LSS 2022 Review
This was an exciting year for the LSS that was highly anticipated by the whole industry, with only one trade show dedicated to our industry a year (and missing one out due to Covid) everyone was ready for the event! The general feeling amongst hirers was that last year was their best year ever, only beaten by this year with a return of events, schools and corporates, so people came ready to spend - Or least in a position to part with cash!
I’ve put a little write-up of each exhibit below, if I missed anyone out this isn’t a sleight, I either didn’t get the time to really take it in, can’t really speak to the product or or just missed them; This isn’t personal and isn’t intended as a knock.
The reviews will be honest and in some places critical - They can’t all be glowing and gushing, but for what it is worth, they are my own personal opinion and take on each exhibit.
P & J Entertainments
I was speaking with Paul Quaif from P&J and always make it a point to do so, he is is one of the longest standing hirers in the UK, is an inspector, manufacturer, successful business man and point of knowledge and inside information that cannot be over-looked; His reach spans into every area.
There’s a lot of new hirers in the industry and it’s a shame that many of them do not recognise or know his brand - Anyone that has been involved in the industry for a little longer will know the experience he brings and the quality products that he sells.
He shared some interesting thoughts on some products that I will share in that exhibitors write-up, but one part relevant to P&J was a comment he made about his buzz wires; They sell quite well each year and he has been making them for many years, but repeat business is slow, he relies on new sales which can be tough, because once someone has one, they never need to replace them!
They’re a simple premise with very few components, but the components are all the best possible - stainless steel so they do not rust, galvanised connections, steardy bases and large batteries that do not lose their charge quickly due to frequent recharges.
Paul could make the batteries smaller so they need charging more frequently and therefore need replacing sooner, but he refuses to do that. He could make the metal more prone to rust or any number of other “tricks” to get a better turn-over, but the truth is he builds the units too well.
They’re a great item that are hired on the domestic side as an add-on as well as a great product to have for enticing school fete bookings or corporate work. Realistically you’ll never be able to get rich hiring just them on their own, but the ROI is incredible - Once you’ve got it it’s there forever! You don’t need to worry about bed-ties going, delamination, the theme going out of fashion or wear and tear, it’s a timeless piece of equipment that you never need to buy again.
Despite Paul exhibiting for years, he also came with new items that had not been seen at the show before, with retro-arcade stand-up machine and a new cactus game as well. They had the same quality you would expect from P&J as well as the same essence as the buzz-wires; Get it once and never look back. You don’t need to keep replacing or turning them over, they just keep going. He never has a huge stand, but you shouldn’t walk past it too quickly and it’s always worth talking to him, Dave, John and the rest of his team. Really nice guys, approachable, friendly and good honest advice.
A fond farewell and good luck to Paul and John who have now semi-retired from P&J, but continuing to offer inflatable inspections (while still remaining very integral to the industry and consulted with on almost every change) and a massive wish of good luck to Luke Russell who has purchased P&J lock, stock and barrel; A lovely familiy man with a long history in the inflatable industry.
Bouncy Castle Network
I was disappointed that I couldn’t get to speak with the team more. Most of the team are friends of mine and I am sad that I never managed to see Haseena and her new born child.
It’s easy to understand though, they are constantly busy showing their websites capabilities - It’s difficult for them as most exhibitors have a game that can be played and understood in a couple of minutes or inflatables where customers are experts and know what they’re looking for themselves, but BCN’s platform is so vast that to go through it completely would take days!
Customers can literally smell a castle and know whether the print has been made with a solvent printer or latex, feel it and know if the material is coatings, see the grain, look at the seams and know if it will be a stress point - But not everyone is an expert in technology, so it needs a little more hand-holding and walk-through.
Every time they exhibit I underline their development and how impressive it is that they’ve pushed a new feature; Sometimes reacting to market needs like digital contactless disclaimers and other times it’s leading the market and pushing new functionality that over-time becomes the new norm; Like ticketing, baskets, route planning and mobile technology. It’s genuinely staggering that they manage to keep pushing new features continually without burning out; I used to be able to speak to any part of their system with confidence that I was an expert, but it’s so large now that I can’t claim that accolade any-longer.
