PlanJam!From your screen to the scene

If your kid loves those giant bouncy castles at birthday parties, he’ll think he’s died and gone to bouncy heaven at Pump It Up. Huge rooms filled with all sorts of inflatables will keep him climbing, jumping, and running until he’s worn out and ready to nap (Alleluia!). The inflatables include obstacle courses, “boxing” rings, huge slides, and the standard bounce houses that will keep kids from 18 months and up entertained for at least a couple of hours. I have to admit, I have a lot of fun there myself, especially while racing my kids through the obstacle course.

This place is extremely popular for birthday parties. In fact, my boys have been invited to more than ten parties there in the last few years. When you have a party at Pump It Up, you get the use of at least one supervised party arena for your group, as well as a private party room where you can eat cake and open gifts. The downside, in my opinion, is that it’s a pretty generic party. Of all of the parties that my family has attended at Pump It Up, it’s almost impossible to remember who the birthday kid was. The upside of a Pump It Up party is that my kids are completely exhausted and sweaty, which usually counteracts the hyperactive effects of all the sugar in the cake and ice cream.

Besides birthday parties, Pump It Up has “Pop-in Playtimes” for preschool and elementary school kids, as well as some evening “Date Nights”. Over the holidays, we sent our two older boys (ages 5 and 7) to an evening playtime and have never seen them so exhausted. That was totally worth the money.

San Diego County locations are in Poway, San Marcos, and Chula Vista.