Epic Win: Bouncy Houses
Submitted and written by Sarah W
Remember those days as a kid when no matter what county fair, birthday party or fundraiser you went to there would always be one of those giant multi-colored bouncy houses? The best ones looked like castles or maybe some some sort of huge, freakish animal. There were even some that were made into gigantic obstacle courses. We would always try and collapse them or pop a hole, and you could spend hours just tyring to get a perfect backflip. SOmetimes, if you got everybody to jump to the side at the same time, you could topple the whole thing over. You could even grab onto the top parts and make it implode! We didn’t care if the fan was loud or if we fell down every few seconds, because it was just an epic win. It got even more fun as you got older, because you could send the other little kids flying with just one bounce!
you show a picture of a bouncy house then have a video of a girl walking on stilts…ok then
nevermind it’s early v_v
oh my GOD, why did I never have a giant octopus eating a pirate ship?! Ours were always lame-o inflatable square rooms.
Um yeah I have never seen a bouncy house like this. True Nostagic Win would be the square primary color castle
what. is. that?! i wish i had a chance to jump in that =O
a sure death trap.
Hence why it’d be so fun! =D
Bouncy houses were a little after my time, but I have always been jealous of them. One year my University had big people bouncy houses and obstacle courses for frosh week–that was a riot! Yup. Epic Win.
I’m *so* jealous….I love the bouncy houses (it was always a castle at my local yearly street fair), but I’ve never encountered one that grown-ups were allowed on.
My next door neighbors had one over the weekend that was huge – I think it was meant for adults. Good thing – they were all drunk and bouncing on it – it was hilarious!!
The one in the picture is cool!!
I used to run one as a summer job. Kid’s B-day parties, block parties, and frat parties. I was in the 9th grade so the latter was quite entertaining. Block parties are the best, good food.
Plus, I’ve broken all of the ‘rules’. The best trick is to double bounce someone. That is, two large peeps jump on either side of a smaller one in unison. Then they time it to come down together about 1 sec before the small peep. If there is no roof, you might even launch them out.
That is against the rules…
that sounds epicly fun
These were after my time, but my son always enjoyed them — but for a perverse reason.
When he was six, I notice he tended to hang out in one part of the bouncy house instead of bouncing around. This was atypical of him, because he was quite adventurous and didn’t mind getting banged up (he later played lacrosse and rugby, if you get the idea).
So, when he came out, I asked him when he came out if anything was wrong with him.
“No,” he said. “I just know where the money goes in these things.” And sure enough, he had found about five dollars in coins that had bounced out of other kids pockets and accumulated in a key location!
Needless to say, he enjoyed the bouncy houses for many years.
HAHA thats great. sadly we never find money in ours.
wow, that’s a really smart kid! I wish I had thought of that as a child! XD
One of my greatest injuries came from an elaborate bouncy house. I was around 5 and it was I think…a pirate ship. Someone had the bright idea to end the super-slide with some carpeted plywood. Well my tiny 5 year old body slid between the end of the bouncy slide and the start of the plywood, jamming my knees up and basically tearing the skin off of both of them. I remained there screaming while kids continued sliding down, bouncing me further into under-bouncy house oblivion.
I should add that the plywood and end of slide were about 3 feet off the ground.
I know that hurt and I hate that it happened to you, but “bouncing me further into under bouncy house oblivion” is the funniest thing I’ve heard all day.
Yay! Glad to make you laugh.
well, i work with those. thats my summer job.
they really are a blast for college students. we have one that is a Bungee run. you are strapped to a bungee cord and try to run as far as you can against it, while trying to put a piece of velcro on a measuring strip!! that thing is so much fun!!! XD
I saw a video of one of those, but the cord snapped and hit the guy right on the rear. it was one of the funniest things I’d ever seen, but it must have hurt like a b*tch. XD
The one’s around here are called Jump For Joy.
we had one of those in our mall for awhile. but it cost 3 dollars to go in. now we have them every 4th or july at a family fun even on campus. Love the obsticle course ones
Okay…I loved these when I was younger but I almost didn’t thumbs-up it because I work at one at our local baseball stadium. Horrible job, but I get paid. I used to love kids…before I started working there. Oh, and trying to keep drunk 20-somethings out of them is irritating. We’re not allowed to let anyone over age 11 inside.
