bounce house Archives - Page 3 of 3

After School Cool: Using a Bounce House to Keep Kids Focused

October 7, 2015January 9, 2018 BlastZone Leave a comment

It's that time of year! BACK TO SCHOOL! — It’s that time of year! BACK TO SCHOOL!

Back-to-School season is upon us. For many children, school has been in session for about a month. Now families are re-working their normal schedules to fit around the school day. Everyone’s day is a little bit different depending on what activities you may have lined up. While some parents may be working out a carpool schedule for after school sports, practices, or music lessons, others are working on getting their kids to finish up their homework and chores before dinner time.

Kids are human too, and they too can get a bit burnt out by a long day’s work. We’ve all heard James Howell’s proverb, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” That might just be true! While of course, there are plenty of things that simply must be done each day, it is also true that breaking the day up with a little bit of fun can make a long day feel a bit shorter.

During the school-day, there is a reason that kids are given recess. They need a break. In fact, according to Larry Silver, M.D. kids who receive a mid-day break from school work display an improved ability to stay on task.

You might find your family somewhere in the spectrum between busy and bored, but we can help you find ways to entertain your children after school. Whether it is in between other activities or all afternoon, there are a lot of ways to offer kids a bit of distraction.

During the back to school season, kids are more restless and rambunctious than usual after focusing on their school work all day. By the time they get home, it’s been hours since recess and they’ve probably been sitting at a desk for quite a while.

If your schedules are tight, finding time for a bit of fun may be no easy feat. Getting kids to step away from what they are working on for even just a few minutes can give them the pick-me-up they might need. You can accomplish this by suggesting a brief activity to refresh their minds.

Taking the dog for a quick walk around the neighborhood (Fido wouldn’t object) is a great way to fill two needs with one deed. No dog? No problem. You can also try challenging them to a quick competition. Race them around the block or challenge them to a dance off (and don’t be too discouraged if they win).

For those days when going outside is not an option, you can still take a quick snack break or a few minutes of movement to stretch and shake out the day’s tension. Brain Den also offers an awesome selection of fun puzzles and brain teasers.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL-MCindoor — The Blast Zone Magic Castle is perfect for outdoor and indoor use!

If you have more free time in the afternoons a bike ride or spending some time outside bouncing on a bounce house is sure to be a welcome distraction, especially if you limit screen time for your little ones.

At first, a bounce house may not seem like a conventional form of entertainment at home but this idea is becoming a more common choice for families due to the easy set up and minimal clean up involved. You may have the impression that bounce houses are only for parties, but bouncers are a great way to get the blood flowing after school.

As the fall season approaches, using an inflatable at home makes even more sense. As the weather becomes unpredictable, a bounce house can be moved inside to avoid the elements. The Magic Castle Bounce House is great because it is big enough to excite kids but compact enough to fit in the house on a stormy day.

The “what” is typically not as important as the “why” when it comes to entertaining kids after school. Keeping them busy does help to keep them out of trouble in addition to supporting their growth in general, but giving them a little time to step away from work and have some fun each afternoon keeps them engaged and focused on the tasks thrown at them each day.

Mail Zone: Indoor Setup, Custom Business Packages, and Upgrading Blowers

September 23, 2015January 9, 2018 BlastZone Leave a comment

Meri Asks:

Why do my setup instructions tell me not to set the item up on carpet?

Blast Zone:

The general reason we state not to install the inflatable on carpet in the assembly instructions is to keep you mindful of the surface that you are setting up on. While level, soft grass is the ideal location for a bouncer, we do understand that our inflatables are also purchased for indoor use. Some carpeted surfaces can be very hard, such as industrial carpeting without padding, but most homes use a standard type of carpeting that is much softer. The main point of the precaution is to advise against using on hard surfaces.

Another point to the safety precaution is that products cannot be properly anchored with the stakes, but provided you use sand bags, this is irrelevant, as the sand bags are designed to make the product indoor-compatible. If you feel you’d like additional padding around the entry way, you can also place a blanket, folded or otherwise, to your liking, underneath the entry ramp.

Generally, we advise the use of common-sense safety practices at all times. If your location seems unsafe for any reason, do not set up your inflatable there! This would include very hard surfaces, area rugs that are not secured onto the flooring, obstructions, cramped spaces, etc.

Salina Asks:

I need to buy a commercial package, but I would like to modify your package. How do custom packages work?

Blast Zone:

You can modify existing packages using the drop boxes on the package page before adding the item to your cart. These drop boxes allow for minor alterations such as changing the size or color scheme on one of the included inflatables. You can also switch out any inflatable in a package for something different by creating a custom package.

