What Are Bouncy Houses, Bouncy Castles And Moonwalking?

Why would one set of people, or one country call them bouncy houses, another call them bouncy castles and the industry call it moonwalking? It is an interesting question, is it not, if you know what I am talking about. In fact, I mean those substantial inflatable children’s toys that you see at school fetes and some children’s parties.

In America, where they were thought of in the Sixties by John Scurlock of Louisiana. Like many inventions, the concept came to him by accident. Scurlock was an engineer experimenting with inflatable roofs for tennis courts and garages and one day he saw that a few of his employees were having great fun bouncing around on an inflated roof that was laying on the ground.

He had an idea and eleven years later, in 1968, his wife, Francis, was running the first bouncy house rental firm in the world. Eight years later, he opened the world’s first dedicated bouncy house factory and ten years later again, their son, Frank, opened the world’s first fun park dedicated to just inflatable toys called Fun Factory.

Lots more followed. Frank also took the bouncy house distribution and rental network nationwide. At first these inflatable toys did not have sides or a top, but this caused a couple of minor issues in that kids bounced off the deck onto the grass (or concrete) and the bouncing children were sometimes exposed to the full strength of the sun, which put them art risk of exhaustion.

The current most well-liked bouncy house design of three inflatable walls and an inflatable roof came to pass fairly soon after the issues were identified. In fact there are variations on the solutions that were found. In the USA, the sides of the moonwalk are mostly made of netting supported by inflatable columns, whereas in the UK often three of the sides are inflatable. Supervision is carried out from the front of the bouncy house.

These inflatable bouncy houses are usually made of reinforced PVC, nylon or vinyl and the whole structure is filled with gas, which gives more support than air. A proper bouncy house is continuously being pumped up by a fan or two so that minor punctures do not have an effect on the pleasure of the occupants.

Cheaper types that are blown up once and left, a bit like a lido or airbed, are forbidden to be rented out in the USA and the UK although they can be employed for private parties at home.

Most Western countries have associations in place that regulate companies that seek to manufacture or rent out bouncy houses. This is great for safety reasons, so if you are thinking of purchasing or hiring a bouncy house or bouncy castle for one of your parties, find out the name of the regulatory body first and check whether the firm you like is registered.

In the USA and the UK, the names of the companies and their products are listed on the website so that you can check fairly quickly.

Oh, and why bouncy houses, bouncy castles and moonwalking? America has never had any castles and walking on the airbed feels as if you are walking with reduced gravity.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a range of topics, but is now concerned with the Fisher Price Big Foot Monster. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Smart Toys for Kids.