That’s a good thing though, the system Is flexible enough to scale to any business in our industry; You’re a part-time hirer with 2 castles and 2 soft-play sets? No problem. You’re an event manager, a multi-fleet show-man, a soft play company, static or travelling bounce day operator, multi-driver massive company, sweet cone seller, slush machine hirer, mobile cocktail bar whatever… No problem! It scales with you no matter the size and still the same cost today as it was ten years ago!
They do need to bringing more devices to show the sites though, I’ve said it before but they need to bring tablets to show the sites on mobile platforms and stop them from being tethered to workstations. They could literally demonstrate how easy it is to add products by walking up to a manufacturer you’ve just made a purchase from, take a picture and add it to the site and make it live. - Imagine the success story of adding the product to the site at the show and a booking coming through before it’s even in the back of van to take home.
I have no idea who I was talking to, but I was passing the better-bounce stand and Lee was talking to a customer, the customer was asking his advice who he should go with now he is trying to grow. Lee was trying to be impartial and I understand why, he wouldn’t want to upset his existing customers by showing preference, so he grabbed me and asked me the question instead.
I recommended BCN, explaining that not only are they UK market leaders with a huge support team, but they’ve also broken into the US. You’re getting a world-class system for the cost of less than one hire.
However, one of the reasons I love my site so much is because of how easy it is to rank for terms you’re targeting. The effort you put into your site is directly going to give you results - Everyone hates writing content, but with BCN I know that the time I put into it isn’t hindered by anything, it uses cutting edge technology and proven methods to help you rank. Instead of needing to be an expert in SEO and spending 20 hours making sure I am listed well and ranking high for “Weddling light up love letters in Essex”, worried that at 10 of those hours I spent are wasted as a result of not knowing what I am doing or the system not being so google friendly, I know that each and every hour is fully maximised and giving me results.
I provided an example of this, it’s one I am reluctant to share because it’s going to be a thing, but it illustrates and proves the point very well.
The Queen’s Jubilee was a huge weekend for almost every hirer. Next year, the King’s coronation is going to be massive; If they hold it in season (and it looks like it will be), then we can expect it to be one of the best weekends for many hire companies across the board. Knowing this, I wrote a small 5-6 hundred word blog post and included a few words that I know will be googled for in the future. I didn’t add internal links, I didn’t add lots of words in bold and headings, I didn’t write content for google, but instead wrote it as I am writing here, for a reader. The results?! I am now ranked #1 for the entire UK for “bouncy castle hire kings coronation”; This from a single one-off blog post.
Guess who’s stand that guy headed to next?
Soft Play Creation Station
At a show filled with soft play manufacturers, they proved once again that no-one can do what they do. They have a niche and are market leaders in sensory soft-play, while others try to emulate this, they simply keep making new products. They have their timeless pieces that are long wearing and built for abuse, but they also keep bring more products to market - Either themselves directly or with industry contacts that others just do not have.
A few years ago they would have been instantly recognised as “Jay’s Inflatables”, a quality bouncy castle manufacturer - These days a lot of new hirers won’t know them, but they have become almost a house-hold name in many SEN families and play centres across the UK.
They have a mixture of printed, applique, tactile and plain soft play, but the intricate work that goes into them is unparalleled. You can’t get away with printing a rainbow tunnel, it would simply get rubbed off with the use in no time at all, sewing so many colours together takes time and it would be very easy to over-look, but for anyone with any experience they will instantly know that it’s a product to last that you can’t get elsewhere.
For the hire market this may not be a requirement. A standard 17/18 pieces set in a bag is exactly what you’re after. If you’re looking for SEN equipment though, there’s really no other place to look first and it’s a market that the hire industry has over-looked.
Better Bounce
Better-Bounce didn’t have their usual sized large exhibit space and where one of very few not taking advantage of the space available. However, that didn’t stop them from making a big impact, bringing a new to market concept; The gel guns.
The guns where something that everyone had an opinion on at the show and everyone was talking about. For those that haven’t seen them, they’re a battery operated automatic pistol.