Our custom commercial packages are a great alternative to the existing, already created business packages on our website. If you don’t see a package that contains the right items for you, you can create one from scratch or modify existing packages, deciding on which items will be included.

Our custom packages work by offering different discount levels depending on the total value of your package. Your package would include one hand truck and a set of sandbags for each inflatable for weighted anchoring. You will decide on which inflatables to include. When all items are added together at full retail, your total will determine the level of discount that you would qualify for. Packages with a value of $2,500.00 USD or more qualify for a 10% discount, packages with a value of $4,000.00 USD or more qualify for a 15% discount, and packages with a value of $5,000.00 USD or more qualify for a 20% discount.

If you are interested in creating a custom package or if you would like to modify an existing package, give our commercial sales team a call at 877-889-4685 (option 2). We would be happy to put together a quote for your custom package to let you know the best price that we can offer on a customized business package.

Linda Asks:

My castle isn’t firm enough. Can I upgrade to a stronger blower?

Blast Zone:

We do not recommend using a blower that is stronger than what comes included with your inflatable. We include the correct blower for each inflatable, one that is designed to provide the proper air support for your inflatable.

We manufacture our inflatables to meet the guidelines of ASTM safety standards. Per these standards, our inflatables are meant to be a little “soft” so that it provides a pillowy landing surface for anyone bouncing inside. Using a stronger blower would cause your inflatable bouncer to be too firm. It would fail to softly cushion a jumper’s landing.

Using a stronger blower not only makes your landing surface a lot firmer, it can also cause your inflatable to become too rigid. This results in a tighter bounce platform, which many would describe as being not quite “bouncy enough”.

In our Blast Zone Mail Zone series, we answer good questions submitted by you, our great customers. Pardon us if we repeat ourselves occasionally. Some questions are asked frequently, and worth answering more than once!

Blast Zone appreciates your questions. If you’d like to submit a Mail Zone Question, please email us at mailbag@blastzone.com. For immediate assistance, feel free to call us at 877-889-4685, or email us at service@blastzone.com

Mail Zone: Setting Up on a Slope, Financing, and Bouncers for Adults

September 14, 2015January 10, 2018 BlastZone 1 Comment

Kristin Asks:

Hi, I ordered the Spray n Splash inflatable park and was planning to use it in my backyard for a pool party today. However, we have a slight slope in the yard going down, at about a 10% grade. Is this OK?

Blast Zone:

Though a level surface would be ideal, we understand that this is not possible for everyone. Because your slope is not too extreme, it should be fine. We do recommend setting the slide up so that the water does not pool up against the base of the slide. It is better to have the outer rim of the splash area to be downhill from the slide.

Please use common-sense safety practices at all times. If your location seems unsafe for any reason, do not set up your inflatable there! This would include unsafe slopes, loose soil, obstructions, power lines, bear caves, volcanoes, etc.

Grass is idea for setting up an inflatable — Grass is ideal for setting up an inflatable.

Luke Asks:

Do you do financing, lease to own, to individuals? Or is that only for businesses? I am really interested in financing one of your bounce houses.

Blast Zone:

We do offer financing through our third party financing partner, Leasestation. Financing is only available for commercial orders and you can apply online, directly through our website. When you submit your application, be sure to apply for the total amount that you’d need to cover all of your equipment costs. For example, if you’re interested in an inflatable that costs $2,000.00 and you also want to add accessories that cost an additional $300.00, you would want to add in the cost of the accessories from our website to the total of the inflatable to get your total equipment cost. If you are unsure of your pricing, give us a call and we’d be happy to help out.

At this time Leasestation is only offering financing to businesses, so you would require an EIN or tax ID in order to be approved. If you are planning to start up a new business and do not yet have an EIN, you can apply for one online. It takes about 15 minutes to complete the application. You can still apply without your EIN initially, but the application will be pending until an EIN is provided.

You should find out instantly whether you are approved for financing or not, but if you do not get an immediate response, it may mean that Leasestation needs a little more information from you in order to proceed. Once you have been approved for financing, give our sales team a call at 877-889-4685 and be sure to mention that your order is being financed. Once you’ve decided on the items you want and have placed an order, our sales team will transmit your order to Leasestation so that they can complete the terms of your financing. Once you have signed off on all terms, Leasestation will fund your order and your equipment will ship.

Ramona Asks:

Can adults use any of your bouncers? I want something that I can play with my kids in.

