while.
Okay I found some on amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Wii-KLICK-Candy-Dispensers-Pack/dp/B001CW8JIK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1218750265&sr=8-1
I hope the link works!
And I recommend the Mario Kart or a Mario Party 8 fundraiser. Anything with a Wii is fun!
Oh my goodness I just LOVE this! I know so many people that would go crazy for a party like this. And, kudos to Robin for doing it all for a good cause!
this is wonderful! we just had our wii-lympics fundraiser party on 08.08.08, coinciding with the opening ceremony in beijing. check it out on my blog: moderneve.blogspot.com
also, in regards to the party favors you had – you can find them at CVS as well as Toys R US.
another idea our these adorable mii chocolats. available at:
This is a fantastic idea and so creative. I would have loved to have been there and to have had a mowiito.
Thanks for sharing,
Stacy
http://www.kidsstuffworld.com
I love this!! I am definitely making note of this and throwing one of these soon. In the meantime, I am busy trying to think up ides for a medical themed party for someone about to go into hospital for an operation on both his feet which will have him laid up for months – any help or ideas would be gratefully received!!!!
this is such a great idea, its brilliant! its so creative i think i will have to try get my university to run a wii-lympics as a fundraiser! i especially love the idea of the miis printed out! welldone!
You have such fun ideas! By the way, I linked to this, and a couple other of your posts in my latest ‘inspirations’ post… keep up the great party ideas! http://dabbled.org/wednesday-linky-goodness
Dot
dabbled.org
Thanks Dot!
This is great. My son is turning 10 and he wants a Wii party. You have some wonderful ideas. Thanks!!!
i’ve been racking my brain for ideas for my nephew’s first birthday, but i’m just going to steal this one! it’ll probably be just wii/mii related and not necessarily bowling related. the DIY in me says i can make super cute onesies with my nephew’s mii on it! :) i’ll post pictures on my blog afterwards!
We are setting up a Wii Bowling League in our neighborhood, but I am stumped on how to organize teams (6 teams of 2 people, or 6 people on each team). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
A great thing you can do also is plan a nationwide wii bowling party. Using Gamezy.com you can play wii bowling online, all you need is a web cam. Create a league and compete against other leagues for cash and prizes.
As a fundraiser its a great way to maximize your efforts and raise more money.
We hve seen your MII people onm a stick on your website. Can you tell us where you got the images to use on the sticks
I just invited a bunch of girlfriends over for a Wii bowling party, now I know how to make it even better!
I also am in charge of a fundraiser and need some help. It’s an international theme, with a beautiful passport as the invitation. But we don’t know what to name the actual event. It’s an auction, with a sit down dinner. Each course will be a different country. The tables will be in india sari silk, auction tables will have decorations from countries like Japan, Spain, Africa. should we just say “Escape” since that conjours up something exciting and much needed these days? Ideas please!!
This is fantastic!!
Where did you find the table runner?
HI Donna –
Robin actually made the table runner! This is what she said:
“The table runner was a kitchen cabinet liner that looked like bamboo with red masking tape added for foul line and cut for direction arrows.”
:)
Hi folks, I finally threw the wii/mii party for my nephew and as promised I posted pictures on my blog. It was such a fun party- Thanks for all the wonderful ideas! http://wedding-palindrome-wedding.blogspot.com/2008/12/wiimii-partii-time.html
Hey there, cool stuff. We want to setup some sort of Wii tourny for a fund raiser as well. I am curious about HOW you make it a fund raiser? Any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Wilco
Where did you get the Mill’s that you put with the food? I cannot find out how to print them out?
Wii parties are lots of fun for all ages. Come check us out at http://www.wiipartiescfl.com
Thanks so much for the inspiration! When my 10 year old son came to me requesting this exact theme for his party, I remembered this post and knew it would be a piece of cake!
Check out our spin on this theme here: http://pumpkinpetunia.blogspot.com/2009/01/wiiiiiiiiiiii-party-recap.html
I am trying to set up a Wii bowling league or tennis league. I have no clue as to how to make it fun with prizes etc. We are a bunch of “young” 50 year old ladies! Any ideas?
Thanks.
How can i organize a wii bowling tournament as a HIV fundraiser. I want to have two college student groups competing
I love this. what did you use to keep score? Is there a free printalbe sheet ? Is there a free printalbe for the miis?
Thanks
The wii candy dispensers are also at Rite Aid. Our Rite Aid had them on the “impulse buy” rack for 1.99 each. Thanks for all the great ideas!
hello- I am interested in having a wii tournament at our senior center. We’re just getting going with this idea and I’m not sure where to start. I love the decoration ideas and will use them for our tournament but I have some other technical questions. We have a wii, do I need to purchase any additional software in order to have multiple players? If so, where do I go to do this? I think it will be a great party, I just need a little help getting started if you have the time.
Thank you,
amy
This is awesome! I’m planning a Wii bowling tournament as a fundraiser for my 3day breast cancer walk – the information that you have provided here will be invaluable to me during my planning! thanks!!
You can rent Wii’s at Best Buy’s. Hope this helps
Can people play from home online as well?
How did you raise money? Did you charge the guest to participate? How many people did you have and how much did you charge?
http://www.sowhatruplanning.blogspot.com/
I love this wii party idea, I am going to use some of the ideas for my son 13 year old birthday party.
But do anyone no how to print the mii?
Hi Sharon –
Here’s one tip suggested by a reader – go to this website: http://www.wiiplayable.com/playgame.php?gameid=157 and create a mii online, then print it out. You may need to take a screenshot of the mii though, because she noted having difficulty printing it out the “regular” way. If I hear of an easier way I’ll definitely pass the info along!
I found the Wii KLICK-ON Candy Dispensers 12 Pack online at Amazon for $21.87.
Love the party ideas. I am trying to incorporate them into our firm’s tax season activities. We will have a Wii bowling league in both of our offices to have some stress release for our accountants. We end the season with an after tax season party and I have gotten some ideas from this site! Thank you!
BEST THING! Got for my nephew’s birthday and the kids and partents had a blast! The lanes can be walked on, and sofas are very relaxing! What a great idea!
Having trouble finding a place to create Mii ‘s that can print.. Any sugestions?
so where did the mii on a stick come from those are super cute and i wanna do them please let me know
Ton and Roberta –
I’m not sure how Robin did these exactly, but here’s a site that looks like it helps with printable mii’s:
http://www.miicharacters.com/
Good luck! :)
Anyone know if there are actual wii bowling tournaments?
I searched “wii printables” and came up with a printable cutout you fold an glue into a treat box. super cute and easy I did mine on card stock.
JUST CURRIOUS…AFTER I WENT IN AND CREATED Mii’S FOR EACH PARTY GUEST, HOW DO I GET THEM TO “PRINT” OUT? I TRIED TAKING A PHOTO OF THEM ON THE TV, BUT THEY SHOW UP WEIRD, NOT CLEAR. T/Y KARI