Buying Our Trampoline

My regular readers will know that I recently had to buy a new trampoline. Our old trampoline was years old and had seen better days. I did ask some companies over on twitter for some advice on what trampolines were best to cover the age difference between my two monkeys. I wanted a trampoline suitable for both little and big J to play on separately but also together too. You wouldn't believe how many different trampolines there are nowadays, they come in all different shapes and sizes. I got some amazing advice and I was able to put it all together to choose the correct trampoline for our needs. I have also since found Jumpster which is an amazing website designed to tell parents everything they need to know about trampolines.

I have added a list of everything I had to consider when buying our trampoline and hopefully this will help you if you are buying a trampoline soon.

Size Matters

When you make the decision to buy a trampoline the first thing you should think about is the size. I had my eye on some fantastic trampolines but realistically they were huge and too big for our garden.  We originally had an 8ft trampoline so it was an 8ft one we could go for. Anything bigger would take up far to much space.

Weight Capacity

Most of the trampolines we looked at had maximum weight capacity and each trampoline differed. We wanted a trampoline that both our monkeys could play on at the same time. I think the one we chose was a maximum of 100kg.

It Doesn't Have To Be Round

When I think of a trampoline I instantly think of a round one but you can now get them in rectangular and oval shapes. This is perfect for those that need to fit into a specific space within the garden.

Quality

Our previous trampoline lasted years and I was determined to purchase another good quality trampoline. Obviously I want a safe trampoline for my monkeys but they are quite expensive so you also want it to last more than just a summer. It can be so easy to be tempted by a 'cheaper' trampoline but honestly long term you will probably end up spewing more either replacing the parts or the whole trampoline.

Safety

I would only consider trampolines with a safety net / enclosure. I think most come as standard now but I know some older trampolines don't have these so if you are buying second hand please ensure that there is a safety enclosure or you can at least purchase one.

Fun

Once we had found the trampoline we wanted to buy we could concentrate on how much fun the boys were going to have on it.

Little J absolutely loves bouncing with a ball on the trampoline too. He plays a little game of bouncing and trying to avoid the ball. He also likes it when someone sits in the middle and he will run around the person in a circle.

Big J likes to bounce and we have to throw balls over the net and again his game is to try and avoid the balls we throw. He also just likes bouncing. This is great as bouncing on the trampoline is great exercise and lots of fun too.

Both boys love playing on it together.

I never went on the old trampoline but I have been on this one. It really is lots of fun.

If you are thinking of buying a trampoline and would like some more advice and buying tips I would recommend visiting Jumpster. The 5 part guide is an easy read and has lots of hints and tips which should make buying a trampoline easy.