Deflated Dreams

My friend works for a non-profit organization that offers after-school programs for little kids led by local college students. Before spring break, they like to throw a party for the children at the local public pool. The kids always enjoyed playing in the water, but my friend’s group wanted to do something different last year. They looked into a bounce house rental for the party. 

The day of the event, the rental company came and set up the bounce house without a hitch. The after-school program volunteers (college students) were so excited about the large toy that they unfortunately did not pay attention to the rental company’s safety instructions, which included a weight limit. The volunteers decided to try out the house before the kids got there. Three large football players began jumping at the same time. The inflatable house, which was meant to be used by a few small children, could not withstand the pressure and popped.

When my friend, the director of the program, arrived, she found the volunteers huddled around the deflated bounce house, trying to find the hole and fix it. But it was no use. They had ignored the rules and now had to pay for the damage. The only thing they could do now was get the bounce house out of sight so that the children wouldn’t be upset by it. The kids ended up having a great day in the pool as usual, without any idea of the extra fun activity that was supposed to be awaiting them.

If you’re considering bounce house rental, make sure you familiarize yourself with the rules to save yourself disappointment and extra charges. Proper use of an inflatable house will ensure that everyone has a good time at your party. 

Jumping Castles

We celebrated Halloween at my mom’s house last week. All of her 10 grandchildren were present in addition to some other 10 children from the neighborhood and other friends of the family. My older sister’s daughter Farrah had the idea of giving the party a specific theme such as “Medieval Times” and suggested that all the kids came dressed  as the different kinds of people from those times. Although it was not mandatory most kids came dressed that way and we also rented two jumping castles to make it even more fun.

We had royal characters such as princes and princesses. We had peasants, religious figures, and members of
the army who showed up in armor suits that were made up of aluminum material. We had maids who were servants of the royal families and we had slaves with fake chains around their hands and feet. We also had the entertainment crew of kids who wore old-fashioned clown and magicians suits. These kids were truly creative! Farrah searched for some medieval music online and played it all night.

The adults at the party were envious of much fun these kids were having. We had nothing more creative to do than to sit down and talk as we usually do. Where did our imagination and creativity go? These kids split up in two groups and each one pretended to belong to different kingdoms, one owning their own  jumping castle. I had to say I was very impressed with the synergy of the group and how there was not an instant where any kid fought against other kids. We let them play all night as the next morning was a Saturday and it was cute to see their little tired faces at the end of the night as if they had worked so hard. What a blessing to have a big family!

Carnival Games - Jumping Castles

For our church’s annual community party this year, instead of having it on the parking lot of our church which is in the back of the building we decided to have it on the street. Yes, we had a street party! We rented carnival games such as a dart game, shooting gallery, ring toss, break a plate, and even a jumping castle. We wanted to have something way more fun this year than our past parties where it has been mainly just a gathering of people to eat, talk and listen to music. We wanted to attract more audience, especially those hard to entertain!

We had the party on a beautiful Sunday. We chose Sunday because it is the day that most families are

usually home relaxing and have nothing else to do. We didn’t think Saturday would have been a good day because even some of us church brothers and sisters had personal things we needed to do that day. We kept track of each person coming to the party with paper tickets as we usually do and we were able to break a record. One hundred and fifty people came to our church, when our congregation is only about 60 people. We usually only attract about 30 new people each year but this time we were able to attract three times as much people. Isn’t it amazing?

My hypothesis is that people were mostly attracted by the carnival games we brought. We actually make sure to note it on our flyers and invitations. These types of games, although mainly for kids, do still attract some adults and thus the whole family is able to have fun together. Check out a picture of our party below. We hope some of these people get inspired to come to our meetings.

Popcorn Machine Rental

Last Saturday night was my husband and I’s 10^th anniversary and we wanted to have a get-together with all our friends and family members. I’m not sure if this is your experience, but when it comes to mature adult parties such as this, guys are the least in numbers, even when the celebrated person is their male friend. So in order to have a more even number of men and women I had to be creative, especially because the same day of the party there was going to be a boxing match by two pretty popular boxers on TV. So I invited everyone to come celebrate with us and told them we would watch the fight and rent a popcorn machine! This way they could bring their kids who would be too busy eating their popcorn while the adults had fun of their own.

I wasn’t sure the idea was going to work…it was quite innovative, but it did! I was able to see more of my

husband’s male buddies this time around. I think I’m going to do this again. My husband was in charge of our last anniversary party five years ago and he did something special as well. He had some of his friends from his poetry club (my husband writes poetry as a hobby) come to the house and recite some of their work. When we invited our friends and relatives but we noticed that the majority who came were our more intellectual guests.

I love the diversity of the people we have close to us. Fortunately I married someone who has different traits as me and this makes our relationship interesting; we are always learning something new from each other. The popcorn machine we rented this time did keep the kids distracted. They went to the upstairs living room and watched a movie themselves. 

My Birthday Party Inflatable

It was my birthday last week and I had about 25 people, friends and family, in my house. I was turning 30 and I wanted to do something different. I know that 30 is not that big of a number but it is a milestone and I wanted to do something I never did at any of my birthday parties. I wanted to have a birthday party inflatable. Call me crazy, as this was an adults’ party, but when I was a child I never had an inflatable. My parties were all the same each year; with the piñatas, and the games, and the adults dancing on the dance floor while we kids came up with our own fun ideas.

Don’t get me wrong, they were great parties, but my parents were not the creative kind and usually stick to

the same activities every year. Even the games we played were always the same. The cake was always the same type. I was jealous of all my other friends when their parents did different things. So this year, I decided to take it up a notch.

