Buying guide

Bounce houses for big kids and bigger crowds.

Picked by Chip H. · Updated · 12 picks

Twelve bigger bounce houses for older kids and bigger groups, each drawn to scale with the lawn it needs, from a 13 foot commercial castle to a 26 foot combo with a splash pool.

Big kids need more than a bigger box. Check the per-child limit as well as the total: Bounceland, Easyair and YARD allow 100 pounds per child, and plenty of listings never say. A few listings also contradict themselves on ages or weight, and where they do, the card says so instead of picking a number.

Every card here is drawn on a 44 foot square, wider than the 32 feet on our other guides, so the largest unit fits; compare these cards with each other rather than with other pages. Each clear zone uses the maker's own figure where a manual gives one (HeroKiddo asks for 7 feet) and our 6.6 foot default where none does. Or read how to choose first.

A 15 by 12 foot bounce house inside its clear zone Top-down plan: the unit sits in the middle of a dashed zone 6.6 feet wider on every side, about 29 by 26 feet overall. 29 ft 26 ft 6.6 ft Clear zone 15 × 12 ft the unit
To scale: the Big Ol Bouncer (15 × 12 ft) plus 6.6 ft of clear space on every side is a 29 × 26 ft patch of lawn, rounded up. Every card below is drawn the same way on a 44 ft square, larger than on our other guides, so the largest unit fits.

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Big castles for a crowd.

Residential castles from 15 by 12 to 16 by 13 feet, rated for five or six kids and 500 to 600 pounds. With clearance, each needs a patch of lawn about 26 to 28 feet deep and 28 to 30 feet long.

Our pick for a crowd

Blast Zone Big Ol Bouncer

Footprint
15 × 12 ft
With clearance
29 × 26 ft
Weight limit
600 lb total
Ages
3 to 10

No slide here: all 15 by 12 feet is open bounce floor, and Blast Zone makes that floor from commercial vinyl. It's rated for six kids and 600 pounds in total, enough for a pack of 10-year-olds.

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Tallest castle, with a sun roof

Bounceland Party Castle

Footprint
16 × 13 ft
With clearance
30 × 27 ft
Weight limit
500 lb total, 100 per child
Ages
3 to 10

The tallest castle in this section at 10.3 feet, with a removable sun roof over the bounce floor and a short slide out the front. Bounceland sets a 100 pound limit per child, so it suits the younger half of a big-kids crowd.

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Same size, plus a slide

Blast Zone Magic Castle Ultra12

Footprint
15 × 12 ft
With clearance
29 × 26 ft
Weight limit
600 lb total
Ages
3 to 12

Matches the Big Ol Bouncer's 15 by 12 feet and adds an extra-large front slide, a separate side entrance and netting all the way around. Ages run to 12 and the limit is 600 pounds, so it can take a birthday party of tweens.

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Nearly square

Easyair Large Bounce House

Footprint
14.8 × 14.5 ft
With clearance
28 × 28 ft
Weight limit
600 lb total, 100 per child
Ages
3 to 12

Nearly square at 14.8 by 14.5 feet, with a short slide, a basketball hoop and about 50 pit balls in the box. Its 650 watt blower ships on a 12.5 foot cord, so plan the spot near an outlet.

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Obstacle courses, built to race.

Long, narrow courses from 18 to 21 feet, with tunnels, climbing walls and a slide at the end. With clearance they run 32 to 35 feet long but only 20 to 23 feet wide, a better fit for a side yard than a square lawn.

Our pick for a race

Whubefy 18 ft Obstacle Course

Footprint
18 × 8.2 ft
With clearance
32 × 22 ft
Weight limit
400 lb total
Ages
Listing disagrees

Two kids race side by side through twin tunnels and up twin climbing walls, then share one slide 5.6 feet across at the end. A mesh pocket on the side keeps shoes off the lawn, and the whole course packs into one bag at 48.5 pounds.

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Longest course, most riders

YARD Rainbow Racer Obstacle Course

Footprint
21.3 × 9.2 ft
With clearance
35 × 23 ft
Weight limit
700 lb total, 100 per child
Ages
3 to 8

Kids crawl through twin tunnels, bounce past the pillar obstacles, then climb the wall under the rainbow arch and slide to the finish, 21.3 feet end to end. YARD rates it for six or seven kids at up to 100 pounds each, the most riders of any course here.