The ammo is what makes them different though. You have these teeny, tiny little hard balls (I’m sure there’s a joke somewhere in there) and soak them in water for 60 minutes, after-which the balls become much larger after swelling up (again, there’s probably a joke in there), but they’re softer and easier to explode (so sorry).
Firing these at someone is going to sting a little, maybe leave a little red-mark for a few minutes, but not break the skin or cause any actual damage (not even if you fired them at point blank range - Which I did several times at Lee).
The ammo is tiny, like the size of a poppy seed - Imagine a small bag like a McDonalds fruit bag, that will hold 10,000 of these balls. A small bucket of them is holding something stupid like ten million. Storage for them easy, you don’t need to worry about it taking up a lot space and a bucket of them is going to last for many hirers/events. They’re also fully degradeable, non-toxic and have a shelf-life of a billion years.
The charge time on the guns is quick and spare batteries are cheap to have ready - Although they last about 30 minutes of continuously firing non-stop.
The idea in using them is that they fire hard enough to activate the IPS buttons, so you can leverage your existing IPS systems and games to use these guns instead of nerf or pressing them yourself.
If you don’t have an IPS system they can also be used to knock off floating balls from air juggler games and work really well.
They’re a tonne of fun and have a wide range of use that they could be applied to. They’re genuinely fun to use and for two days at the show it didn’t get boring pretending to be SAS armed forces, going round stealthily shooting each-other. For the price, they’re amazing value and affordable by any hire company - They’re not a new to market product that’s unattainable for most, I genuinely purchased a couple just for home use with the kids.
The flip side to these though are I can see them being an issue with accidents and will need to be heavily supervised. While they won’t break skin, you absolutely need protective face masks to cover your ears and eyes. You cannot let kids run around and just shoot people and they will definitely want to and they have a bit more of a sting in them compared to foam nerf bullets.
Another issue is the mess - While they do degrade, if you use them in a hall you’ll need to clean up (outside they’ll just disintegrate) and you’ll need to make sure you sweep them out of your equipment as they’re wet.
Part of the fun is that they’re auto-matic, but that’s also potentially a draw-back. It makes them too easy to shoot the target. They could do with a switch (or different model) to make them semi-automatic; Not something I thought about, but a point that a fellow hire (Richard Wilkinson) pointed out. You can basically wave them round like a cheat-code and hit everything really quickly, pretty annoying for re-setting floating balls every ten seconds. Being semi-automatic would also help reduce the mess, too.
For me, I don’t supervise parties very often, it’s not a market I am in and not sure I would want to, but I can see these taking off for some people. Just make sure you’re insured for it.
Better-bounce also showed a great big pirate galleon; Highly detailed, great print quality and a lot of fun. Good price and worth noting that it actually does met the standard; Paul Quaif was testing it for a customer. I only mention this because there are other models out there that do not, so this one is a safe purchase.
They also bought their standard a-frame, which at first glance seemed like the usual BB a-frame, but upon closer inspection this model has really changed (and for the better), the rain cover is sewn in, they have better anchor points, there’s more stitching reinforced areas and it’s a better made unit. The shower cover is a better material and while the price hasn’t moved much over the years, it’s definitely a better product than before (not that the old model wasn’t, this is just improved). I’m not sure if this is now the new standard model or not, but if I was buying one, I’d be asking for these specs. Good job!
Soft Play Planet
I’ve always been impressed with their big range of themes, with each design being age-appropriate. You don’t want your dinosaurs looking too scary or the lions looking too fearsome on toddler soft-play - Cute cartoon graphics are what I’m after here and I want it consistently across all ranges rather than the Princess one being too old, but the Unicorn one being just right; Often the result of mixed sources for artwork (or just googled!).
They have nice designs and it was hard not purchasing more than what I did. I wanted stock to walk away with and soft play planet had it! They took advantage of their being more exhibit space available and clearly worked hard to make sure they had a lot of stock to see.
A few years ago I praised their artwork designs for similar reasons, but was pretty critical of their print quality. I am very pleased to see how this has done a complete 180, with print quality not being an issue at all. Whether this was supplier issues, a bad batch or whatever, their show items this year where faultless. I strongly suspect that they are now actually supplying other manufacturers their print - What a long way they have in this regard!
