Many are shocked of the news this week about two New York boys injured Monday afternoon when a strong gust of wind blew the bounce house they were playing in during a birthday party 50 feet in the air.

It carried them and a 10-year old girl across a townhouse community before dropping them out on a parked car and the asphalt, and eventually collapsing on a structure in South Glen Fall.

The boys, ages 5 and 6,  suffered several broken bones and other injuries and are in the hospital while the girl escaped with minor scrapes. This was the last in a series of bounce house mishaps over the years. ABC News has reported on several over the past few months. The industry isn’t regulated and anyone can purchase a commercial grade bounce house for about $1,000. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that there were over 30,000 injuries from 2003 to 2007 from inflatable amusement apparatuses. 

See the Videos below, which report that in 2013, three bounce houses blew away in Arizona.

Make sure this Spring and Summer and in the future that if you get one for your kid’s party that the stakes are hammered strongly into the ground, use reputable professional companies, not companies that rent them out as a side-business, including some that are not insured. 

Further, perhaps avoid DIY jobs and the temptation to purchase your own from a big box wholesaler like Sam’s Club or Costco because the risk of cutting costs may not be worth it. Reputable and insured companies will not permit a bounce house to be used if the winds exceed 15 miles per hour.