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Slimmest course

HuaKastro 20.5 ft Obstacle Course

Footprint
20.5 × 6.3 ft
With clearance
34 × 20 ft
Weight limit
350 lb total
Ages
3 to 10

At 6.3 feet wide it's the slimmest course here, and with clearance it needs a strip about 20 feet wide, a couple of feet less than the others. Pillar tunnels, a crossing wall and a climbing wall lead to the slide.

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Double slide, race-car look

AirMyFun 11-in-1 Race Car

Footprint
18.4 × 8.7 ft
With clearance
32 × 22 ft
Weight limit
595 lb total
Ages
3 to 8

Built to look like a race car, wheels and all, with a climbing wall, a crawl tunnel and a sticky-ball target before the double slide at the front. AirMyFun lists room for six kids and ages from 3 to 8.

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Commercial vinyl, rental grade.

PVC vinyl units of the kind rental companies use, heavier and tougher than the castles above, from a 13 foot square to a 26 foot combo with a pool. Most stand 14 feet or taller and weigh more than 100 pounds.

Our pick for commercial vinyl

HeroKiddo Jelly Bean Combo with Pool

Footprint
26 × 14 ft
With clearance
40 × 28 ft
Weight limit
700 lb total
Ages
3 and up

The largest unit on the site: a commercial vinyl castle whose two slide lanes run into an attached splash pool, wet in summer and dry the rest of the year. With HeroKiddo's own 7 foot clearance it needs about 40 by 28 feet of lawn, and open sky above its 15 feet.

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Commercial vinyl, four at a time

Pogo Building Block Castle

Footprint
13 × 12 ft
With clearance
27 × 26 ft
Weight limit
Listing disagrees
Ages
Listing unclear

Building-block towers around a 13 by 12 foot floor of 15 ounce vinyl, with an interior hoop, a sun roof and a wide ramp in. Pogo rates it for four children at a time, fewer than its size suggests, and its manual asks for 5 to 7 feet of open space around it.

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13 foot square, 800 lb

Cloud 9 Commercial Castle

Footprint
13 × 13 ft
With clearance
27 × 27 ft
Weight limit
800 lb total
Ages
Listing disagrees

A 13 foot square castle in 100 percent PVC, with 15 ounce vinyl on the floor, sides and slide, run by a 1.5 horsepower UL-listed blower. Its listing gives ages from 3 months to 'Adult', which settles nothing, so go by the 800 pound limit instead.

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The same castle, no pool

HeroKiddo Jelly Bean Dual-Lane Combo

Footprint
14 × 17 ft
With clearance
28 × 31 ft
Weight limit
700 lb total
Ages
3 and up

The same Jelly Bean castle as the combo above, minus the splash pool, so it's 14 by 17 feet instead of 26 by 14. The two slide lanes and the 700 pound rating carry over, and an interior hoop comes with it.

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How to choose a bounce house for big kids.

Go by the per-child limit

A bigger total doesn't help if one 12-year-old is over the per-child limit. Bounceland, Easyair and YARD publish one; most of the others give only a total, so divide it by the number of kids you expect and leave a margin. The commercial units carry the highest totals here, 700 to 800 pounds, and their listings pitch them at rental companies as well as families.

Plan for the weight and the height

The commercial units weigh 112 to 143 pounds, so setup is a job for two adults, and a hand truck helps. Most of them stand 14 feet or taller, which rules out a spot under trees or wires. Pogo's manual asks for 5 to 7 feet of open space around the unit and says to keep everyone off it once the wind reaches 15 miles an hour.

A backyard bounce house with an attached slide Bounce houses with slides Slide combos from 9 to 17 feet, sized with their landing room. An inflatable water slide with a splash pool Water slides Wet slides for the hottest weekends, drawn with the lawn they soak. A small, low-walled toddler bouncer Toddler and indoor Smaller bouncers for younger siblings, indoors and out. A Little Tikes Jump 'n Slide, the classic backyard bounce house All bounce houses Twelve picks from small yards to party size.