I purchased a couple of inflatable ball pools, the model itself is pretty familiar to other manufacturers, but these guys had stock and looked well enough built to feel confident in making a purchase. They could have done with a replaceable/detatchable slip sheet over the high use entrance area, but it wasn’t enough to deter me from buying a couple. - Time will tell if the print holds up in those areas, but I have a feeling it will be fine, if not then they was cheap enough to replace and I think a very good purchase.
I was pleased to see that they took the show seriously and purposefully came up with a new item and innovation specifically for the show. Basically it’s the same as a stand-up peek-a-book face board thing, but instead of a face hole they have velcro games on it, this being different to others because it was double sides and the games easily and cheaply replaced. I’m not describing it very well or giving it enough credit, but there’s photos below. It’s a good idea because the big items stays the same and the games are cheaply and easily purchased to make different themes. Pretty good as a 1, 2, 3 or four player and storage not an issue due to a pack of the games you stick on being no bigger than a single soft play block.
They also had the stand-up peek-a-boo face pieces with interchangeable velcro coverings. I’m not a big fan of velcro for castles, but this works pretty well for these soft play shapes. It was good to see the edges all hemmed to protect children, but the face holes where not hemmed - This is where faces will be placed and while it won’t likely cause too much of a problem in most cases, it could chaffe their chins or scrape their faces/neck. It’s very very difficult to hem a circle, especially a flat piece, but this would be the only criticism I had of an otherwise great product.
Airquee
You absolutely cannot talk about the LSS this year without mentioning Airquee - They literally turned up with Lorry loads of equipment.
I feel like they got it right, too. They wasn’t exhibiting lots and lots of big equipment like they previously have - They did bring some bigger equipment, but not anything absolutely dauntingly huge and super expensive.
They have their finger on the pulse and I believe they understand that next year may well be slightly more weighted on smaller kit as there could be a dip in work for the bigger equipment, I would credit them with being smart enough to see this and exhibit accordingly.
With such an enormous exhibit space (eclipsing all others in attendance) it would be easy to over-look their soft play. They had so many inflatables you almost didn’t notice the piles of soft play available, but for those that took the time to look at it, everyone agreed that it was the best made they had ever seen in terms of a standard 18 themed set.
That’s no small statement, the show had a lot of soft play manufacturers so it’s hard to achieve that. Whatever they was producing before is a mile away from what they have now. I know a few hirers personally that previously had some complaints, but what they are producing now is simply out-standing - It’s a different product completely.
The price tag is hard to swallow when you have a saturated market - You could probably get two sets from someone else for the same price; Or not too far from it. They had a beautiful ABC toddler castle and the matching soft play, but you could but the castle from them and get a very very similar themed “matching” soft play set from another manufacturer for nearly half the price. However, the precision from Airquee is unquestionable, the quality un-matched and subtle improvements to the edges of the shapes to help unsure protection of scuffed edges and “whitening” on corners over time. The print protection coating almost felt like you was touching a gel pad.
They took an endless amount of 3D castles with designs that you don’t always see too often on facebook groups; Stand out items and themes that people aren’t often brave enough to try as well as classics and variations of them that where visually enticing. The colours popped out and the intricate shapes on some of them are out of reach of many manufacturers.
One of my personal picks for best item was the dinosaur slide. I’m a big fan of dinosaur theme and the slide was basically similar to a RUSH slide but made like a 3D combi castle and slightly narrower. Despite the additional material the weight at 180 KG was relatively low, too. - This is the same weight as their big RUSH slide with stabilisers and arch, I have no idea how they managed to keep it this light considering the massive head on it. While not light compared to castles, it’s lighter than their 10 foot helter-skelter and could be managed by one person if needed.
It was £2.5k plus VAT, but as a stand-out item it was pointed out to me by Paul Quaif that it’s easily a £275 hire item in a school hall, making it see a return within 10 hires. While a big item for most people, the ROI is definitely there.
First time seeing the inside of their inflatable pub up-close, got to say was pretty under-whelmed. No internal print, very barren and not at-all cosy. Looks great from the outside, but you definitely need to hire this out with extra things inside to give it a pub-feel.
