Jumping castles for child's birthday party..

[Mandi]

Okay Dennis.. NO clue where to put this.. move as you see fit.

I'm trying to start pricing stuff for Micayla's birthday. I am considering renting a jumping castle for her & her friends. I know that they'd absolutely love it. It's not overly expensive.. I think $75 for a 13x13 one for up to 5 hours.

Has anyone else ever rented one? Did it all turn out okay? While I know the kids would love it, I'm wondering about liability if someone would be hurt. We'll either do the party here at our house and have it in the backyard, or we'll do it at the park I think. Not sure that one or the other makes much of a difference as far as that goes though.

Just looking for your thoughts/opinions on it.

[MamaGoofy]

We had one and a couple of the birthdays that we have been to had one. They are great! As long as the children follow the rules No wrestling, no toys, food, or drink in the castle they shouldn't get hurt. They usually have a mat just outside in case they come flying out of the castle (like I did). I say go for it. It wears out the kids and they take a great nap afterwards! ;)

[Gerri]

We have a good friend who has a huge one he bought at Costco and we used it for both of the girls parties last summer. The kids had a total blast. I would do it again in a heartbeat. All of the children that attended were with their parents, and no one got hurt so everything worked out well.

[Cat]

I had one for DD's birthday party and it was great, and we are planning in renting one again.

As above you need to make sure that kids follow the saftey rules as already mentioned another added one is to make sure the kids have no shoes on.

All the parents that were at the party told me their kids were so tired after the party they went straight to bed with no fuss :lol:

[Kaybee711]

My sister always has one for DN's birthday's. Not a one bad thing has happened yet. Best thing of all, keeps the kids occupied. I don't mind playing in it either! :biggrin: As long as they are supervised everything usually works out fine.

[Cami]

My niece had one a couple years ago on her birthday and it was great. The kids loved it and didn't want to leave it. No problems with anything. Although the parents generally stayed right outside the castle and watched their kids. I don't know about a park~ they might have liability issues.

[Shel]

Make sure you have an adult watching at all times! We went to a place that set up bounce houses etc for parties and they said most rental agreements will state that you have an adult watching at all times.

[Dennis]

Okay Dennis.. NO clue where to put this.. move as you see fit.

Party planning seems to be a good fit.

[Mandi]

Didn't even know we had a party forum. :lol:

Great.. I'm so glad that you all had good experiences. I'm pretty sure we're going to rent one and likely do it here. My main reason for wanting to do it here is that I don't want to worry about non-party kids trying to use the jumping castle, kwim? I remember going to one that my DH's godson had and all these kids that weren't invited to the party kept trying to get into it. :rolleyes: And of course we'd have quite a few parents at all times out there. Since we're talking 3-4 year olds I'm assuming they aren't about to just drop their kids off here. :dunno:

[Jen]

We've had one a few times as well. I love them. You get to keep the kids from trashing your house and they get all their energy out in a fun way. I think the parents should be responsible for watching their own kids. It's usually not an issue, as long as kids aren't being too rough and pushing each other down, etc.

Homeowners insurance might cover anyone who got hurt and wanted compensation :dunno:.

That rate sounds about right too. Just be sure the weather is nice. We have a friend who rents them and he let us keep it for a week and it got rained on. He said it takes about 2 weeks for it to dry out if it gets that wet. Oops.

[Nichole]

I've been to a couple of parties where they had one (in a park, btw. and we never had issues with random kids getting in). It was pretty well understood that each parent was responsible for watching their own kid in it, and there were no problems. :aok:

[Mandi]

Well I just reserved it for her birthday at our house. I think the guy was like wtf b/c I was reserving it weeks in advance. But b/c I wanted the Dora jumping castle I wanted to make sure I did it early. Cayla's going to be so excited!

[Hannabanana]

I bought one last year for Hanna's birthday from Costco ... she loves it. In the summer we'd set it up every weekend and let her bounce to her hearts content (and get tired!) :lol:

[Bridget]

I've been to a couple of parties where they had one (in a park, btw. and we never had issues with random kids getting in). It was pretty well understood that each parent was responsible for watching their own kid in it, and there were no problems. :aok:

Same, except this was in a neighborhood and the neighbor kids were all invited. The kids love it!

[Girlo]

We borrowed one for Alex's 2nd birthday and it was a HUGE hit!! It's fairly small, and we just cleared out the furniture from half our family room and put it there. If he had a summer birthday (or we lived in a warmer place, like AZ :) ), we would have had it outside with an extension cord.

I'd say go for it!! :aok:

[jenr812]

How fun! DH co-owns one with his boss as a side business. Be sure that the girls take out any hair clips and no eyeglasses inside. No jewelry. Try to keep things dry - it gets slippery (not to mention mildewy for the owner :dead: ). Be sure you have a level area to set it up on that is nearby to a power supply. Also, if by chance it deflates (happens often!) due to the plug being dislodged or a circuit overload, don't panic - just hold it open and get the kiddos out ASAP, then turn it back on. Have a great party :balloons: