Christmas Flair

I take back everything I said about holiday sweater parties - Bowling was wicked fun on Saturday. Awkwardness avoided.

So after my sweater tirade last week, I reluctantly signed up for E&A's Ugly Christmas Sweater Bowling Party. Why not?

When Saturday came, I still hadn't procured a hideous holiday pullover and I opted to make my own.

After a visit to my local dollar store, a big shoutout to Amy's Loonie Toonie Town, I went back to my apartment armed with a bag of hideous ornaments and two small boxes of safety pins. I found an old tartan sweater and started with my largest piece of Christmas flair, a foot-long stocking adorned with a Santa face. Using eight of the safety pins, I attached the stocking to the front of my sweater at a diagonal angle across my chest. Then I set to work pinning a number of the other little pieces of Christmas junk to my front.

The crowning touch to my holiday Frankenstein was a wire line of Christmassy tinsel stars that I wrapped around my left arm, from my palm to my neck. Why my left arm? Because my right arm was for bowling! Gotta keep your eye on the prize over the holidays.

The event was held at Rev's, just off Lougheed Highway in Burnaby. The alley is adjacent to the rec centre where we played Wally Ball the other week.

When I arrived, I was relieved to see that everyone from our club had stuck to the dress code. I seemed to be in the majority, with most of the sweaters being of the homemade variety. I have to say, there was a lot of creativity on display. From a skin tight neon green undershirt with a sweater vest pullover, to a Colorado ski club zip-up with added tinsel to boost the ugliness, we were the stars over Bethlehem.

I was matched with two ladies and two gents on the far lane. One of my partners entered my name in the bowling computer, but I guess he misheard me, so for the rest of the night I was known as 'Derby.' Awesome! If only I could have engraved it on my woollen masterpiece.

As far as natural bowling talent, we were all working with the same skill set. We alternated from double gutters, to the odd spare, to the very occasional, but much celebrated, strike.

A mix of 90s and modern hip hop played over the speaker system. This provided a needed soundtrack for our victory dances.

Unlike the Commodore lanes in downtown Vancouver, Rev's allows you to bring your drinks to the playing area - a nice touch. We were also given a free pizza for salty performance enhancement.

I talked with a few of the other members in the lane beside us, but I didn't get a chance to chat with one ridiculously cute girl. Fingers crossed she comes out to the next event.

So far the highlight of my holiday activities.