The outside does look great and it’s clearly well made, although I would like to see something added around the bottom to ensure light doesn’t get under the gaps.
They introduced their new toddler range of castles at the show with lots of different themes. These where excellent and I wanted to purchase two myself, but sadly I couldn’t walk away with them on the day so it gave me time to think about exactly which ones I want - But I do want them.
They’re basically a toddler bouncy castle with bish bash, but that’s an under-statement. They’re 3D castles with 3d bish-bash, netted sides and rounded edges, kinda like a globe almost. It’s hard to describe, you need to look at the photos below to appreciate how good they look.
These items need talking about a little more and can’t be over-looked. They’re priced at £1,200 including VAT. That is less than a standard castle, but the potential hire price here is higher than your everyday 10x12/12x15.
They aren’t as ground-breaking as the whack-a-mole or disco dome, but they’re definably a “new” product. There is a real opportunity here to be the first to purchase and set the market price. Whatever you’re charging for a standard castle, you’ll definitely be able to add £15 as a minimum on-top.
The trouble is, with them being so affordable, it will be easy for the industry to charge the same as a standard castle (or less!), but they are different, incredible looking, engaging and cute enough that they can and will command a higher price to hire. I almost want Airquee to charge a lot more for these to ensure the hire price reflects that (but not until I’ve got mine). My “top tip of the week” is to get on these early, they’re beautiful. Just charge as much as you can before the race to the bottom begins.
I only had one issue with a single one of these units and it was the ABC version. Great to see the “something different” part of the hop-scotch on the bed, but the start of the hop-scotch was too close to the edge of the step join and the game is designed so they have their back facing the step. It could be a bit of a trip or risk issue placed where it is and I would prefer to see it running horizontally rather then front to back - Although for the engineering aspect of it, I love the design - It would have been hard to get the airflow and pressure right, but they did it.
Inflatable World of Leisure
It was incredible to see the IWS team at the LSS, considering the painful and heartbreaking very recent loss of Paul Walkden, the director of IWL. - It was touching to see so many leaves lovely comments from his industry friends in his book of remembrance at the stand and to hear how many planned to make his funeral - He was loved and respected by everyone who knew him.
For those not familiar with their inflatables, they are revered by most operators as the very best made inflatables. They used to also be known as very expensive, but considering the rise in prices from most manufacturers and the relatively less sharp increase from IWL, that gap has closed now more than ever, but the quality has not. Now is a very good time to purchase from them, whether it’s your first IWL unit or you’ve always been “an IWL guy”.
They can be completely forgiven for bringing an item from a hire fleet that had a few little patches of mud/dirt on it considering their recent loss; In fact, it actually demonstrated very well just how good the unit looked despite coming from a working hire fleet. That’s the thing about these units, they’re made to last.
The super hero theme was the very best one I have ever seen that isn’t copyright. Other manufacturers really need to take note of this, because quite frankly the rest are at best “good enough” and at worst “laughably bad” when it comes to making their own super hero theme. This one stood out miles ahead.
Vortex Inflatables
Liam, the owner of Vortex is somewhat of an underdog success story. His path to where he is now is fairly well known and is an endearing story, breaking out on his own and through hard work building a great reputation for good quality inflatables.
It’s pleasing to see him come with so many staff and able to command such a large space at the show, knowing that this wasn’t always the case. I feel like his story resonates with a lot of hirers because most of us have also had to build our business from scratch and it’s not always been easy.
Liam got the show pretty much exactly right. He came with stock! So much so that he was able to constantly cycle through items and let people take away what they purchased. I bought a couple of items myself and was thrilled take them straight away and even more pleased to see them replaced with something different right away. His second day was a different show from the first! I went both days and his was the only stand you had to keep going back to again and again to see more things. It must have been very difficult to get it all made, but he did it.
He also showed new items for his company and was brave enough to take a prototype slide. Vortex hasn’t done slides before, so it was refreshing to see a toddler slide. The prototype isn’t the finished model and he was gracious enough to accept some well intended advice on changes needed - specifically making the platform area of the slide deeper so that the gradient was a little steeper, while allowing for the side barriers of the slide to come down longer and taller to help with the user height allowance. I’d also recommend making the end parts of the slide, the side barriers rounded, like a bouncy castle turret to remove stress points (would mean they finish just short of the run-off, but this is fine). No one else does this really and it was further set him and the product apart.
