Thanks very much for the info. I'll try to call a local center and find how much it costs to rent a bunch of lanes. Then I'll try to mark it up for my fundraising profit and also do those raffles you all mentioned. Other ideas are still welcome! Thanks!

We are actually doing a Candlelight Bowl tomorrow night, March 6th. This used to be done yearly, but it has been a few years since the last one.
I am not chairing this event, but could pass on what I know. I may be more help after tomorrow.
We have reserved 1/2 the lanes at a local bowling alley, 16 lanes for our group. We charged $20pp or $40/couple which includes dinner, 3 games of bowling, crazy bowling and all, lol, and door prizes ($10 gift certificates) for each couple. We have 54 couples attending and have 3 teams per lane. I am clueless on the bowling part right now. We have enlisted the help of our wonderful room reps to put together "raffle baskets" donated by each grade, and the faculty donated one also! We were able to purchase a portable DVD player, a spacesaver kitchen clock radio, and a $50.00 Sony Movie Card to be included in the raffle. So, as of right now, there are no costs to our organization. We are hoping the raffle will pull in a decent amount of money, the competition is unbelievable! So, basically, we will make our money off of the raffle. Now, for the record, we are a SMALL school, total 200 kids. I am sure a large school would have to worry about overfilling a bowling alley. You could even make it a "Family Bowling Night", the kids would love it. Any questions? I can answer them after the event, some time next week. Hope this helps.

Have you spoken to any bowling alleys to see if they have done this before? Maybe there's someone in your town who already has a system set up. Most bowling alleys do tournaments. I bet they've done some kind of fundraiser or charity tournament before.

Many thanks for the reply. Can you tell me a little more about your event with the bowling alley? Did you have to reserve a bunch of lanes from the alley and then "resell" the lanes to your attendees for your fundraising profit? Did they give you any sign up sheets or anything to help you sell it to your sponsors? Did you have to pay a deposit or guarantee a certain price to them?

Thanks a lot. Sorry to be a pest. I'm also interested in hearing about others' experiences with this idea....

A school in our town did Cosmic Bowling - for grown ups only! Our youth football organization does as well. They seem to be very profitable. You have a dinner catered in and then bowling with all the crazy twists of cosmic bowling. They usually charge $20-$25 per person to cover the cost of dinner/bowling and the rest is profit.
They also have a ton of raffles etc. It is also a lot of FUN!

Has anyone ever done a bowl-a-thon or other bowling related activity to raise money? If so, what can you recommend to consider when doing a bowling event?