Our latest blog post looks at the mistakes most people make when selecting a jumping castle supplier for their next inflatable hire. This is a quick five minute read but may save you both money and a whole lot of stress!

We’ve combined our years of experience alongside thousands of successful bouncy castle hires to put this helpful guide together for you, so kick back with a coffee and take note before you look to hire your next jumping castle.

1. Selecting the cheapest bouncy castle hire you can find

Naturally like in any industry, you’re going to find varying prices for jumping castle hire as you scan the market. And just like with any other industry, the cheapest inflatable hire isn’t always the best option.

Despite the illusion that bouncy castle suppliers don’t do anything other than deliver and collect the jumping castle(s) for events, there’s a lot more that goes into ensuring your event runs smoothly and all of that costs money.

A business that “low-balls” consistently and is the cheapest in the market on everything should be ringing alarm bells or at least have you asking questions​ before you hire.

Here’s just a handful of things you probably haven’t thought about, that we believe is necessary in being able to provide you with both the best customer service as well as Brisbane’s best inflatable range.​

• Storage – Jumping castles are large, heavy and require vast amounts of storage space. Storage space equals $$$ When jumping castles aren’t stored in a dry environment, they’re easily damaged and can go mouldy, smelly and dirty. Did you order extra mould for your birthday party?

• Brizzy Jumping Castles stores all of their 70+ inflatables, fun food machines and party extras in a dry, secure warehouse on Brisbane’s Northside to ensure all inflatables are kept in the best condition possible.

• Insurance – Is the bouncy castle company you’re looking at fully insured? It’s a legal requirement for amusement hire suppliers to hold public liability insurance as well as other insurances like Work Cover

• We hold $20,000,000 public liability insurance on all our inflatables and equipment. This means we can supply and install at any public venue and Brisbane City Council park. Be careful with suppliers that only hold $5,000,000 or $10,000,000 liability (or none at all).

• Maintenance – Is one of the hugely overlooked aspects when people are selecting a jumping castle for their next event. If you’ve hired or seen a bouncy castle at an event before, you’ll quickly realise that even with the best of intentions, they’re soon filled with sand, grass, sweat and more. Ask the supplier you’re looking at hiring from how often they clean their castles:) You might receive a rude shock!

• A full time crew maintains, repairs and tests all of our equipment, each and every day to ensure you receive the cleanest jumping castle in Brisbane and that everything works the way it should at your event.

• Technology – How easy is it to contact your supplier at any stage of your booking? Do they answer the phone immediately? Do they phone you back if they missed your call? Can you email them? How easy and comprehensive is their website to evaluate the party hire products you’re interested in?

• Our new website dontstoptheparty.com.au is without a doubt, the most advanced party hire website in the industry. A full catalogue of our equipment with everything you need to know is available 24/7 either at your computer or on your mobile phone. When we say “everything you need to know”, we mean it. Sizes, space required, power required, large photos, videos, suitability and more! If you still can’t find what you need or have a question, we have a full time “Live Chat” team Mon-Fri meaning you can ask a question, book a product or inquire about your exisiting booking directly via our website in real time! 

• Range – Does the supplier have a decent range to select from? Most of our customers have various aged children or want to mix up the equipment they hire when compared to the previous year. Do they have party extras available like fairy floss machines, popcorn machines and snow cone machines to help create that extra little bit of excitement at your event?

• With over 70 jumping castles, inflatable games and sports inflatables, it’s more than likely Brizzy Jumping Castles has a jumping castle to hire that will suit your need. In addition, we have countless fun food machines and party extras like eskies and castle supervisors as well.

As you can see, running an inflatable business (just like any) brings with it many expenses. To stay in business, expenses need to be covered. If someone is consistently the cheapest, chances are they’re missing some of what we consider to be crucial aspects in supplying a jumping castle for hire.