As said though, this was a prototype - A demonstration of what they can do. The base model for the design is conceptually sound. - With some minor alterations it will be a perfect slide and also pretty scalable to bigger sized platform heights. The build quality was very good and I am excited to see the next version and expect that this one was really just to show what’s coming next from Vortex.
The bouncy castles where good value, show deals on offer and while I wasn’t even looking for another h-frame I couldn’t say no to one, especially at the show price. A couple of the castles (not all of them, just a couple of the h-frames out of over what seemed to be about 50 inflatables) had some pinched turrets, but given the amount of stock he had to make I think it was forgiveable and wasn’t anything too drastic. Vortex are constantly improving their product and I know he was aware of this; It certainly wasn’t a big enough issue for me as I bought one and nearly took a second.
I absolutely loved the shoot-out games. Some of the designs didn’t suit me, but there was plenty of them to choose from and the coconut-shy stood out to me. Great red and white design that suits the school fetes, a classic game that’s well known and easy to set-up. A good product to up-sell and make sure that you get that booking rather than someone else. I wish he had more inflatable games, because the design of the shoot-outs is well thought out, if he puts his brain to those as well as he has these they’ll be mint; Too may of these games don’t work outside, the basketball doesn’t return, the ball doesn’t float properly, the football has to be retrieved or you need to use it awkwardly, but this has been perfected - Lets see more!
I like the consistent design of the inflatables too, on each and every one, whether an adult a-frame, combi or h-frame he has rounded base bed where the turrets join, it’s not a common design and it's rarely seen, but it helps reduce stress and adds longevity to the seams and the castle life-span.
They’re a real company, staff, website, VAT, business hours, but it’s still kept it’s charm. I’d feel confident placing orders with Vortex and look forward to see what’s coming next.
Gibbons
This is pretty much a copy-paste of the last show… I always struggle to talk about Gibbons. They’re the industry leader in fans for a reason and amongst bouncy castle companies they’re a house-hold name. For them I suspect it’s a brand exercise to remain in people’s minds, but really there is little competition for them, especially with their two biggest competitors for fans not attending this year’s show.
It’s not a lack of respect for Gibbons, they’re the best. It’s just hard to write about them.
JB Inflatables
Very hard to write about JB Inflatables and be taken seriously. Every time they exhibit it feels like a different company, with the only consistency being that they constantly change, so whatever you write about them one year may be totally different the next - This year being no different.
I mean no disrespect, but it feels like sometimes they exhibit just for lols, at the very least they do not take themselves too seriously - They’re similar to Airquee, but I can imagine them bringing show-girls to the trade-show just for laughs (oh wait, they did that one time).
A good example of what I mean when was I asked the rep why I should buy his front-slide combi or Airquee’s (there’s no point trying to deny it, they’re virtually the same unit, style and model - Other than JB have a different artwork style and do not have seatbelt webbing on the bed (something they should adopt ASAP as it will definitely delaminate over time when rolled). His reply was a shrug of his shoulders and “Dunno, more colourful?”. He didn’t say it in a rude way, he had a smile on his face when saying it and it wasn’t contempt, it was more of a suggestion and he said it while half laughing and a good nature.
It’s hard to work out, but at a guess I would say they don’t particularly care about the UK market and these shows are just a test to see what’s happening - Keeping a foot in the door in-case they ever decide to actually get a bit serious, but for now they can afford to just turn up with tongue in cheek.
Having said that, they did have some interesting items. I liked one of their slides (they had two on show). One was too steep with a short run-off and kids would definitely come off the end, but the other one was pretty nice and had an amazing show price of £2.4k including VAT to take away on the day. It was a serious bargain, but I dislike yellow PVC (which they seem to love) and the PVC webbing is a real issue over time. Liked the design though and the jungle bish bashers in the bounce areas where cute looking.
