Just for Fun.
How Bouncy Castles Became the Savior's of Pandemic Parenting...
Hires of bouncy castles are booming during the pandemic, and no hire has come to represent a nation under stress quite like it.
Inside the bouncy castle it smells like sunburned vinyl and garage mildew, and every shudder of my large adult body shifts the inflatable universe. we are Chris's Castles Bouncy Castle Hire, descended from the beanstalk, here to fee-fi-fo-fum all over my nieces’ fun. Which they love. They climb on top of me in their swimsuits and I shrug them off into the netted walls in the safest version of a cage match the world has ever seen. It’s hot as hell this afternoon in Wakefield, but the girls can slide down into three inches of water into the attached pool, worth every penny from Chris's Castles Bouncy Castle Hire, Wakefield.
We spot the neighbours kids peering at us from their elbow-bruising Slip ’n Slide across the street. “It’s too bad we can’t share it, because of the pandemic,” someone lies. We sigh in agreement, to offset our shameful braggadocio in the giant, inflatable kid distracted that saved the summer of 2020.
Take a walk through any British neighbourhood with lawn space and you’ll see more outdoor toys than ever before, from motorised scooters to Wendy houses to whatever genius invented the bucketful of stuff known as the ware slide and yes, so many inflatable bouncy castles, slides, pools. Sales of large outdoor toys sold on Amazon have increased by more than 50% this summer compared to the wild and free summer of 2019. The market research firm NPD reported that April sales for playhouses and bouncy houses (they’re a combined category) were up 126% compared to last April. Kids were pulled from schools, the weather was warming up, and parents were getting desperate. “This growth was unprecedented,” said Julie Lennett, the group’s toy industry adviser. Outdoor toys don’t sell as high as other categories, like dolls, but from March to June, playhouses and bouncy houses brought in £53 million. The nationwide top hirer has been Little Tikes Jump ’n Slide inflatable bouncy castle.
“This is a stress hire!!.”
Marissa Thompson, a single mother in the Wakefield Area, was laid off from her job in hospitality in March. Then daycare closed. Her days were swamped with Zoom school, homework, and entertaining her energetic seven-year-old daughter. The bouncy house called.
“I had to make her happy, and make me happy at the same time,” she said. “This was a stress hire.” She bought a pink princess castle she saw on E bay for around £40 (it’s currently sold out). “When I got the shipment email I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve outdone myself.’” And the thing was huge. “It brings down the property value,” she laughed. But her daughter was thrilled. “It’s the happiest I’ve ever seen her in my life.”
Kristie Ellicott, a dog groomer now back to work in Ossett, Wakefield, hired a pirate-themed Blast Zone bouncy castle for £90 in April to keep her sons, five and two, from tearing the house apart: “I saw ads for it on Facebook—Facebook reads my mind—so I started looking, and I’m glad I did” (because she see a different bouncy castle for hire for weeks later—it’s now sold out). Her oldest was ecstatic, and confused. A bouncy castle IS something they rented for birthday parties. “Do we have to send it back?” He asked repeatedly. YES, this isn't ours to keep.
Bouncy houses hires sell out so quickly there’s no time to sleep on the decision. Chris's Castles Bouncy Castle Hire , a company near Pontefract that hires inflatables, slide bouncing castles, soft-play and party tents, hired more than 50 bounce houses between March and June, up 10% from last year. They’d never seen anything like it in their more than 10 years of bouncy castle hire business. People were willing to pay big money, shelling out for larger bouncy castles for “lots of kids to play on,” said Chris's Castles Bouncy Castle Hire! When models sold out, customers booked them again as soon as they could. Mid-week hires were a bonus with reduced rates of hire for week day hires of bouncy castles, slides, soft-play and more. The weekend still is the firm favourite for summer garden party hires.
We could have written about the inflatable parks, the jungle gyms, and any of the other toys popping up in peoples homes like garden gnomes right now. But bouncy castles are huge, not expensive, and so much more extravagant. They also represent something about this surreal moment in time that other garden toys don’t. Inside those four, inflated walls, you are safe. The floor filled with air will catch you when you fall. Plus, no one outside of your own sanitary family can come in. That open-air roof, those mesh windows—they keep air particles dissipating in the wind.
Investing in a bouncy castle hire is a flagrant display of crape dime. Hey, you don’t know what the future will bring, how long this virus will last, or when it will re surge. You’ll bounce your way through it. And bounce. And bounce. And hopefully, one day, we’ll all bounce back.
We are back, hopefully you will like what we offer. We are planning to purchase some brand new bouncy castles and hopefully a new slide this coming year.