We are often asked if bouncy castles are able to be put on artificial grass outdoors? Unfortunately, although it can technically be done it just isn't feasible due to the legal requirements of anchoring down a bouncy castle.
A standard children's bouncy castle will have at least 6 anchor points. If the bouncy castle is on normal grass, then we use stakes/pegs to secure it to the ground. Each stake is at least 380mm in length, and 16mm in diameter. This is to ensure that the bouncy castle cannot move, and the pegs/stakes are suitable providing the wind is below 24mph. Now obviously with artificial grass, we are unable to securely peg your bouncy castle down, due to a) you not wanting us to ruin your lovely new artificial grass, which is of course totally understandable and b) even if you didn't mind us going through it and leaving permanent holes in the artificial grass, the pegs are often not secure below the surface as it can often be a mixture of hardcore/rubble as opposed to soil.
Due to not being able to use pegs/stakes, we are left with one other option, sandbags. Now sandbags are great for weighing down bouncy castles and inflatables that are going to be used indoors, however they are not so great for anchoring down bouncy castles outdoors. The reason they are not as suitable outdoors, is due to the amount that is needed even for the smallest bouncy castle, which has 6 anchor points. Each sandbag is 25kg, however, each anchor point needs at least 163kg of sandbags if it cannot be pegged down. 163kg x 6 means that a total of 978kg (minimum) of sandbags would be needed for a bouncy castle outdoors (assuming there was only 6 anchor points). If it was a larger bouncy castle that has more than 6 anchor points then an additional 163kg of sandbags would be needed for each additional anchor point.
Now because of the amount of weight required, we would only be able to load one bouncy castle onto one van with the required weights before going over the legal weight limit, meaning we could only deliver one, possibly two bouncy castles per van, which just wouldn't be economically feasible. We would also require an extra strong delivery driver, capable of unpacking 42 25kg sandbags from the van for each delivery.
Unfortunately, the problem is that some companies who do not abide by the legal requirements just lump 4 sandbags down, which is obviously inadequate and then tell the customer that it is completely safe. It's not that we don't want your business, it is purely a matter of health and safety legislation and ensuring we set the bouncy castle up in the safest possible manner and putting them outdoors on artificial grass in accordance with the law just isn't economically feasible. If you have artificial grass but would still like to hire a bouncy castle then you could look at hiring a village hall or venue. Some offer incredibly cheap rates and providing there is enough space indoors then you don't have to worry about the weather either.
The last thing we want to do is to have to let anyone down on the day because we have been given inaccurate details of the surface that the bouncy castle will be going on, so if you have any questions or if we can be of any help please contact us on 01603 395209 and someone will happily assist with your questions.
Bouncy Castle Hire Norwich
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