The beer pong game was a great idea. Perfect theme for older audiences, universities and young adults. For anyone with an existing IPS system it must have been a tempting purchasing. The game worked really well, too - Easy to “learn” but not easy, absolutely anyone could pick up how to play within seconds, but you couldn’t master it within a hire and suck all the fun out of it. Really cool item that you could market at several different audiences and good value. This was a really good item.
The foam pits looked like they would hire well for some people and cheap enough to take a chance on. I’m not sure you would want the hassle of importing their fluid all the time and you’d need to keep some in stock, but I have no idea whether you could get away with using a UK produced replica of the fluid to make it viable or you absolutely have to use their liquid or else it wont work. The units are light weight and made of a material different to bouncy castles, but no special foam cannon is needed, it’s pretty much just a sump pump attached to a barrel of fluid and a special second tube running alongside the inflate tube, then pushing it out of what I can only describe as being like the lining of mens swimming trunks - So the cost of it all is really affordable without needing a £3k mega-master-blaster-foam-3000 -a-tron.
Cool exhibit and some great bargains, just sadly nothing specifically for me that I wanted.
Rodeo Sales
One of the most impressive stands at the show and lead the way on how to turn your back garden bouncy castle business into a company that breaks into the corporate hire market. Their products are up-market and look the part, they’re for when you need to arrive in uniforms and when you’re focusing on service over price.
I was worried that when the main provider of their games who solely sold through RS left that relationship and started selling directly that RS would dry up with products, but that wasn’t the case at all - They came with new electronic games that genuinely had people trying them out all day long. Simple games that are easy to play on your very first try, but incredibly difficult to master. Games that could be played one player quite easily and still be as satisfying as playing with others.
With innovation, new products and classics all still being sold, RS remains at the forefront of providing high-end corporate equipment for team building days, event hire and white shirt services.
It was great to see the control panels and up-close observation of the sweepers and rodeo bulls, easy and simple operation with the annual service price being extremely cheap. I often worry about on-going costs of these items, but Brian’s team was really helpful in putting those fears to rest.
I loved the shuffle board game, again very simple to understand, but extremely difficult to master. The only issue being that it needs to be on a very flat surface otherwise the game pieces bend off to whatever side is off-balance. The game had “skirts” around the table, so I couldn’t see if they had them or not, but the legs could do with adjusters on them to make sure you get the table perfectly balanced. - They may well have done, but I didn’t actually look.
They’re a great show exhibitor and offer a wide range, they’re not just table top games, or just rodeo bulls, they have pretty much everything you need to offer a holistic up-market package and build a business around the equipment they offer. One day, I would like to be where they are.
Wobbly Wot Notz
Mel from Wobbly Wot Notz has successfully carved out a piece of the market for herself and garnered a dedicated following; This comes as no surprise as the products on offer where all faultless (well, apart from maybe a snakes and ladders over-sight where a snake “falls” to a higher number, lol).
Yet again increasing the footprint of her exhibit space each time, Mell arrived with a wonderful display, full of vibrant colours and themes, pastels and great quality print. Very neat stitching, cuts and models, stack-able, not baggy, made with precision whether a sand bag or a rubix cube. - Those tear drop basher pieces are very hard to get right and make well, but they’re perfect.
The print designs where all extremely nice, even where they cuts where diagonal across faces or important parts all all lined up well with the connecting parts without chunks of the characters face.
Very good show prices too. Prices across the entire industry for equipment has risen, but Mell has managed to keep her sets affordable and offer great show prices - Get them while she’s still in a good mood and the prices rise!
Staggering growth of themes and range available, completely lovely to see Wobbly Wot Notz doing so well and would not hesitate to order from.
Get Stuff Softplay
One of the most surprising exhibits. I was sure when I saw the floor plan that Get Stuffed was going to have a teeny tiny little stand with perhaps three kits stacked on-top of one another, a bunch of straps, sand bags, disco light holders and small stuff that you need but don’t get excited about.
Closer to the show Get Stuffed exhibit space grew larger and it piqued my interest.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. Get stuffed decided to break out at the show, removing doubt that they was just a bloke in a shed and the odd-job-man of the industry that you went to for weird stuff like darts, axes and alike.
