What should I know about renting a bounce house?

Important things you need to know about renting a bounce house in York, Lancaster, Harrisburg, Baltimore, Bel Air, Manchester, and the surrounding cities.

Things you should know about renting a bounce house or inflatable.

If you have never rented an inflatable bounce rental before you have come to the right place. We are here to make your event amazing and stress-free from start to finish. No question is a dumb question, and we are happy to answer them all for you. On this page, you will read about some of the most common questions and concerns that renters have. If you have additional questions upon reading through this page, please contact our office by calling 717-650-7657 or emailing us at info@3monkeysinflatables.com.

One of the most common, first statements and questions is, “I have never done this before. How does this work?” Well, you choose the rental items, the date, the start, and end times, and we do the work. Our professional delivery crew will deliver, set up, and pick up your rental equipment. Our inflatable rentals are for up to 8 hours. Specialty items like the mechanical bull, rock walls, bumper cars, wax hands, distracted driving, video gaming stations, racing simulators, virtual reality, photo booth, grand slammer, mobile escape rooms, mobile axe throwing, and other specialty rentals are priced a little differently.

Choose your start and end times carefully when booking. The start time is the time you want to be able to start using the bounce rental and the end time is the time you will be done using it. Please note that these times have nothing to do with your delivery and pickup times. Your delivery and pickup time will depend on several different factors and will be provided to you a few days prior to your actual event date. However, please keep in mind these times are not always exact. Sometimes our delivery crew is ahead of schedule and may come early. Sometimes they are behind schedule because of traffic, a delay at a previous customer, or other unforeseen events, and may arrive 15 or 30 minutes late. Just know that we will always strive to have you set up, ready to go by your chosen start time. 

Please also understand that once you choose your end time the rental may be picked up at that time or any time after. It is too difficult to change the pickup time once it has been scheduled so please do not call asking for more time. It's not just your rental affected by changes, it affects all of those surrounding it as well. 

Inflatables and power – Power can be a tricky thing to understand for some people. You are not alone if you fall into this category. Each of our inflatable rentals does come with a blower. In fact, some units have 2 and even 3 blowers. It is important to know how many blowers your inflatable rentals have so that you can ensure you have enough power for everything. Each blower will pull a certain number of amps so if you have more than one blower you may need more than one circuit as well. We can tell you how many amps each blower pulls. What we cannot tell you, is if you have enough at your home, school, or park pavilion.

If you are unsure whether you will have enough power or know you will not have enough, we do have generators available for rent. Our generators do come with a full tank of gas, but we highly suggest you have additional gas on hand in case it should run out. You would not want the fun to be interrupted at your party! Generators take regular gas and will run at full capacity, with a full tank of gas for about 3-4 hours.

Lastly, we can run power up to 100 feet. If there is no power source within 100 feet you will need to rent a generator. We cannot use customer-provided extension cords. We only use our own cords because we know they pull the correct amount of power for our blowers.

"Are inflatables only for kids?"

No way! We have plenty of amazing rentals that can be fun for both children and adults. We have a few oversized bounce houses like our 20x15 bounce house, the white castle bounce house, and the kingdom bounce house, that are great for adult parties; weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, 'just because' backyard barbeques, and more! Everything found in the extreme interactive category, such as the Hungry Hippo Chow Down, Human Foosball, Human Whack-a-Mole, Wrecking Ball, Big Red Baller, Defender Dome, Rock-n-Roll Joust, and the Boxing Ring are a ton of fun for adults too! And adults definitely do not want to miss out on our obstacle courses where they can race head to head to the finish line while crawling through tunnels, weaving around pop-ups, climbing rock walls, and sliding down the slides! 

“I’ve never rented a waterslide before – what do I need to know?”

Do not wait to book! Seriously though, our waterslides sometimes book a year to months in advance. If you have a date in mind, get on the calendar before the date closes out. We hate telling people we cannot take any more rentals.

• Does 3 Monkeys Inflatables provide the water? No, we do not provide water or tanker trucks for our water slide rentals. You will need a water source and a water hose. The water hose will connect to our connector hose that is already in place on all our water units.

• I have well water, is that ok? All wells are unique in-depth and how much water they contain. It also needs to be clean water, so the water does not stain our waterslide.

• Can I rent a tanker truck from somewhere to provide the water? Sure! But please make sure the tanker does not fill from a pond. Pond water tends to have a foul odor and will stain our slides and make them stinky. You will also need to provide a pump to be able to pump the water through the hose to the slide.

• Will the waterslide rental destroy my yard? While we cannot guarantee any damage to your yard, we can certainly provide the main tip to prevent it. Do NOT turn the water on full blast. Our slides are designed with momentum, so you only need a trickle of water to keep it barely wet.

• Does it have a pool at the bottom? None of our water slide rentals have “pools.” In the state of Pennsylvania, pools are required to have licensed lifeguards. The water will gather at the bottom but will splash off as the riders exit the slide.

• My yard has a slight slope, can I still get a waterslide rental? A very slight grade in your yard is okay. When renting a water slide the setup crew will set it up in reverse so that you are not sliding down a slide that is going downhill.

• Can adults use the waterslides too? Of course! Just like you, we are parents and want to have fun like our kids and with our kids.

"The website says ‘limited availability when I choose the date I want. What does that mean?" 

There may be dates on our online calendar that are marked ‘limited availability. This means we are not accepting any more online, customer-placed orders. In fact, we may not be able to accept any more orders for that day, but it is suggested that you call our office at 717-650-7657 to double-check. Our office staff will be able to give you additional information and let you know if we can in fact take any more rentals for that day or not.

"How far in advance should I book for my party?"

There is no clear answer to this question. Our typical response to you is, "The sooner, the better!" The longer you wait to book the less inventory you will have to choose from. Some people book a year in advance, some book months, some book weeks, and some try to call the day before. The more notice we have the more likely we can add you to our delivery schedule.

"I am having my party at a park, is that okay?"

We will set up at parks but there are a few important things to know first. You are subject to a $100.00 park fee because you are not able to have the flexibility for set up and pick up times as someone who may be having it at their home. This means we have to designate a truck at certain hours to get you set up on time and to pick up by the time you are required to be out of the park. Power can be another issue at parks so you may want to rent a generator if the park does not know how many amps their outlet is.

"How can I best prepare for my delivery?"

There are a few things you can do to help prepare for your delivery. Some people think it is best to mow their lawn RIGHT before we come. We suggest mowing about 2-3 days in advance. Make sure the area is clear of any branches, sticks, or toys that may be on the ground too. And one of the most important things you can do is make sure all dog droppings are picked up. Not only do we not want to set an inflatable on doggy diamonds but we don't want our guys having to navigate land mines the entire way to the setup location.