Anyone buy a bouncy house?

[hillview]

#1 DS's 3 yo bday is coming up. DS #2 also has a summer bday. I am looking into renting a bouncy house and at $100 or more a rental thinking that I could buy one (at 300-400) and get complete use out of it. I expect we will do at home bdays for kids for the next couple of years. Anyone done this? Bad idea?
TIA!
/hillary

[sidmand]

I just bought one for my three year old for the same reason (and because he loves to jump so I thought it would be a fun thing to do just randomly).

I got this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Star-Design-Jumpin-Bounce/dp/B0012YHWOA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1213792103&sr=8-1

BJs had a coupon and it was $299 including shipping (and I think a $20 oversize charge).

I did a bit of research, people seemed to really like it and I hoped it would pay for itself in the long run.

We haven't had it long and a friend borrowed it for her son's party and they loved it. It's huge! Easily fits quite a few three-year-olds. I think it says it can fit up to eight 40-lb kids. I was hoping to maybe inflate it in the basement for yucky days but it's too tall for that! So far, so good. We'll see in the long run. It inflates and deflates pretty quickly. It's heavy (over 100 lbs) but other than that it's pretty easy to set up and take down.

HTH

[g-mama]

My middle ds' godmother bought him one for his birthday a few years ago and at first I thought "what am I going to do with this big honkin' thing?" but that thing has gotten so much use. We actually keep ours set up all winter long in the basement and our kids and all their friends LOVE it. It's a great way for them to burn off energy. It's quite an eyesore but well worth it.

[thomma]

We bought one for ds and dd's 5th bday. It cost around $400 and fits 400lbs of kid. We used it for their bday weekend and it was up for Memorial Day weekend. I'm home all summer and anticipate using it at least a few days a week....great for playdates! To rent one it was going to cost $175 a day. So, for us, it made total sense to just buy one.

Kim
ds&dd 5/03

[maestramommy]

Some friends of mine did this. They rented a house for their DS's first birthday, then again the second. When I went to the 4th birthday they had their own. I guess they were getting enough use out of it (they have a dd also) that the cost was worth it.