I’ll be honest, I thought of Get Stuffed as like the sundaries part of the menu at an Indian restaurant. That’s not a knock, you need that stuff and it’s important. When no one can get you some Axe’s for your axe-throwing and it’s booked out in a weeks time, you need someone that can do that stuff - But you’re never going to build a company on making just that.
Get stuffed proved at the show that they are so much more than that. They rather surprisingly came with several printed themes. The artwork is good (although on a few pieces it needs improving where two pieces splits across text or a face, but this is a small alteration and not a fundamental flaw).
The pastel soft play was a great bargain and one of the nicest collections. It had several colours and would easily suit all pastel castles regardless of what colour the castle is, it would compliment it still.
I genuinely believe that the soft play is well made. It’s put together well and also shown that complex pieces like rockers are also not out of get stuffed skill-set. It’s hard to stand-out with so many veteran soft play manufacturers, especially when breaking in, but they offered good value, family run and the pastel soft play was legitimately a bargain.
Get stuff showed that they are serious and someone to at least consider when you’re making a decision as to who to order with. The ABC theme was very fortunate with the arrival of Airquees toddler castle, anyone who purchased one might like to give Get Stuffed a try.
The Wood Worx
Really good products that achieved the “rustic look” without being totally crap. It’s hard to make them look rustic while looking lush, some fail miserably with nails hanging out and saw marks all over it, looking more like an allotment garden shed than something you want at your wedding - But The Wood worx achieved this classy look and wouldn’t look out of place in a hotel foyer.
It’s hard to speak to this at any length, but they’re the real deal and if you’re in the market then I’d be calling them first.
Sophie Jean Sweetie Queen
While you could easily be forgiven for assuming this was just Lee and Sam letting their kid run a stall at the LSS and giving her something to do to feel part of it while they ran their own stall, you’d be very wrong.
Sophie is a young business woman and identified that she could make sales at the LSS, and she did!
While very young, it wasn’t just some over-priced sweetie stand to chuck a few quid at Lee’s kid and be friendly while you try to do the big deals with mummy and Daddy, it was genuinely it’s own stand in it’s own right. Of course mum and dad was close by, what responsible parent wouldn’t be? I’m pretty sure responsible parent Lee caught her in the cross fire of the guns while trying to shoot me, but still…
Sophie did really well, she made lots of sales and proved that she could do it independently. It was good value too, we bought some for our kids to come home with (which she knew people would) but it was more than a quick one time event thing, she has genuine contacts, business accounts, trade accounts, PNL and business plan.
It’s difficult not to sound patronising, but was genuinely made up for her and she did very well.
Summary
With two great seasons for most hirers back to back, it was easy to understand why every show-piece had a sold sign on it quite early and manufacturers went home with empty vans (or Lorry’s in Airquee’s case).
With that said, most veteran hire companies shared concern for next year; The bumper catch-up of events would be over and naturally trend downwards anyway, coupled with a rise of living costs and worries for the economy (the first thing to go being event budget) could represent a signal that bigger kit next year may not be out as much.
This is one of the intangible qualities of the show; Being there in person, speaking with other hire companies and picking up on their thoughts.
It was undeniable that the show was missing the diversity of lots of manufacturers, there was some big names missing and that cannot be glossed over. For any manufacturer reading this that didn’t attend, I implore you to consider providing support to Brian and the LSS and signing up for next year. This show is important, but if nothing else the branding exercise alone is worth it.
That said, it did allow the opportunity for other manufacturers to have larger spaces and fill it with lots of equipment… As ever, we got see new to market products, new equipment that manufacturers have never exhibited previously and lots of show only deals rather than tight spaces with only one or two pieces.
Was surprised not to see the BIHA present. Quite a scathing remark to make (nothing personal, I actually like Mark quite a lot), but I have to say it speaks to its dwindling relevancy.
As a hirer it was really worth going, I walked away having spent more than I had planned to and have come home making orders with show exhibitors that I would likely have gone elsewhere with or not considered previously.
I would have liked to see more play parks (or any at all) as well as more inflatable carnival/fete games, but was thrilled to see equipment that I wasn’t expecting.
Spencer Elliott
www.elliottsbouncycastlehire.co.uk
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