Blast Zone:

Smaller adults weighing 100 lbs or less may use most of our inflatables, but we recommend exploring our commercial grade inflatables for items that can be used by most adults and children alike. While our home use inflatables do feature a 100 lbs per person weight capacity, most of our commercial grade bouncers can support users up to 250 lbs each, with a minimum weight supported of 200lbs.

It is important to evenly match players, because a large adult sliding, tumbling, or jumping on top of a smaller child is a potentially unsafe situation (link to evenly matched players article). If you intend to play in the inflatable with your child, avoid roughhousing, and do not slide with your child in your lap.

Trick Your Kids Into Exercising with Inflatable Bouncers

September 8, 2015January 9, 2018 BlastZone 1 Comment

If you’ve ever had to drag yourself into the gym after a long day, you probably know that it’s not always something that we want to do, it’s something that we need to do to keep ourselves happy and healthy. It’s not always fun, so you might imagine that some children probably hold the same sentiment toward the idea of exercise. Not only do the words “exercise” or “workout” hold negative connotations for some, but a kid that wants to get outside to go for a run each day is probably pretty hard to come by.

We have goosebumps after reading those facts!

General childhood laziness aside, now more than ever there are so many fun things that can be done without moving a muscle. The right video game can keep children busy for hours and all they’ve used are their eyes and thumbs. With instant streaming, kids’ favorite TV shows and movies are available to them on demand. With an almost endless supply of digital media available at any given time, we live in an age where kids aren’t always out playing each night until the streetlamps come on.

Where were these bounce houses when we were kids!

Kids need their exercise just like adults do. Getting them active at a younger age helps to create healthy habits that will stay with them for life. While the perfect amount of exercise may be different from one young person to the next, the CDC recommends that children get about 1 hour of physical activity each day. Beyond that recommendation from the Center for Disease Control, the benefits of keeping kids active speak for themselves. Regular physical activity helps kids stay happy and healthy, just like it does for grown-ups. Exercise is a known mood booster and when they are having fun with it, physical activity can be a great way for kids to connect with their peers.

So how do we get kids to put down their devices and get active? You can try putting your kids on a fitness schedule, but where is the fun in that? Most kids don’t see a point in running a 5k if there is nothing cool waiting for them at the end of the road. The answer to this dilemma is to make exercise fun. Turn it into something that they want to do. Sports are always a great option, but sports may not provide the year-round activity kids needs, especially in areas with “weather,” and some youngsters may be too young for, or just not into sports.

Enter: the Bounce House. With a Bounce House, Inflatable Water Park or Inflatable Combo your little ones get the exercise that they need without even realizing it! In healthy Children, simply having fun bouncing around in an inflatable means that kids are using their muscles, potentially making them stronger, developing motor skills, and burning energy. It may help to elevate lung capacity, increasing their stamina. It could get their heart pumping and their blood flowing, potentially promoting cardiovascular and circulatory health. Above all, bouncing is fun! Rare is a person (young or old) who doesn’t enjoy a good bounce. You try bouncing and see if you can keep a silly smile off of your face.

With inflatable combos like the Misty Kingdom, the fun and physical activity go beyond just bouncing. Combos offering numerous activities, like jumping, sliding, climbing, splashing, hoops, etc, provide different types of exertion, and keep kids occupied longer.

From a parent’s perspective, one of the best advantages is that after an afternoon of bouncing, bedtime is no longer a hassle. You may even find your little ones ready to tuck themselves in after an exhausting day of playing in their bouncer. Your family getting enough exercise doesn’t have to be something to stress over. Set up an inflatable and enjoy the sound of their laughter as they play their way through daily exercise. With a bounce house, the hardest part is getting them to come inside for dinner.

Throw an Incredible Labor Day BBQ

August 25, 2015January 9, 2018 BlastZone Leave a comment

how-to-labor-day-bbq — Squeeze the last bit of fun out of your summer.

When you have a family, you have a million-and-one things going through your head at any given time. During the summer it can get especially hectic. The kids are on break from school, the days are longer, and the heat can drive everyone a little mad. Every now and then, it’s nice to plan something fun that everyone can enjoy. This is where BBQ’s come in. Between getting your family dressed and fed each morning and hoping they’ve had a long enough day to sleep through the night, planning a BBQ is not always the easiest thing to accomplish. Don’t panic! We’re here to help. This guide will help you to plan an amazing end-of-summer BBQ that will make your neighbors wish they were invited.

Food

grilled-veggies-labor-day-bbq — Mmm. Grilled veggies.

