Page 2 | To get a bouncy castle?

Icanttakethisanymore · 2025-05-18T20:59:40+00:00

It’s our LB’s 4th birthday soon. We’ve invited 11 kids from nursery and 8 have RSVP’d so far (all are coming). I’ve suggested a bouncy castle (we’re having the party at home). DP thinks I’m nuts, as does my DM (although she’s notoriously hysterical so I’m less surprised by that). Parents will be staying, given their ages and (3 and 4) and there’ll be lots of adult family numbers around too. What do you think?

BeMintFatball · 19/05/2025 09:08

I lived in a terraced house with a long skinny garden when DD1 was 4 her party was bouncey slide. Great fun. No injuries. Party tea and a few games so nobody was exhausted. My top tip play Sleeping Lions when the kids need calming down 😂

TinyTempest · 19/05/2025 10:22

Caligirl80 · 19/05/2025 09:02

Paediatric A&E doctors absolutely LOATHE bouncy castles...they see loads of bouncy castle accidents and injuries every year. The major concern with them (as well as trampolines) is the risk of broken backs - and as someone who has had spine surgery myself I would never EVER allow a child on one for that reason (plus head injuries).
Then there's the risk of concussion from kids whacking their heads into each other - again, not great.
And the falling/busted arms/busted lips/biting through tongues etc etc.

And if the potential injuries weren't bothersome enough then there's the issue of what happens when a child does get injured: it can cause all kinds of drama in friend groups. Plus liability claims - I know of one parent who had to fend off a civil suit after a kid at her son's birthday party got horribly injured (some kind of facial scarring was involved plus concussion) on a bouncy castle - the parent sued the bouncy castle company and the parent who through the party. Which whether they got anywhere or not with the suit was still tremendously worrisome and anxiety making. Plus their home owners insurance REFUSED to provide liability coverage for bouncy castle-related injuries on the property.

It's not worth the agro. Rent a company that has soft play stuff if you want to spend some money. Or just have a normal child's birthday party with party games etc.

Blimey, that's quite the reaction there.

How do you feel about bikes, scooters and rollerskates?

Mindyourfunkybusiness · 19/05/2025 10:36

@Caligirl80 that's very bad luck for you, and clearly traumatising if you won't let kids live a bit.

I'll make sure my family get the memo about having to loathe bouncy castles, they were on them when the kids were done 😂 even with all their medical knowledge and the whole needing their hands to work. Their kids were on it too!

You can hire paramedics to events if I'm not mistaken OP. They can be on standby. I've never thought of that but we have Dr's at our events (family) but we've never had mishaps and I never thought of it that way. I've been hosting a decade now regularly not just on bdays/holidays etc we have regular meet ups with family and friends and we've never needed medical attention for mishaps and that includes kids parties but you could be unlucky any time.

AnonMJ · 19/05/2025 11:36

Caligirl80 · 19/05/2025 09:02

Paediatric A&E doctors absolutely LOATHE bouncy castles...they see loads of bouncy castle accidents and injuries every year. The major concern with them (as well as trampolines) is the risk of broken backs - and as someone who has had spine surgery myself I would never EVER allow a child on one for that reason (plus head injuries).
Then there's the risk of concussion from kids whacking their heads into each other - again, not great.
And the falling/busted arms/busted lips/biting through tongues etc etc.

And if the potential injuries weren't bothersome enough then there's the issue of what happens when a child does get injured: it can cause all kinds of drama in friend groups. Plus liability claims - I know of one parent who had to fend off a civil suit after a kid at her son's birthday party got horribly injured (some kind of facial scarring was involved plus concussion) on a bouncy castle - the parent sued the bouncy castle company and the parent who through the party. Which whether they got anywhere or not with the suit was still tremendously worrisome and anxiety making. Plus their home owners insurance REFUSED to provide liability coverage for bouncy castle-related injuries on the property.

It's not worth the agro. Rent a company that has soft play stuff if you want to spend some money. Or just have a normal child's birthday party with party games etc.

Sibling of a paediatric A&E consultant here and friends with plenty of A&E consultants too.
we all allow - even encourage - our kids to go on bouncy castles, trampoline, roller skates, play rugby, hockey, cricket, etc

they even hosted a party in an amazing adventure warehouse where there were plenty of “dangers”

there are risks with most activities.

kids need to live and learn and have fun.

it’s how you manage the risk that matters.

Biggest fear is a bouncy castle blows away. That is catastrophic. So if it’s in your garden consider where to site it safely. Anchor it
have fun.

if my kids were young and we had the right kind of garden I would get a bouncy castle.

however we have a HUGE trampoline. you could have a party on it. The kids love it and often use it unsupervised <Gasp>
ditto swings.

AnonMJ · 19/05/2025 11:37

@Caligirl80totally understand where you are coming from. So sorry to hear of your surgery and why you would be more protective of your kids.

Hope your back is manageable now

AnonMJ · 19/05/2025 11:38

MoistVonL · 19/05/2025 09:02

We always go for the bouncy slide option - everyone moves in the same direction, so no collisions.

They are always a big hit and has the bonus of absolutely knackering them out.

Oh yes. My kids LOVE those bouncy slides. Have always fancied a go myself.

perhaps I should hire one for my birthday!

ImFineItsAllFine · 19/05/2025 11:41

Just make sure you have a really good plan b for if the weather is bad as (assuming it'd be in the garden) you can't have a bouncy castle in the rain/wind.

