safety Archives - Blast Zone Blog

How To Use Your Inflatable Slide All Year Round

February 8, 2018 BlastZone 3 Comments

Inflatable Water Slides are Fun

During the summertime, an inflatable water slide adds interactive play to any backyard bash. Inflatable water slides and combos can be an excellent way to beat the summer heat and keep your little water-bugs entertained.

But Inflatable water slides don’t just keep kids entertained and active, they also save you travel and admission costs during breaks from school. Families don’t have to pack lunches, load up the car, and hit the amusement park lines anymore. With an inflatable water slide, you just skip the trouble and bring the amusement park into your own back yard!

Not only are they perfect for parties, inflatable slides can also be easily used in between holidays and family functions. Parents can bust out the inflatable slide after school and on weekends as well, and get a much-deserved reprieve from the furniture-gymnastics. That’s what having your own inflatable is all about! Even the easy-to-use compact inflatable slides can add some zest to parties and holiday celebrations.

Do You Use Your Water Inflatable Year Round?

Sadly, many inflatable water parks sit in storage during the colder months, cold, lonely and reminiscing over the fun days. Every year they wait patiently for their chance to shine in the summertime. What a waste! If this is how you’ve been using your inflatable, you may not realize that some Blast Zone slides can be used dry as well.

Inflatable combos can be used wet or dry, as long as they do not rely on the weight of water in the splash area for added stability. While home-use slides are not quite as slick when they are used without water, you can easily remedy this by sliding in sweat pants and socks.

Bounce and Slide combos like the Princess Palace and the Misty Kingdom work well without water, thanks to their fun castle themes and their multiple-activity designs. Having more than one feature makes these types of inflatable combos great for year-round use. When the weather is warm you can connect the included sprayer attachment for some summertime splashing. During the cooler months, your little princes and princesses can dress up in their regular playtime regalia and enjoy their fortress of fun without water.

For more space and interactivity, several inflatable water parks can also be used dry, including the Shark Park 10-in-1, the Pirate’s Bay and the Pirate Blaster. Set up an inflatable water park without water and watch the splash zone become a play zone! Try filling the splash area with playballs, plushies, or a few soft toys instead of water for a designated play area in between turns sliding.

You can even set your inflatable slide up indoors in any place where you have the space. This is good news for your sofa! Protect your furniture from becoming a jungle gym during rainy days or cold weather. Using inflatables indoors is a great alternative to video games and TV when it comes to your family’s winter entertainment. It also allows you to trick your kids into exercising without even realizing, giving kids access to physical activity and fun whenever the weather has them stuck indoors.

Don’t Forget About Commercial Grade Inflatables for a Bigger and Stronger Slide

For the thrill seekers out there looking for an even bigger sliding experience, we offer several commercial grade inflatable water slides that can be used dry. In fact, all of our 14-foot inflatable water slides can be used with or without water.

The Mystic Mountain, Roaring Rainforest, and the Great White Wild Slide 14 can be used wet or dry. If you’re a believer that bigger is better, you’ll be stoked that our 18-foot slides are designed to be just as fun as a water slide without the water! The Mystic 18 and Roaring 18-foot slides are made for dry-use, so these huge slides are a great option for the colder seasons. The best part? All of Blast Zone’s commercial grade inflatables are strong enough to support both children and adults, so adults can get in on the fun too.

The Mystic 18 Foot Commercial Grade Slide is BIG fun, no water required!

Safety First

When using an inflatable water slide, safe play practices make the experience a lot more fun for everyone involved. Players should never slide head first and should always limit sliding to one person at a time. In order to ensure that everyone is playing safely, adult supervision is required for the use of all Blast Zone inflatables.

In some inflatable slides, the weight of water in the splash area helps with stabilizing the slide. Slides like the Spray N Splash 2 or the Crocodile Isle Water Park are best used with water, and are not designed to be used dry. Also, ensure that your inflatable water slide is being properly anchored at all times using the included anchoring stakes, sandbags for weighted anchoring, or a combination of both.

As always, use common sense, follow safety guidelines, and have a blast!

Recap:

Inflatable Water Parks, Combos, and Slides can help make any event or family function more fun.
When you own an inflatable slide you can set it up for any reason, or for no reason at all.
Some Blast Zone Inflatables can be used without water for year-round fun.
The “splash zone” doubles as a “play zone” when it’s too cold for water.
Many inflatable slides work better with water, but some water parks can be used wet or dry.
If you have the space, you can even set your inflatable up indoors.
As always, use common sense, follow the safety guidelines, and have a fun!

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.

Inflatable Slide Safety: 1 Rider at-a-time

May 18, 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.

1 Rider at-a-time!

1 Rider at a Time Inflatable Slide Safety

Kids want to test and push past boundaries, and this can lead to stretching the safety rules. If the rules are followed, Inflatable Slides are not only super-awesome, but also safe. However, after a few zips down the sliding lane, and as the play escalates, kids may be tempted to double up, and ride down together, as they look for new and exciting ways to test their boundaries.

Don’t allow this.

Man, we sure seem like wet beach towels over here at Blast Zone, don’t we? Well, for each safety rule, we have reason. And those reasons are, well… for safety. So what are those reasons?

1) The inflatable is engineered for specific user weights. Doubling up these weights will most likely put the rider’s collective weight over the weight the inflatable is engineered for. This could potentially damage your valuable inflatable, or worse, lead to instability on the slide.

2) Bonk. Yup. Bonk. The rider in front is going to stop an instant before the rider in the back. They are going to possibly bonk teeth-to-head, nose-to-head, or tumble over each other. These are not fun outcomes. This could lead to injury, and nothing takes away the fun like tears.

1 Rider at a Time Inflatable Slide Safety Mystic Mountain

With Commercial Inflatable Slides, we’ve witnessed parents sliding down with their kids in their laps. This may seem like a great way to bond with your kids, but the result could be even worse. Check out our piece on Evenly-Matching Players for further insight behind the physics of a large adult landing on a small child, and reconsider this plan before sliding down. In cases with commercial inflatables, often the Inflatable Slide is rated to accommodate adults as well as kids, and many times younger kids like the adults to accompany them to the top. In this case, help your child up, let them slide first, make sure they have cleared out of the landing path, then try to hide your own childish grin as you zip on down.

And please don’t slide head first. Well talk about this later.

So keep it safe, and keep the fun going. Resist the urge to ride down the slide with your kids, and if you see kids “doubling up” use your keen common-sense-parenting skills to break it up. Always make sure kids are following the safety rules, and Have a Blast!

Bounce House Safety: Evenly Matched Players

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

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!