Tips For Hiring A Great Bouncy Castle 

Hiring a bouncy castle is always a popular choice with kids, but castles come in a huge array of shapes and sizes.  They're all designed for different age groups and to cater to different requirements, so choosing the right one for you party may seem like a daunting task.  In this article we will aim to cover everything you need to know about hiring a bouncy castle in Bourne, Peterborough, Spalding or Stamford regardless of the occasion.

Is The Bouncy Castle Suitable?

The most important consideration is whether the bouncy castle will be suitable for your particular needs or not?  Does it fit the space you have?  Do you venue allow inflatables and will your choice accommodate all the children you want to invite?

Space

Different types of bouncy castle require different amounts of space.  Here at It's Funtime, all of our listings give the dimensions of the castle itself, but also the dimensions needed to safely fit the castle.  These 2 specifications are quite different as there needs to be sufficient space to ensure the castle isn't rubbing on any walls or fences, but enough space behind the castle for the blower and inflation tube and space at the front for crash mats.  It is always wise to check dimensions beofre booking though as if your chosen castle arrives and doesn't fit the space you have there's no guarantee that a different castle will be available and accessible to give a replacement.

Accessibility
 

The bouncy castle will arrive rolled up, put into location and then inflated.  This means the set up location needs to be accessible.  Not car accessible, as most castles can be wheeled on a sack truck, but bouncy castles are VERY heavy and steps and lack of gateway access can be a problem.  Here at It's Funtime we don't deliver to upstairs venues without a lift as it is too dangerous for our staff to drag 100kg bouncy castle upstairs. Likewise we avoid delivery to garden parties through a house due to potential damage of floors, walls and also the narrow width of internal doors.

We know access arrangements for most local halls, but if you don't have a standard driveway / side gate set up for your garden party then you should get in touch prior to booking to check delivery options.  We always recommend choosing a venue first so we can recommend exactly what will fit.

Set up requirements

There are certain requirements that need to be met to facilitate your bouncy castle hire.  You will need a standard household electrical socket in good working order.  We carry 20 metre extension cables as standard so you will need the power point to be within 20m of your set up location.

You will also need a flat surface.  It doesn't need to be perfectly flat, but does need to be relatively level.. a slope will not work.  If your garden is too small or on a slope we would strongly recommend hiring a hall to accommodate you party,

A clean area.  Again, not immaculately polished, but free from sharp objects, animal mess and other obstructions.  One thing people often overlook is washing lines.  If your washing line can be removed with no protruding parts then we can set up over the top, but concrete washing line posts cannot be moved!

Any other requirements - Outdoors our castles can only be set up on grass.  This is due to the need to anchor the castles to avoid wind issues.  Large rebar pegs are driven into the ground to anchor you castle down.  We do not set up outdoors on concrete, gravel, patio or anything else.  Indoors you will just need a large enough clear area to set up the castles as sandbags can be used to steady the castle.  You should NEVER allow a company to set up an outdoor inflatable for you using sandbags as they are just not sufficient outdoors.

In our next blog we'll be looking at checking what is and isn't included in your standard bouncy castle hire.