Bouncy Castle Extra Equipment

As well as the Bouncy Castles there are some other important purchases to make:

Blowers: These are usually supplied by the manufacturer with the Bouncy Castle purchase.

Tarpaulins: It is very important to put tarps down under your Bouncy Castles to protect the bottoms from loose stones and gravel etc. Also if there is dog mess, which you should ask the hirer to clear, that you have missed or it rains and gets very muddy it is a lot easier and quicker cleaning tarps than the Bouncy Castle.

Traffic Cones: These are very useful to put two or three around the blower behind the Bouncy Castle to warn children to stay away from the equipment. This reinforces our safety advice to hirers.

Mats: If you have a Fun Run or Slides or equipment such as this it is a good idea to use gym mats at the bottom of the slides for protection for the users – especially if you hire the equipment to halls. We don’t generally use mats on normal Bouncy Castles unless we are supplying them to a hall because they all have safety steps attached.

Pegs: It is a good idea to have several pegs to secure the Castles, as they usually do not come with pegs supplied. It is important that the Bouncy Castle doesn’t move around too much, as if it does and ends against a wall or fence or tree stump it will damage the Bouncy Castle very quickly. Don’t forget that you will need a hammer to knock the pegs in.

Sandbags: When hiring in a hall you will obviously not be able to secure the Bouncy Castle with pegs. We made our own sandbags with pillowcases containing bags of sand from a landscape garden centre.

Straps: These are required to wrap around the Bouncy Castle in order to handle it.

Sack Barrow: We have two, both with inflatable tyres. You will need one to transport Bouncy Castles from your van to the erection site. The reason we have two is that we have suffered from punctures on a couple of occasions, so the spare has been useful.

Rope: You will find rope useful for several things, from securing the sandbags on the Bouncy Castles to securing rain covers.

Extension Leads: You will need several good outdoor extension leads. We have several 25 metre leads and some 30 metre leads. We always attempt not to piggy-back extension leads as this can be dangerous.

RCD’s: You should have these attached to the extension leads to plug the blowers in to. It doesn’t matter where on the power supply you attach the RCD and it will protect the customers’ house from any power surge or power problem.

Rain Covers: Castles usually come with rain covers supplied but do check when ordering.

Cockpit Shine: This can be very useful if you have any slides either on their own or attached to castle. Slides normally come with an added cover and spraying with Cockpit Shine can prevent them marking and keep them looking good. Cans of this product are difficult to find but some D.I.Y. stores do carry them..

Card Index: Keep a card with details of every hirer. This can be very useful when sending out details of any new stock to existing customers or simply to remind you are still in business.

Diary: You will need to keep a record of your bookings.

TIP: It is helpful when coming to sell a unit to have a record showing the number of hires as prospective buyers may ask for this information.