Party Equipment Rentals / Games and Inflatable Rentals
FOR PTAS, CHURCHES, TOWNS AND FAMILIESGames and inflatable rentals for the day the whole family turns up
Carnival games, lawn games and inflatables, delivered and set up by the same family company that does the tents. If this is your first time running one of these, we will walk you through it. Most people we talk to are volunteers, not planners, and that is completely fine.
Who calls us about this
The fun part, planned by somebody with a day job
Games and inflatable rentals are the part of an event the kids remember and the grown-ups worry about. Somebody has to pick what goes on the field, work out where it fits, and answer the question everyone asks two days out: what happens if it rains.
Almost nobody doing that job does it for a living. It is a PTA parent who said yes at a meeting, a church volunteer, a town recreation office with three people and a long weekend, or a dad who promised his kid a bounce house. You do not need the vocabulary. Tell us the date, the ages and roughly where it is going.
We have been doing Long Island events since 1975, we own what we rent, and our own crew brings it. Call with a question about your field and you are talking to the people who will be standing on it.
The events this usually is
Different crowds, same three questions: what fits, what suits the ages, and what happens if the weather turns.
The three families
Carnival games, lawn games and inflatables
They do different jobs, and a good day has some of all three. They hold different kinds of attention for different lengths of time.
Carnival games
Booth-style games with a quick turn and a small prize: knock the cans down, toss the ring, land the beanbag. The backbone of a school or church fair, because each takes a minute, runs on a table and a volunteer, and gives you something to charge a ticket for.
Lawn games
Oversized versions of games people already know, set out on the grass with nobody running them. Giant connect four, cornhole, ladder toss, oversized checkers. They need no power, no staffing and no instruction, and they give parents and teenagers somewhere to be.
Inflatables
The ones the kids came for. Bounce houses, slides, combo units, obstacle courses, and interactive units where two kids compete. They ask the most of you: real space, the right surface, power, anchoring and an adult watching. They also carry the day.
Before you pick anything
What each one actually needs from your site
This is the part that gets skipped, and the reason something occasionally cannot go where somebody pictured it.
| Category | Space | Surface | Power and setup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carnival games | A table's worth each, plus room for a short line in front and a volunteer behind. | Anything flat. Grass, blacktop, a gym floor or under a tent. | No power. Set out by hand, and easy to move once you see where the crowd goes. |
| Lawn games | An open pocket for each, away from walking lines so a stray toss does not hit anybody. | Level grass is best. Most work on blacktop, some slide on a gym floor. | No power. Put out at the start and collected at the end. |
| Bounce houses and combos | The footprint plus clear margin on every side, and clear height with nothing overhead. | Level grass preferred, so it can be staked. Hard surfaces need weights instead. | A blower runs constantly the whole time the unit is up, on its own supply. |
| Slides and obstacle courses | A long, straight run. These are the units that most often need a different spot than planned. | Level ground along the whole length, not just at the entrance. | Constant power, and water for any wet unit, which changes where it can go. |
Match the crowd to the ground
Age and space matcher
Pick who is coming. Each answer shows what works in three amounts of open space, so you can see whether your spot fits the plan or the plan has to fit the spot.
A corner of a hall or gym
Small bounce units built for the youngest kids fit indoors where height allows, and that is often all you need. Add two or three table games with soft prizes. Little kids cycle through fast, so two small things beat one big one.
A backyard or blacktop
A single bounce house is usually the whole plan, with lawn games around the edge for the grown-ups. Keep the entrance facing where parents are sitting. On blacktop the unit gets weighted rather than staked, so leave room around it.
A field or big lawn
Resist filling it. Little ones do not travel far, so group everything in one pocket near the shade and the restrooms rather than spreading it out. The rest of the field is better used for seating and a tent than for more units.
A corner of a hall or gym
This is carnival game territory. A row of booth games along one wall gives you a ticket system, a job for every volunteer and a line that keeps moving. Indoors, games do more for this age than one inflatable that half of them outgrow.
A backyard or blacktop
A combo unit with a slide holds this age far longer than a plain bounce floor, because there is something to do rather than just somewhere to be. Add two lawn games so there is an option when the line is long.
A field or big lawn
The classic school fair layout: an obstacle course or slide at one end, a run of carnival games down one side, lawn games loose in the middle. Keep the inflatables together so one or two adults can watch all of them.