I hired a local comedian to come do a jam at my house. I also had a friend of mine who is a dance instructor to come give an hour-long dance workshop before we opened up the floor for dancing; this way my non-dancing friends felt a little more comfortable dancing. But before we did any of this, we warmed up jumping inside the birthday party inflatable (though a few of us at a time since it could not hold too many adult weights). I have to say that it made so many people laugh, people whom I haven’t seen this happy in a while. I was glad I came up with this idea and I hope to come up with more ideas such as these that bring out the kid hiding inside each of us.

Fun Field Day

The other day, I met up with my friend, who is an elementary teacher and just finished the school year. She told me that the students had worked so hard that year that the teachers planned a special reward for them: a “field day.” The students were told to come in bathing suits or clothes they could get wet. The teachers set up different game stations all around the playground: a slip and slide, a water balloon fight, tug of war, sack races, 3-legged races, and a dunk tank, where students had to hit a target to see their favorite teachers fall into the water. The kids loved all the activities, but the big hit of the day was the cotton candy. One of the teachers had a connection with a party supply store and was able to get a cotton candy machine for rent at a discount.

The kids were excited to watch the cotton candy being made, and the teachers were thrilled that the process was so easy. A cotton candy machine consists of a funnel-shaped pan in which you pour sugar. The sugar is heated and spun simultaneously, and shoots out as threads through tiny holes in an outer bowl. Using a paper stick, it was simple even for the children to gather the threads and take away their delicious treat. The teachers used pink, green and blue sugar to create a rainbow effect. All the kids wanted to try every color. Luckily for the teachers, the children had plenty of activities to keep them busy at the height of their sugar rush!

Finding a cotton candy machine for rent really made the school’s field day unique. Both the teachers and the students had a lot of fun and ended the school year on a positive note.

My Daughter's Perfect Princess Birthday

When my daughter turned 5 years old, my husband and I just had to give her an amazing party. She was obsessed with all things princess at the time, and really wanted to go to Disney World. While we could not afford that trip, we were able to bring some of the magic to our home. I got princess-themed plates, cups and a beautiful cake. I asked some of my friends who had experience in acting to portray Belle, Jasmine, and Cinderella, and also encouraged all the little guests to come dressed as their favorite princesses. We planned all the standard birthday party games but something seemed to be missing. My husband had the great idea of looking into bouncy castle renting in Brampton.

My daughter had always loved playing with bouncy castles, but I was hesitant to bring one to my house. At first I thought bouncy castle renting would be too expensive and complicated. Fortunately, my husband was able to find a place that would deliver, set up, and take down the equipment for a reasonable price. On the day of the party, we sent my daughter out for breakfast with her grandmother and had everything put in place. When they returned, the  house had been transformed into a magical kingdom.

The look on my daughter’s face when she saw the backyard was priceless. She and her little friends had so much fun dancing, playing and pretending they were princesses in the bouncy castle. My daughter has often said that that was the first birthday party she remembered, and the one that she definitely will never forget. If you live in Ontario and you want to have an incredible children’s event, make sure that you check out bouncy castle renting in Brampton. Your kids will be happy you did!

Jumping Our Way to Happiness

I do volunteer service with a local organization which provides workshops to teach people how to come out of their comfort zone, learn to make their highest potential blossom and find their inner happiness. We were organizing a marketing event to attract more people to our foundation and were thinking of creative ideas to get people’s attention toward our outdoor event. We thought that loud music was already too commonly used. We thought of asking people to fill out a survey to determine their level and origin of happiness and take a test on it. Alice, one of our long-time members, thought we could get an inflatable castle rental and ask random people to jump in it for 10 minutes straight to win a lunch sandwich and a free introductory session to our workshops.

The idea was a hit! First of all, the big inflatable castle attracted a lot of attention even from the people driving by our stand. We had a big sign that said “Learn to be happy” and quite a few people parked their
cars to come talk to us. One gentleman was very impressed by our marketing technique. He said he hadn’t jumped at all since he was a child. He had spent most of his adult life living in such a meaningless way, very routinely and without a sense of direction. His emotion had an impact on us members too.

It was our time to call it a day for our Saturday outdoor activity. We counted 90 sign-ups on our sheets, a number much higher than expected. We thought it was our time to enjoy the inflatable castle rental so a bunch of us went in and jumped for a little while. The exercise gave us such a rush of fresh energy that we decided to incorporate into our workshop activities. We are doing this again!

Cotton Candy Rentals

One of my favorite things as a child was cotton candy. I could never get enough of it. They often sold it in festivals and parades and I always thought it was so magical whenever the candy would melt the moment I touched it with the tip of my tongue. I actually hadn’t had any since I was a child and this past weekend I had some after 20 something years! It was my niece’s birthday party and as a gift to her I paid for a cotton candy rental and it was a hit.

I had a lot of fun planning this party with my brother. I felt like a little girl again and I have to say I helped pick the decorations based on my own preferences. I thought, “Heck, my niece is only 3, what does she know about her likes and dislikes?!” I picked yellow and white as the main color for the decorations and birthday invites and we asked everyone to wear something yellow and white. My niece Jennifer is very expressive and the first thing she said when she came in to the house was “Woooow”. Her eyes sparkled like never before. My brother Charles and I make a great party planning team!

Jennifer just turned three but she is daddy’s only little girl and they have the strongest father-daughter bond I’ve ever seen. He wanted there to be a lot of kids and so he also invited his colleagues and their kids. There must have been around thirty 3-8 year-olds in my brother’s house. We had a clown and someone to paint the kids’ faces but I have to say that the winner was my cotton candy rental. Even the adults were getting high on sugar. See Jennifer’s best friend’s face!