School Events with Inflatables
Finding a fun and safe way to celebrate with students can be challenging for teachers, PTO’s and school administrations. Inflatables from a trusted and reputable company can be a great answer for your end-of-year celebration, prom, graduation, field day, or a “just because fun day.”
We need to start with a little math word problem. If X School has X amount of kids, with X amount of space and X amount of budget, what should they do for their celebration? This is the word problem that Jump Around is asked for most frequently. Thankfully we are good at this kind of math!
How Many Students?
We must first answer how many students will participate in the inflatable celebration. The answer is not how many students are in your elementary, middle, or high school but how many will be participating at a time. We recommend breaking up the day into 30 to 60-minute increments and rotating a smaller amount of students through the activities instead of everyone all at once.
The ideal activity time is around 45 minutes, allowing a few minutes of transition for each hour. How many students per hour would that be if your event went from 10 am to 2 pm or 9 am to 3 pm? 1,000 students divided by 4 = 250 per hour. Of course, if the student count is higher or the time needs to be increased, you adjust your math.
Now the question is, what attractions are needed for 250 students per hour? Now, if you have the space, a larger budget, and desire the whole school to participate at once, we can use the same formula by increasing the numbers.
Space and Power for Inflatables
Now that you have determined how many students will participate simultaneously, figure out your space and power situation. Will you be setting up inside or outside?
If you are setting up inside, we will set up your inflatables in a gym or school cafeteria. Most of the bounce houses are too tall to fit in standard rooms. For any hard surface set up, inside or outside, there is an upcharge due to the need to haul around heavy sandbags and safety mats to ensure a safe setup.
We will use the power outlets inside to power the blowers for the inflatables. Each blower must be on a separate circuit breaker. Sometimes multiple outlets are on the same circuit, and we can only use one. You will want a Janitor to determine this ahead of time.
We will want to leave at least 50% of the gym floor open for the students to move around safely and the inflatables around the outside where the extension chords will not be a tripping hazard.
If we are setting up outside, we recommend a grass area. Typically we will need to use our generators to power the inflatables when we set up outside. Most modern schools do not have enough outside power outlets, or the ideal setup area is too far from the building to plug in. We cannot run extension chords more than 50 to 75 feet due to safety concerns.
Generators allow you to be untethered from the building and set up virtually anywhere on the school property. We carry two basic-size generators, the 3500 and the 7500. The 3500 can operate one inflatable blower, while the 7500 can operate up to 3 inflatable blowers.
Sometimes Soccer or Football fields are the only grass areas large enough to set up on. If there is a sprinkler system, we recommend the setup be done with sandbags rather than stakes. Usually, there are other grassy areas we can set up on.
What kind of Inflatables?
When trying to move many people through inflatables, you will want to choose inflatables that move people through quickly. We usually recommend Obstacle courses and Slides as a starting place. The lines move quickly on these items. If you are debating between one long obstacle course and a few shorter obstacle courses, you may choose multiple shorter obstacle courses to keep multiple lines shorter rather than one long line. If you are just really trying to impress the students and the line is worth it, you may opt for a long obstacle course.
While obstacles and slides are the main pieces for most school events, interactive inflatable games are popular add-on pieces. Some of the most popular interactive inflatables are the Farm Frenzy bungee game, Wrecking Ball, Field Goal Challenge, mini basketball, football, hockey, and baseball games, and others. These are typically 2 to 4 person games that can take a minute or two to play. Another option is the Extra Large Combo which has a slide on the outside and moves people out of the unit.
Using an Experienced and Trusted Event Company
Fortunately, you are in good hands with Jump Around Event Rentals. We regularly work with schools in all Northern and Central Virginia counties, including Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Orange, Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, and more.
Jump Around has the proper insurance and experience to coach your school through the planning, booking, and safety process to make your school celebration something memorable. Hopefully, this information is a good starting place. If you need someone to walk you through the planning stages, don’t hesitate to contact Jump Around VA!