A corner of a hall or gym
Skill and competition games beat anything bouncy. Basketball shot, hoop toss, anything with a scoreboard and a rival. Teenagers will queue for a game they can lose in front of their friends and will walk past a bounce house.
A backyard or blacktop
Interactive units where two people compete are the right call for a graduation party. Lawn games carry the rest of the night, because they work without anyone organizing them and they still work after dark with lights on.
A field or big lawn
Obstacle courses are what this age actually wants, and they want to be timed. Give the run plenty of length and plenty of room at the finish, because that is where everybody stands to watch.
A corner of a hall or gym
Tight space with a wide age range means games rather than inflatables, because one unit will fit one age group and disappoint the rest. A row of varied carnival games lets a six-year-old and a fourteen-year-old both find something.
A backyard or blacktop
Pick one inflatable for the middle of the age range and let lawn games cover the ends. Trying to serve toddlers and teenagers with one unit is the usual way a backyard party ends up with a queue and a sulk.
A field or big lawn
Separate by age rather than by type. A small unit and soft games in one zone, the big slide and the obstacle course in another, with the food and seating between them. Parents can then stand in one place and see both.
The practical part
Supervision, in plain terms
An inflatable needs an adult watching it for as long as it is running. Not standing nearby, watching. That person keeps the numbers inside sensible, keeps shoes and food out, keeps the little ones and the big ones from being in there together, and stops everything if the weather turns. It is a real job, and it belongs on your volunteer list with a name next to it.
Every unit comes with the manufacturer's posted rules, and those rules are what the day runs on. Our crew goes through them with whoever is taking charge, shows them the blower and how to shut it down, and leaves a number to call. None of it is complicated. It is just easier heard once before two hundred people arrive.
Have these ready before we arrive
Eight answers. Most people have all of them already and just have not written them down in one place.
The honest bit
Weather decides, and wind decides hardest
An inflatable is a large, light, hollow thing held down at the corners. Wind is the condition that matters most, and every unit has a limit set by its manufacturer. Past that limit it does not run, and that is not a judgement call made to be careful. It is the rule the equipment comes with. Rain is gentler: a wet unit is slippery, so it pauses until it is dry.
So build a plan B while you are still enjoying plan A. Indoor space for the games is the simplest version. A tent is the other, and it does double duty: shade in July, cover in October, and somewhere for the food table either way. Book it with the games and it arrives on the same truck.
If the wind comes up
Inflatables come down or do not go up. Games carry on. Decide in advance who makes that call, and tell your volunteers it comes from the equipment, not from you.
If it rains
Move the games under cover and pause the inflatables until they dry. Have one room or one tent named in advance, so nobody is deciding at nine in the morning.
If the ground is soaked
Soft spring fields are common on Long Island and they change how a unit anchors. Sometimes the answer is a different spot, sometimes a hard surface, sometimes event flooring under the busiest areas.
What the day looks like
From the truck arriving to the field going quiet
We agree the spots
On the phone or on site, depending on the field. Truck access, surface, overhead clearance and where power comes from.
Delivery before the gates
We arrive early enough to finish and be out of your way before anybody shows up, which for a morning fair means a quiet field at breakfast time.
Setup and anchoring
Units are positioned, inflated, and staked or weighted to the surface under them. Blowers are placed and cords run where nobody will be walking.
The walk-through
Whoever is in charge is shown how each unit runs, how to shut it down, and the manufacturer's rules for it. Then a number to call if anything changes.
Your event
Your volunteers run it and we stay reachable. If the weather moves, call us. We would rather talk it through than have you guessing on a field.
Pack-up
We come back at the agreed time, deflate, fold and load. Nobody stays late holding a corner of anything, and nothing is left for the school to store.
Browse and build your list
See what is on the shelf right now
Games and inflatables sit in the same rental catalog as the tents, tables and chairs most of these days need anyway.
Carnival games
Lawn and party games
Concessions
Inflatables
From Google reviews
What organizers tell us afterward
"TGIF provided excellent communication and great service. Our party was a huge success, and everything was delivered at a great price. I will definitely use them again and recommend them to anyone planning an event."
"TGIF handled my event in Suffolk County, and they absolutely exceeded my expectations. The setup was perfect, the event went beautifully, and the team did an excellent job."
Straight answers
What volunteers and parents ask us
Talk to us
Tell us the date, the ages and where it is going
That is enough for us to put a sensible list together. If you are not sure what fits, describe the field and we will work it out with you.