LilDeVille · 19/05/2025 11:44

A perfectly normal idea.

MoistVonL · 19/05/2025 12:37

AnonMJ · 19/05/2025 11:38

Oh yes. My kids LOVE those bouncy slides. Have always fancied a go myself.

perhaps I should hire one for my birthday!

Show quote history

Do it! They are so much fun!

Dstoat · 19/05/2025 12:52

Bouncy castles are much safer than trampolines. I’d definitely go for it.

Original poster

Icanttakethisanymore · 19/05/2025 22:15

Thank you everyone! I think we’ll go for a bouncy slide 🥳

OP posts:

PeloMom · 20/05/2025 06:29

TinyTempest · 18/05/2025 22:01

You haven't said what the problem might be?

If it's accidents, just make sure you have an adult on 'castle duty' the whole time who only lets an agreed amount of children on at any one time.

I'm sure it'll be fine.

Edited

This👆. As long as there’s a constant person managing the flow and making sure kids are fairly taking turns and only a set amount of them jump, should be ok. The worst bouncy castle parties we’ve been to is where the host was counting on each parent to watch their own kid - ie no one really in charge- and was a complete chaos.

JellyAnd · 20/05/2025 06:57

Caligirl80 · 19/05/2025 09:02

Paediatric A&E doctors absolutely LOATHE bouncy castles...they see loads of bouncy castle accidents and injuries every year. The major concern with them (as well as trampolines) is the risk of broken backs - and as someone who has had spine surgery myself I would never EVER allow a child on one for that reason (plus head injuries).
Then there's the risk of concussion from kids whacking their heads into each other - again, not great.
And the falling/busted arms/busted lips/biting through tongues etc etc.

And if the potential injuries weren't bothersome enough then there's the issue of what happens when a child does get injured: it can cause all kinds of drama in friend groups. Plus liability claims - I know of one parent who had to fend off a civil suit after a kid at her son's birthday party got horribly injured (some kind of facial scarring was involved plus concussion) on a bouncy castle - the parent sued the bouncy castle company and the parent who through the party. Which whether they got anywhere or not with the suit was still tremendously worrisome and anxiety making. Plus their home owners insurance REFUSED to provide liability coverage for bouncy castle-related injuries on the property.

It's not worth the agro. Rent a company that has soft play stuff if you want to spend some money. Or just have a normal child's birthday party with party games etc.

Don’t generalise. The last party DS was invited to the parents are a paediatrician surgeon and a GP and they had, yup, a bouncy castle.

I think they’re great for LOs unless you try to cheap out and get one that’s supposed to be for 6 kids for the entire reception class- seen that a few times and it’s not pretty!

Natsku · 20/05/2025 07:25

Bouncy castles are fab, I still remember my friend's birthday party being the best because he had a bouncy castle.

I had one for my 17th birthday and everyone loved it

Caligirl80 · 20/05/2025 07:54

JellyAnd · 20/05/2025 06:57

Don’t generalise. The last party DS was invited to the parents are a paediatrician surgeon and a GP and they had, yup, a bouncy castle.

I think they’re great for LOs unless you try to cheap out and get one that’s supposed to be for 6 kids for the entire reception class- seen that a few times and it’s not pretty!

Show quote history

Either your friends aren't the most responsible docs in the room, or you're just making that up to be contrary. There are plenty of studies published by A&E and ER doctors that demonstrate a notable danger of fractures - including fractured vertebrae - and concussions/head injuries. If you choose to ignore well understood and recognised dangers that's your deal - but there's no way I'd do so when there are so many other safer ways to entertain children.

If you all bothered to do some basic Google searches you would find plenty of examples of the dangers of bouncy castles, together with examples of parents who have been sued because children were hurt on their property while using a bouncy castle. If you choose to ignore those dangers and put not only your child but also other people's children in danger then that's up to you - but you need to be prepared to pick up the pieces (including severe financial ones) if something goes wrong.

As for the person who asked about bikes etc. People generally don't give other people's children a bike etc, absolutely no protective equipment, and then go tell them to go crash into each other. If you want to give your own kid a bike and no protective equipment then that's on you - the dangers are well understood. But putting other people's children in danger is a completely different situation.

Caligirl80 · 20/05/2025 08:02

AnonMJ · 19/05/2025 11:37

@Caligirl80totally understand where you are coming from. So sorry to hear of your surgery and why you would be more protective of your kids.

Hope your back is manageable now

Thank you - appreciate it. It's very surprising to me to see how nonchalant people are not only about their own children, but about the safety of other people's children - particularly when there's plenty of evidence of the dangers. But I guess that's what keeps A&Es and personal liability lawyers in business.

Thank you for your note about my back - sadly no, and it won't really ever be. It was damaged in two places by my abusive ex-husband beating me up and chucking me down some stairs. Needed major surgery to be able to walk again. Need more surgery - but the damage is in an area where it could make things worse - so severe pain management is how life is - it's not going to get better sadly.

Alas when I was in the A&E (with no separate paediatric centre) a child came in with a bouncy castle injury. The poor kid had fractured one of their vertabrae and the parents were utterly beside themselves - the child had been a guest at a birthday party. The dad was furious with the mum for letting the kid attend as he wasn't aware there was a bouncy castle etc etc etc. When they took the child to the ward I could hear the consultant/nurses etc etc all discussing the number of injuries they'd already seen that month from bouncy castles and trampolines - it was clear it wasn't the first spinal trauma the'd treated recently.