(I’ve never heard the term “bouncy house”. We’ve always called them Jump Castles.)
Bouncy bouncy oo such a good time
Bouncy bouncy shoes all in a line
Bouncy bouncy everybody somersault
Somersault summertime
Everybody sing along
Bouncy bouncy oo such a good time
Bouncy bouncy white socks slipping down
Bouncy bouncy stilettos’ are a no no
Bouncy bouncy oo
Bouncy bouncy oo
every time I bounce I feel I touch the skyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
– The Mighty Boosh, Bouncy Castle Crimp
Too bad bouncy houses always smell like sweaty socks, because that’s what happens when you can’t wear shoes…
They are still a lot of fun! Too bad most of them are for little kids.
when i was little, i was in a bouncy house, and then older kids pushed me down and started jumping on me
then after that, they all jumped at the same time around me and i went flying out of the bouncy house, i was knocked out for 20 minutes
Yay, bouncy castles! They got super hot in the summer, but they were so much fun. (Note to self: find one in autumn…)
I HATED these things. When I was a kid, I was in one and the whole thing collapsed because the fan broke down and there was one teeny opening that all the kids were escaping from and I was last. I was forever traumatized :p
Or y’know you could break both your ankles.
Like I did.
Okay, seriously, where do all you live where you call them “Bouncy Houses”? I have never heard that term in my life! It’s always been “Jump Castles”, even if not all of them were shaped like castles.
In Houston it’s called a “moon walk”!
Yep, that’s what they were called in the small town in Louisiana where I lived too…
I was Playing in one of these when my uncle came in. He went to one side and all the other kids followed hime and it caved in under me and I almost suffocated. But I still love these!
I love those! Actually, every year at my high school there is one day where they set up a bunch on the field. The obstacle course bouncy houses can be quite intense.
The funny thing is, I actually helped run this exact same inflatable ride only a few days ago. Life’s funny.
Where??? I seriously need this exact bouncy castle (ship, octopus whatever!) for my birthday next year.
Btw, if anyone above is reading, some one mentioned never hearing bouncy houses and calling them jump castles…
In Space City (houston) they are usually called “moon walks” or “moon bounce”.
these are perfect for raves!
My dad worked with a company here in Minnesota that rented out the cheap little inflatable rooms. It was so awesome when we got a chance to rent one out for freeevery two months.
omg thats the coolest looking bouncey house ive ever seen… if i saw it now i would not be able to resist the urge to play in it!!
I can’t imagine why they chose to rent a bouncy house for high schoolers for a party after the football game. That was my most recent memory of a bouncy house, me and about 5 other friends stood on all sides of the rather small bouncy house and attempted to start a mosh pit, consequently almost tipping it over completely XD
They were called Moon Walkers or Moon Bouncer’s here in Winnipeg when I was growing up.
These are indeed a lot of fun.
Until you go to you elementary school fair and the guy in charge of the Moonwalk (what they’re called outside Boston) lets in ten children of all sizes/ages at once and inevitably one of the oldest kids accidentally lands on the *face* of one of the youngest kids.
You know what’s even less fun? *Being* that older kid… <:….C
I know the feeling… ^^;
These are AWESOME! I did get traumatized by a giant Barney-shaped one when I was five, but who wouldn’t scream at the sight of a massive Barney? xD
man, those are sooooooooo fun!!! I always look akward bouncing around with 10 or so todlers…
oh man I had one of those for my 6th birthday party, had it for several hours longer than we paid for it too. And my mom let the guys deflate it while I was still jumping in it. Meanie