Unusual/Unique ideas for a party rental business?

August 29, 2006 2:27 PM

Anyone have ideas for novel ideas for a party/event rental business?

I'm thinking of interesting party rentals that aren't currently available in my area (Midwest -- Cleveland). Things that people throwing parties/events (like maybe weddings, bar-mitzvahs, child/adult birthdays, festivals, etc.) may want to rent to embellish the event. For example, someone in my area built a car in the shape of a Buck Rogers' type rocket that they rent out for parties (give kids/adults rides around the block in it).

I was thinking maybe of building/buying a small, quaint children's Merry-go-Round to rent for children's birthdays.

I'm trying to come up with rides, games, food-related display items like chocolate fountains, props, experiences, etc. that aren't 'run of the mill' such as moonbounces, inflatable slides, and human gyroscopes.

Target age range isn't important, but I'd really like to find something that's novel enough that there aren't tons of people already doing it.

Any creative ideas out there?

posted by pallen123 to sports, hobbies, & recreation (10 comments total)

Two animals fighting?
posted by ba at 2:57 PM on August 29, 2006

- Old fashioned photobooths for wedding receptions
- Portable minigolf holes for birthdays and etc
- A bar on top of a rock climbing wall
- make the carousel with weird animals or animals you can change out -- jungle/farm/horses for princess parties/sea creatures
- A portable pirate ship/castle
- an arcade in a trailer (a la Lil Juju)
- Bounce houses that are strong/big enough for drunk grownups
(It's so sad when the rave kids pop 'em)
posted by Gucky at 2:58 PM on August 29, 2006

- Painted wooden flats in a variety of zany themes, with holes cut out for people to poke their heads through and have cheesy photos taken. Added benefits: one-time investment, low maintenance.
- A cow, for cow patty bingo
- "Paparazzi": for red-carpet nights and Oscar parties -- a team of extras dressed in plain "reporter" clothes, to carry cameras and take lots of flash photos and make a to-do as guests enter the fancy event
- Sumo wrestling suits and ring
- Girls' dress-up box: fill a wooden chest with boas, tiaras, costume jewelry, floofy hats, tutus, fairy wings. One-time investment.
- Supplies for "candle parties," where candlelight is the only illumination -- requires hundreds of glass votives and containers, but if you have the advantage of space for storage, you win.
- Another photo-op piece: a big wooden sleigh that people could pose in at Christmastime.
- The popularity of and current marketing push for Edible Arrangements might be creating a window for you to do something similar on a giant scale. Picture a six-foot-tall wooden column covered with skewers on which to load fruit. It'd be like an ice sculpture, only less drippy and easier to transport. V. dramatic for brunches, weddings, etc.
- Mannequins. Not sure what they'd be used for... but I also bet you that no one else is renting them out.
- "You've Been Flamingoed" and other yard greetings -- where you put 50 pink plastic flamingoes in someone's yard overnight, along with a message from the sneaky friend who flamingoed them.
- Penny pressing machine
- Instant beach party: figure out the best way to tarp an indoor location or yard, and then bring in several thousand pounds of sand.
- Adding onto the beach theme: offer luau supplies like a limbo pole set, tiki bar. Do a faux-bamboo finish on PVC to make it inexpensive, light for carrying, and all-weather.
- Grownup Field Day. Put together an equipment set of those goofy races and contests one does in elementary school, but for "team building" and adult functions. Tire run, water balloon sit, potato sack race, egg toss, tricycle race, give out colored ribbons.
posted by pineapple at 6:22 PM on August 29, 2006

Mobile hot-tub in the back of a car/truck?

Mobile AV van, with large flatscreens mounted (facing outward) on both sides and the back, allowing you to show movies/tv outdoors? (Add a mobile satellite dish on top, and park it in the back yard for the bbq during the big game).

Partybike?
posted by fings at 6:27 PM on August 29, 2006

Partybike made me think of unicycles, penny farthings, tandem bikes and pogo sticks. Everyone has seen them in movies, but who's ever actually got to ride one?

Trampolines. Thrones. There aren't enough of either at parties any more.

Chimineas for cold-weather, outdoor events.
posted by pineapple at 6:46 PM on August 29, 2006

I don't know much about this sort of thing, but how about a LCD projector or giant-screen TV?

go-carts

computer+cell in a kiosk for internet/email, digital photo sharing, etc

super soakers

generator--must be quiet

a jungle for the kids to get lost in (I always loved when relatives or neighbors would prune the trees.)
posted by kc0dxh at 8:41 AM on August 30, 2006

Photobooth? The kind that prints out a strip of 4-5 photos taken at N-second intervals?
posted by fings at 12:49 PM on August 30, 2006

I just started work with a company that organizes murder mystery dinners for social dinners. That could be an idea.
posted by divabat at 3:37 PM on August 30, 2006

Photobooth? The kind that prints out a strip of 4-5 photos taken at N-second intervals?

Yep. Some photographers around here rent them to receptions. I went to a wedding reception with a photobooth. It printed two copies – one you got to keep, the other had to go into a guest book-like thing for the couple. Nothing says romantic like the in-laws drunkenly making out in the photobooth.

It was a huge hit.
posted by Gucky at 4:42 PM on August 30, 2006

Treasure hunts!
posted by divabat at 4:38 AM on September 30, 2006