Few adult activities can recreate the carefree joy of being in a bouncy house. However, let’s face it, if you keep asking your friends to let you into their kid’s bouncy castle, it’s likely you’ll stop getting invited to parties.
If this predicament sounds all too familiar, or if you regret not making the most of previous chances at doing a backflip, handstand, or any variation of an upside-down aerobic stunt in a bouncy house, you can redeem yourself at Carson Creek Ranch this weekend where Big Bounce America will be visiting Austin on its nationwide tour.
“What if adults could bounce?” Grahame Ferguson, co-founder of the Big Bounce America asks. It was the question that spurred the genesis of the giant bouncy house. Massive inflatable trees, trucks, boats, and animals accompany you on your journey. There’s no need to enhance this experience because you’ll already be bouncing high on life.
(We should probably mention that this event largely caters to kids, from toddlers on up, but we’re just really excited to bounce … assuming our aging knees don’t give out.)
According to the Big Bounce America website, this attraction is “NOT just an hour of bouncing inside an over-sized bounce house. It’s way more exciting than that.” While we’re not sure we want it to be much more exciting than that, here are some more details regardless. The Bounce Village features all the essentials one would expect from an adult-sized birthday party for children; a Monster Ball Pit, a Ninja Run with a water slide, and, of course, the biggest bounce house in the world which is fittingly called, the Big Bounce.
The inflatable structure is sized at 10,000 square feet and features obstacle courses and a soundtrack provided by a live DJ who is promised to deliver the “nightclub quality sound and lights” you’d probably never expect from an inflatable mini-city.
Bring your friends, family, and kids, because unlike a kid’s birthday party, Bounce Village has something for everyone. However, if you’re looking to partake without the fear of crushing a small child, drop your kids off at any of the ages 4 and up activity and head over to the adults-only session on Saturday and Sunday at 6pm.
Big Bounce America emphasizes that your bounce experience can be as low intensity as you prefer, but we recommend you fuel up at one of their snack stations and bounce for the stars for the full hour-long session. That’s all it takes to make up for years of not having a giant adult-friendly bouncy house readily available.
The Big Bounce America
April 13-15, 8am-7pm (1-6:30pm on Friday)
Carson Creek Ranch, 9507 Sherman Rd.
$10, toddlers; $17, kids; $25, adults (16+)
This article appears in April 6 • 2018.