If you have children, you might be thinking about what to do to celebrate their birthdays. With the cost of everything shooting through the roof, it’s not always possible to take your child, along with 10 of their closest friends, to a local play centre. A great idea to keep costs down is hiring a bouncey castle. Whislt you might be able to get one of these set up in your garden for a day form as little as £65, you can also hire them for a full weekend if you have a secured garden, from £100 upwards. It’s not just the inital cost you need to consider though. How much does it cost to run a bouncy castle in terms of electricity? Let’s have a look!
Different Types Of Inflatables
Before we look at how much does it cost to power a bouncy castle, we need to first know what type of inftalable we are using. There are some sealed units which need inflating once and then retain the air. These typically are not designed for continuous bouncing. This is where continuous air is needed.
Most bouncy castles use a continuous stream of air, blown into the unit from an air blower. This is what needs plugging into the mains. When looking at how much electricity does a bouncy castle use, this is what were looking at.
How Much Does It Cost To Run A Bouncy Castle?
Different sizes of castle will need different types of blowers, but typically, an average sized inflatable castle will need a blower that uses around 1.1kWh. Depending on your utility bill tariff, this could cost up around 30p. The price cap rate for October to December 2023 is 27p per kWh. If we say that the blower is being powered for 8 hours a day, that is 8.8kWh per day. For one day that is almost £2.40. 10 hours a day for a three day long weekend would be almost £9. This is something to factor into your costs when you are hiring a bouncy castle.
Bouncy Catsle Alternatives For Birthdays
Of course, a bouncy castle might work for kids of a certain age, however there are lots of affordable alternatives for older children or those who aren’t a fan of bouncing up and down.
How about taking a handful of friends to the cinema? A lot of cinemas have kids clubs where tickets are more affordable, usually around £2.50 per person. This means that you could take a number of kids for under £20. Grab some £1 bags of sweets and a bottle of water and you can have a great birthday treat for £25!
Perhaps you could bring the cinema to your house and stream a film and serve up some frozen pizzas. If your child has a favourite film but perhaps doesn’t get along with the enormity of a cinema, this is a great way to have a birthday party at home. Make sure you have some snacks and popcorn!
One of the most affordable birthday ideas is meeting everyone at the local park. Set up some football goals, enjoy a game of cricket, play chase and have some picnic blankets on the ground with some simple food and drink options. This can cost very little and if the weather is on your side, can be a fantastically memorable day. Other parents can stay and even bring siblings. A great tip is to pack some camping chairs and a flask of coffee for an element of comfort! Alternatively, you could even swap the local park for the beach if you’re not far from the coast!
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, many people ask the question of how much does it cost to run a bouncy castle. It’s well worth asking the company you are considering hiring the inflatable from as they might use different blowers. However the ballpark figure we’ve given above should help you think about the cost of a bouncy castle birthday party. Happy bouncing!