When you’re planning a BBQ, the first thing that comes to mind is food. This is where we sometimes find ourselves stuck. A BBQ is all about the food. Your first mission is deciding what to serve. While making your decision on what to serve at your BBQ, think about your guests. Do any of your invited guests have a special diet or any food allergies to consider? Gluten free? Low Carb? Paleo? Vegetarian? The possibilities seem endless. All diets and special lifestyles can be accommodated for a BBQ, you just want to make sure that you will have something for everyone.

This also goes for kids. Do you have any picky eaters coming over? When entertaining, it’s always a great idea to have a few kid-friendly food items. Some kids love adventurous foods. Some kids will eat things like teriyaki chicken kebabs or spicy grilled pineapple, but many kids do better with very simple foods. Hamburgers or hot dogs are usually fail proof when it comes to kids.

At a BBQ, the meat is usually the main event. Go for quality over variety. Rather than having several options, decide on one or two different things to serve as the main dish, like pork sausage and classic BBQ chicken. This gives people choices without breaking the bank or requiring the use of multiple grills. Some other great and simple options would be meat and veggie kebabs, ribs, or keep it classic and serve up hamburgers and hot dogs for all!

Hors d’oeuvres, sides and desserts are also just as important to a BBQ as the main course. They help to balance out your meal and provide color to your table. Both are very important elements to hosting an unforgettable BBQ. Make your big day as relaxing as possible by preparing your side dishes and desserts the day before. When deciding on what to serve keep in mind that on a summer day, cold dishes go best with foods coming hot-off-the-grill. Using the freshest ingredients you can find will make even the simplest salad go off the charts in flavor.

Entertainment

blastzone-big-ol-bouncer-bbq-fun — Blast Zone “Big Ol Bouncer” Bounce house will keep the kids out of your hair.

When you’re hosting a BBQ you may be busy flipping food on the grill, but there will always be time to take a breather. Even if you are keeping yourself busy, keep your guests in mind. You’ve invited them over, and should have some form of entertainment planned. Music is definitely a must to fill up any awkward silences or lulls in conversation.

If your back yard BBQ turns into a dance party, you’ve gotten very lucky! Just in case that doesn’t happen, have something fun available to your guests like games or even a few packs of playing cards. Don’t be too rigid when it comes to entertaining your guests. You will probably find that the adults at your party will entertain themselves by chatting with you or other guests. Because we never see our family and friends as often as we’d like, catch-up is usually one of the best games to play over a delicious BBQ dinner.

While we’re talking about entertainment, let us not forget about the kiddos! You have a few goals when it comes to kids. Keep them busy, give them options and let them have their space (this means the grown-ups get their space as well). With kids, you want to keep them busy because if they aren’t off doing their own thing, they might be looking for ways to entertain themselves. This can be dangerous around a fiery grill and possibly annoying to some of your guests. Having multiple options will come in handy because not all kids are the same, and they may not all be interested in the same activity.

Further, some children might find a given activity fun for a short time, but wind up feeling bored later. This is especially possible if your BBQ is going to be an all-day affair. Set up an area stocked with coloring books or arts and crafts, as well as interactive toys or areas to play sports and burn off some of that energy that we wish we could borrow as adults.

Inflatables are a great idea for BBQs. They give kids the freedom to bounce or slide all day long. If you have a lot of kids to entertain, the Big Ol’ Bouncer is a great choice as one of our biggest home-use bounce houses. You might have a hard time getting them out of the inflatable at the end of the evening, but getting them to sleep that night will be a breeze. Read our helpful guides to keep the kids safe when playing together on our bounce houses.

Having all of this set aside in a designated area will not only make clean up easier, it also allows you to designate the best area for them, keeping them far from areas that may not be appropriate. You don’t want kids suffering the blinding burn of BBQ smoke blowing right into their eyes, or eating up all of the strawberries you’ve spent the summer growing. This also gives kids the opportunity to mingle on their own and maybe make some new friends. A lot of kids like to be independent, and having their own space to play allows them to decide what they want to do with their time at your BBQ.

Timing

blastzone-labor-day-bbq-grill — Man look at all the steam. It’s hot in there!

With your food and entertainment all planned out, your final concern is with Timing. Making sure that the day unfolds smoothly isn’t as hard as it may seem. You can plan your backyard seating and prepare most of your cooking the day before. Put your meats in their marinades and prepare your hors d’oeuvres, sides, and desserts in advance, to be refrigerated until it’s time to eat. On the big day, get your tables and chairs set up out back and roll out your inflatable if you will be using one. Getting your inflatable set up earlier in the day allows you to get it going for the kids with the flip of a switch. You can roll it out flat, stake it down and attach the blower so that when your guests arrive, you can simply turn on the blower to start the fun.

