Buying your Bouncy Castles

We looked at many different companies when buying our Bouncy Castles and you will find that there is a great price variation between companies. Like most things in life it is very true with Bouncy Castles, that you get what you pay for.

Some companies are very cheap and we would advise you be very wary of the quality of these Bouncy Castles, they are probably single stitched and may require repairing more often than better Bouncy Castles. Remember that you need something that is going to last well and last you for enough hires to recoup your investment, make a profit and also keep a decent resale value at the end. If you can, if the company is local, go along to see the Bouncy Castles before you buy. We normally work on 20 hires to clear the purchase cost. This may be different according to the type of castle you buy.

Some companies are very expensive, you will find that these will probably be very good quality, triple stitched everywhere and made to a very high standard. This is brilliant as they will obviously stand up to a lot more punishment and will last you longer. The only disadvantage of buying this type of quality is that you will find the Bouncy Castles heavier and larger when you wrap them which means you will fit fewer on your van and will find them more awkward to handle and store.

When setting up your business we would suggest that you go for something between these two, if you buy mid range you want to look for something still of good quality that will last for at least three or four seasons of hire. These will generally be good quality and double stitched. Something that is priced between the two will hopefully bring in enough money to allow you to expand, buy more units and maybe later on look at the top end of the range when established.

We were restricted in funding when starting up the business and started with two bouncy Castles, a 12’ by 15’ bouncy castle and 15’ by 18’ Adult Bouncy Castle. This cost us a total of £1500.00 approximately. This range allowed us to cater for toddlers, children up to 14 years, and adults.

If you want an adult range to the Bouncy Castles we would suggest either Sumo Wrestling Suits or a Gladiator Ring with Pujil sticks (although make sure these do not have a metal bar in).

TIP: If you do buy a ball pond you can obviously hire it out as a ball pond or a Bouncy Castle. If you hire it out as a Ball Pond charge an extra £20 in cash above the hire price of the castle, £10 of which you will refund if all of the balls are back in the bags when you collect the Ball Pond. The reason behind this is that on a day with many deliveries you can’t really afford the extra 20 minutes it will take to collect together all of the balls. The customer shouldn’t mind as towards the end of the party they can make a game of having the children collect the balls together and put them back in bags. It is also worth noting that the balls take up a lot of space on the van but only give a small financial return.

When selecting what Bouncy Castles to buy aim to have a varied range that covers all age groups, but don’t worry too much about what will be popular. You will find over time that they will all pull in roughly the same revenue. The children’s Bouncy Castles will be a lot more popular but with specialist equipment like Sumo Suits, Gladiator Rings, Fun Runs and Bouncy Boxing you will find that they will not be hired out as often but you can charge more for hire.

Six months after our initial purchase we were able to purchase a second hand Bouncy Castle from a playgroup for £200, shortly followed by a 26’ long Fun Run and a 12’ by 14’ Bouncy Castle with a 6’ slide on the side for £3,102. The last two were new. Please note that buying second hand Bouncy Castles is a risky business and you should inspect them very closely.

Six months later we added a second hand 10’ by 10’ for £600 and new Sumo Wrestling Suits for £700. The main advantage of the Sumo Wrestling Suits is that they are very easy to deliver and collect, as they do not require inflating but can still be hired at a good rate. These can be delivered by car or collected by the hirer.

Shortly after this we added a range of party games to our stock. This included Giant 10, Pin Bowling, Giant Jenga, Giant Snakes and Ladders, Garden Darts and Giant Connect 4. Some of these you can buy from DIY stores or major supermarkets. If you add this range we suggest that you stay away from the Garden Darts as these are only for adults and could be dangerous around children. They are not as popular as the other games. The main advantage of the party games is that you will mainly hire these with a Bouncy Castle, which will increase the price of the hire but still only be one delivery and collection. We hire individual games out only with the hire of a castle however we do hire out the games as a complete package in our local area.

You should make sure that you keep enough money in your business to allow you to expand every six months or at least every year. You will also need to replace certain part of your stock every now and again and must have the money set aside to do this.

The company that we use to purchase equipment was Andy J Leisure. Andy J Leisure is based in Liverpool.

Don’t worry about purchasing your Bouncy Castles from different areas of the country, as it is reasonably cheap to have them couriered. The prices I quoted above for the inflatables that we purchased included delivery.

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