2. Not comparing apples with apples

If you’ve never hired a jumping castle before, you’re likely going to get confused…especially if you ring around to a lot of suppliers. It’s hard to decipher what’s what and how they all stack up (take some time to read our other guide here (What should I check before hiring a jumping castle?).

Don’t be mislead in thinking that everything boils down to just price (see point 1) or size (see point 2). There are so many other factors to consider our leading customer service team can help you distinguish the best inflatable for your needs.​

When you have all of the information at hand, you can make an educated decision. For the sake of sometimes as little as a $20 price difference​, you can have so many more benefits included in the price that you just weren’t aware of before.

3. Thinking that bigger is better

Bigger isn’t always better:) Don’t just go for size…match the age range of your patrons (see point 6) to the inflatable you hire. There’s a host of factors involved including:

• The area you have available at your designated set up point
• The access available to that site
• The type of surface at that site
• Ease of power access
• Restrictions like power lines, garden beds or other dangerous materials nearby

And finally, think constructively. In reality, a “6-in-1” combo isn’t going to change your life when compared to a “5-in1” combo🙂 

Make matching the age of your patrons along with the quantity expected, your number one requirement!

4. Not reading reviews or feedback

If someone else has had a bad experience, you’ll want to know about it right? Reviews these days are easy to find and reviewing feedback from a jumping castle supplier should definitely be one of the things you tick off your checklist before finalising your booking. 

At Brizzy Jumping Castles, our customer service is second to none. It sounds cliched but we pride ourselves on having the industry’s best ratings and want our customers to come back time and time again. We ask for unbiased reviews after all of our bookings and are totally transparent in displaying them. Take a look at any of the platforms below for our impeccable record…we think it speaks for itself:​

We also have 60+ (and counting) reviews collected using our survey software after bookings! Read them all here.

5. Ignoring bouncy castle safety

Often people only think about the excitement that hiring a bouncy castle can bring to their event. There is however a serious side and that is safety. 

Many different aspects affect ​jumping castle safety including weather, surface type, installation procedure, equipment and more!

Our fully trained installation team has successfully managed thousands of jumping castle bookings with all sorts of varying logistics. We have the knowledge and experience to adapt either prior to a booking or whilst on site pending any altered conditions.​

• Equipment is one of the most over looked factors in the amusement hire industry. Take a look at some of the professional equipment we own and implement at every job and ask your potential castle supplier whether they carry the same:

• Anemometers – measure wind speed in real time on site
• Industry leading heavy duty and oversized anchor pegs – plain old tent pegs from the local camping store won’t cut it when anchoring down a jumping castle!
• Heavy duty commercial use extension leads all tested and tagged – funny but frightening to see some companies “piggy-backing” a whole bunch of household extension leads at sites
• Cable guards – used to hide extension leads that must be run through walkways

6. Selecting the wrong bouncy castle to save money

The first question you should be asking yourself when hiring a bouncy castle is who will be using it. We often find people will either:

• Overspend because they simply want the flashiest inflatable on the market or want to impress the other parents/patrons to the detriment of suitability
• Select the wrong inflatable to save money, again to the detriment of suitability

In both instances, money is being wasted! Here’s a quick example:

Jane is throwing a birthday party for her son’s 1st birthday. She’s invited lots of relatives and friends but there are only a few children coming, all of which are aged between 1 year and 4 years.

Jane wants to impress her family and books the 15 metre inflatable obstacle course directly online for the event. Everyone is marvelled by the size and intricacy of the various tunnels, poles and climbing walls but only two of the children could actually manoeuvre their way through all of the obstacles!

Some of the parents had a blast running through but overall the obstacle course went largely unused. Why? Jane didn’t match the age range of the guests to a suitable bouncy castle and instead wanted her family to see she’d hired one of the best castles available.

• Our product pages show definitive age ranges for every castle but if you’re unsure, just ask us!Our experience over thousands events means we can match up the best inflatable for both your type of event AND budget