Can Adults Use Bounce Houses?
We love bounce houses. They’re like cheaper jet skis, in that no one is ever frowning while they are on one (thanks, Daniel Tosh).
They awesome for backyard bbqs, event rentals, kid birthday parties, and just general, every day usage, especially as a parent.
But what about adults? Can they use bounce houses too? Yes, yes they can.
What Bounce Houses are good for adults?
As many parents say, the bigger the kid, the bigger the problem. Or, in this case, the bigger the kid, the bigger the cost. So it should come as no surprise that an adult-sized bouncer costs a lot more than their child counterparts. This is true of both regular bouncy castles and commercial grade jump houses.
If you’re wondering what a commercial grade bounce house is, they are the ones that you might find at a college’s end of the year festival out in the quad. Or, the type you might encounter at a corporate event, when someone awesome manager convinces HR to turn a blind eye toward liability and gets awesome with jumper rentals and inflatable games.
Gotta love that type of holiday party, as interactive games and an inflatable obstacle course are always less embarrassing than falling off a mechanical bull because you’ve had a few too many cocktails. Same goes for fundraisers.
If you can’t afford to buy one, call up your local party rentals shop and see if they have any bouncy houses available for the day. Bonus points for a combo one with a water slide or moonwalk.
And, if you do go the jump house rentals route, always make sure to check that the blower is included during pick up. This is true across the country, whether that’s an East Coast family who owns their inflatable or a Bay Area Party Equipment Rentals company.
Why Bay Area? For some reason San Francisco Bounce House Rentals are extremely popular. It’s ... a thing.
What Bounce Houses are bad for adults?
The inflatable bounce house at your toddler’s birthday party is THE bounce house to avoid getting on if you’re an adult. It’s not made for you, so don’t even try. Once again, a big no to using a toddler bounce house.
However, should you make that mistake, make sure to keep an eye on the level of air in the inflatable bounce house. This is doubly true of an inflatable water slide, as rapid deflation, or worse, a bursting at the seams has the potential to cause an extreme mess when the water escapes its latex boundaries.
Check out our guide on how to repair bounce houses.
One thing to note is this - don’t get on with your children at the same time. A good rule of thumb for operating inflatables is to have similar sized people use it at the same time.
Another good rule of thumb is to go over the rules with the rental company as to what you’re responsible for in case your inflatable jumper gets damaged. Any inflatable rentals company worth their salt should be open, honest and upfront about what you, the renter, must do when it comes to proper handling and operation of the party equipment, as well as how to clean the bounce house, and, what, if any, charges you are responsible for upon returning it.
Always remember, the best bounce house rentals are the safest ones.
How many adults should jump on a Bounce House?
That all depends on the weight limit of the bounce house. Occupancy limits differ from bounce house to bounce house, so make sure you read the labeling before anyone gets onto one and starts jumping away.
- Adult Male - 197.9 pounds
- Adult Female - 170.6 pounds
Above are are the average weights for adults in the United States, according to healthline.com. Given those numbers, a bouncy castle with a 1,000lb weight limit could hold up to 5 people.
However, we’d recommend only 4 people of average weight get on the bounce house at any one time. The reason is that you don’t really want to test the weight limits and find out the hard way that you went past them.
A good rule of thumb here is to leave at least 100-200 lbs of space against the written weight limit. If you pay attention to carnival games operators, they will never overload an inflatable.