Jumping castle safety isn't mysterious. Across everything published on inflatable safety, two factors decide how the day goes: an adult actually watching, and a properly anchored castle. Get those right, add a few sensible habits, and the castle is one of the safest things at the party. Here's the full picture, from the people who set them up every weekend.

1. An adult watches — the whole time

The single most important rule. Under our Terms, supervision is the hirer's responsibility for the entire hire — the castle is never a babysitter. One adult, genuinely watching (not glancing up from the braai), managing turns and calling breaks: that habit alone is most of jumping castle safety.

2. Anchoring — and respect for wind

Wind is the one condition that genuinely endangers an inflatable, which is why anchoring is part of every setup we do and never optional: pegs hammered into grass or dirt, or sandbag sets on paving, concrete, gravel and indoors (book sandbags if your surface can't take pegs). Our rule is to stop above 24 km/h — in practice, stop if small trees start swaying or leaves and small branches are moving constantly, or if the castle's walls begin to sway: get everyone off and switch it off until it calms. More on surfaces and anchoring in the setup guide.

3. Mind the size mix

One risk worth managing: a big, rough teenager and a toddler bouncing in the same space — different sizes collide, and the small one comes off worse. There's no equipment fix for this; it's supervision — and the rule the supervising adult enforces is simple: group jumpers by size and age, and don't put small children on with older or larger users. Little ones get their turns, big kids get theirs. Mixed-age parties work perfectly on a castle; mixing sizes on the castle at the same time is the thing our Terms — and common sense — rule out.

4. The house rules

The standing rules from our Terms & Conditions — the ones that apply to every booking:

•A responsible adult supervises at all times while the castle is in use.
•No shoes, spectacles, jewellery, food, drink, chewing gum, sharp objects or pets on any inflatable.
•Group users by size and age — don't mix small children with older or larger users.
•Observe the capacity limits given at delivery. As a guide, the combined weight of everyone on at once should stay under 450 kg.
•No somersaults, rough play, or climbing on the walls or roof.
•Stop use and get everyone off if the wind exceeds 24 km/h — in practice, stop if small trees start swaying or leaves and small branches are moving constantly — or if there is lightning within about 10 km.
•Run the blower from a wall socket on a plain, heavy-duty extension cord — not a multiplug, and not a cord with a built-in trip or reset button, which the blower's start-up surge will cut out. Never bypass your home's earth-leakage protection: check before the event that the earth-leakage switch on your distribution board trips when you test it. Keep the blower, the cord and every plug point dry and out of the splash zone.
•For water slides, check the sliding surface isn't dangerously hot before use in high summer.
•Keep the blower running the whole time the castle is in use, and keep its inlet clear.
•Don't move the equipment from where we set it up, and don't sub-let or lend it on.

5. The blower: on while they're on

The blower runs the whole time the castle is in use — that's what holds it up. Two habits keep it safe: everyone off before you ever switch it off (a deflating castle with kids on it is the avoidable mishap), and if a power cut catches you mid-party, get the kids off promptly as it settles — it re-inflates within a minute of power returning. Full detail in the power guide.

Safe is simple

Watched, anchored, wind-wise, sensibly mixed, rules followed, blower on. Book with those in place and the only drama at the party is who gets the corner piece of cake.