Get your grill started before your guests are set to arrive, so that you can socialize and get your guests situated while it heats up. If you are cooking your meats low and slow, start early enough that you can serve up dinner BBQ about 45 minutes to an hour after guests arrive. This gives everyone time to transition from go-mode to relaxation mode. This is important for guests who have to make a long or inconvenient trip to your home. It allows everyone to get comfortable as well as ensuring that no one misses the boat if they are running a little late for any reason. Now that you’ve got everything mapped out, it’s time to enjoy the day. Eat and socialize and enjoy the warm weather, these moments are memories in the making.

Bounce House Safety: Evenly Matched Players

May 7, 2015January 10, 2018 BlastZone Leave a comment

As part of our ongoing commitment to safety, we are exploring deeper into the general rules of using Bounce Houses and Inflatable Water Parks safely. During this series we explore the “how’s” and “why’s” of the various aspects of safe inflatable use, such as anchoring, evenly matching players, sliding independently and more. First up…

Evenly Matching Players

Bounce House Safety Kids

Mom wants to go in the Bounce House with the son. Brother wants to bring his sister. Your Nephew wants to bring your dog in. You get the idea… While each of these scenarios may sound fun, it is important that players in a Bounce House or other Inflatable Play Structure are evenly matched in size, age, development, and skillset.

Bounce Houses are inherently safe products, when used properly – they are giant bags of air (insert your own husband joke). Your lawn is a harder surface than your Bounce House, but the lawn doesn’t encourage kids to wrestle and jump directly on top of each other quite as much as the Bounce House may.

Consider the following physical development milestones for kids (we’ll use boys)

1 Year (22Lbs): Crawl and walk with assistance.
2 Years (28Lbs): Walk and Dance
3 Years (34Lbs): Run forward and Jump in place
4 Years (39Lbs): Run in circles, Ride a tricycle.
5 Years (45Lbs): Jump on one foot, do somersaults.

So within one family or one playgroup, you can easily have kids who are capable of doing somersaults, and kids who can barely walk. That Bounce House can have Kids in with weight differences of 40Lbs or more within the common age-rage of 3-10, some doing somersaults, and some struggling to stay upright. Inside an enclosed bouncing environment, you potentially could have a much larger child jumping and possibly landing on a much smaller child who is unable to stand unassisted in that type of environment.

Don’t fret yet.

There are plenty of ways to keep kids safe in the Bounce House, simply by matching them properly and making sure they are playing nicely.

Evenly Matched Bounce House Players Safety

While following the minimum age requirements of 3-Years definitely helps, it is still critical to monitor behavior, and keep kids playing with appropriately matched players. Some Inflatable Combos, like the Blast Zone Sidekick Castle, may have an isolated ball pit area for younger kids, with a Bounce House area for larger, more advanced kids. However, in many instances, it is simply up to the parents/adults to monitor play and keep kids appropriately isolated to avoid contact injury.

A local church has tried a couple approaches with their Blast Zone Bounce House. The first was to find age-appropriate activities for different age groups at an event. In this case, the smaller kids had other activities available. This worked OK, but it is natural for the smaller kids to want to play with the bigger kids, so this is not the ideal situation.

Second, during class-based activities, kids were separated into different groups based on age, which allowed kids to play with other more evenly matched players. This was ideal, as the matching was more official and done automatically.

In family scenarios, it really comes down to common sense parenting:

Evenly Match Sizes
Evenly Match Skillets
Try to keep mismatched players physically separated
When Possible, look at Bounce Houses with separate areas for different activities
Don’t let bigger kids roughhouse with smaller kids
Don’t let people slide together as a unit
If you are bouncing with your kids, be very careful not to fall on top of them.

Blow up the Bounce House, Keep kids evenly matched, monitor play habits, and HAVE FUN!

Magic Castle Bounce House Giveaway

May 4, 2015May 18, 2015 BlastZone 12 Comments

To celebrate moving our Blast Zone Blog onsite, we will be giving away the top-selling Magic Castle Bounce House to 1 lucky winner!

You may enter daily, and earn extra entries by:
Sharing on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+
Every time a friend enters from your link, you will gain 3 bonus entries!

You can enter below or visit the Giveaway App hosted on our Facebook page here:
Magic Castle Bounce House Giveaway from Blast Zone

Be sure to follow Blast Zone on our Blog, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. Not only will be be posting helpful articles and industry news, we will be hosting giveaways on a regular basis throughout 2015!