Free operator toolkit
Free bounce house waiver template (participant release form)
A plain-English participant waiver you can copy or save as a PDF. It covers who is signing, what the risks are, the release and assumption-of-risk clauses, the rules the signer agrees to enforce, a section for minors, and an emergency contact. Fill in the brackets and have a local attorney review it before you use it.
This template is general information, not legal advice. What a document like this can and cannot do varies by state, so have a local attorney review your final version before you use it.
Updated August 2026
Bounce House Participant Waiver and Release
This template is a starting point you fill in and adapt. Replace every bracketed field with your own terms. Blanks like ______ are for signing.
1. Operator, event, and participants
Operator: [Operator / business name] ("Operator"). Contact: [phone · email].
Event date: [date]. Location: [full address]. Unit(s): [unit names].
Signer full name: [name]. Phone: [phone]. Email: [email].
Participants covered by this form: [list every participant, or "all guests at the event above"].
2. What the activity involves
The activity is the use of inflatable amusement equipment: bouncing, climbing, sliding, and similar play on an air-supported structure, outdoors or indoors, on a surface prepared by Operator.
The equipment is operated by air pressure from a continuously running blower. If the blower stops or power is lost, the unit begins to deflate.
Operator sets up the equipment and provides written safety rules. Supervision during the rental period is provided by [the Customer / an attendant supplied by Operator; state which].
3. Assumption of risk
Attorney review recommended
HAVE YOUR ATTORNEY REVIEW THIS SECTION. It is the clause a court looks at first, and how much weight it carries varies by state.
The undersigned understands that use of inflatable amusement equipment involves inherent risks that cannot be designed, supervised, or warned away. Those risks include slips and falls; collisions with other participants, with the walls or netting, or with the ground; sprains, fractures, dental and head injuries; injury caused by other participants; injury from wind, weather, or a loss of air pressure; and, in rare cases, catastrophic injury or death.
The undersigned understands that these risks exist even when the equipment is correctly anchored, correctly supervised, and used according to the rules, and that following every rule reduces risk without removing it.
The undersigned has read the safety rules in Section 5, has had the opportunity to ask Operator about anything unclear, and chooses to participate, or to permit the named participants to participate, with knowledge of those risks.
4. Release of liability
Attorney review recommended
HAVE YOUR ATTORNEY REVIEW THIS SECTION AND WRITE THE OPERATIVE LANGUAGE. A release is one of the few clauses whose enforceability turns almost entirely on state law and on exactly how it is worded, and a release copied from the internet is the kind a court is most willing to set aside.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, the undersigned releases Operator, and its owners, employees, and contractors, from liability for injury or property damage arising out of participation in the activity described above, except to the extent caused by Operator’s own gross negligence or willful misconduct.
This release does not limit any right the undersigned has that cannot be waived under applicable law.
[Insert your attorney-reviewed release and indemnification language here, including any conspicuous-type or acknowledgment formatting your attorney requires.]
5. Safety rules the signer has read and agrees to enforce
A responsible, sober adult supervises the unit at all times it is in use.
Rider count and combined weight stay within the unit’s manufacturer rating of [riders] riders and [weight] per the manufacturer’s label.
Riders are sorted by size; small children do not bounce with much larger ones.
No shoes, glasses, jewelry, sharp objects, food, drink, gum, or silly string inside the unit.
No flips, roughhousing, wrestling, climbing on the walls or netting, or piling on.
No use in rain, lightning, or wind above the manufacturer’s stated limit for the unit.
Everyone exits immediately if the blower stops, power is lost, or the unit begins to deflate.
The signer will stop use and contact Operator at [phone] if anything about the unit, the anchoring, or the site looks wrong.
6. Participants under 18
Attorney review recommended
HAVE YOUR ATTORNEY REVIEW THIS SECTION. Whether a parent or guardian can release a child’s OWN future claim is decided state by state, and in a number of states that release will not be enforced no matter how it is written. This is the clause most likely to be struck.
The undersigned signs as parent or legal guardian of the following participants under 18: [names and ages].
The undersigned confirms they have legal authority to sign on behalf of each named participant, has explained the rules in Section 5 to them, and will supervise or arrange supervision of their participation.
[Insert your attorney-reviewed parent/guardian acknowledgment and indemnification language here.]
7. Health, emergency contact, and medical consent
The undersigned confirms that each participant is, to the best of their knowledge, physically able to take part, and that any condition Operator should know about is listed here: [conditions, or "none"].
Emergency contact: [name] · [phone] · [relationship to participant].
In an emergency, and where the undersigned cannot be reached, the undersigned authorizes Operator to call emergency services and to permit treatment reasonably necessary for the participant’s wellbeing. Operator is not responsible for the cost of that treatment.
8. Photos and video (optional; delete if you do not use it)
Operator sometimes photographs a completed setup for its own records and marketing.
Initial ONE: ____ I agree that photos or video taken at this event may be used by Operator. ____ I do not agree.
Declining does not affect the rental in any way.
9. Whole agreement, severability, and signature
This waiver is part of, and is read together with, the rental agreement signed for this event. If any part of this waiver is held unenforceable, the rest stays in force.
By signing, the undersigned confirms they have READ this document, have had the chance to ask questions, understand it is a release of legal rights to the extent the law allows, and are signing it freely.
Signer name (print): ______________________
Signer signature: ______________________ Date: __________
Operator or attendant witness: ______________________ Date: __________
How to use this template
A waiver is the document operators most often copy from somewhere else and least often understand. It is worth getting right, and worth being honest about: a signed waiver is a record, not a shield. Here is what it actually does for you, what it does not, and how to use this one.
What a waiver does, and what it does not do
A signed waiver documents three things: that you disclosed the risks, that the signer read them, and that they agreed to the rules anyway. That record is genuinely valuable. It is the difference between "nobody told us the unit had a rider limit" and a signed page listing the rider limit above the customer’s own signature.
What it does not do is reduce the risk. Signing a page does not make equipment safer, and it does not end a claim before one is made. A waiver does not replace insurance, it does not excuse a unit that was anchored badly, and it does not decide anything on its own: a court decides how much weight it carries, under the rules of the state you operate in. Treat it as one layer of a real safety posture that also includes correct anchoring, respecting wind limits, a documented setup, and coverage that pays if something goes wrong.
Have an attorney write the release and the minors clause
Two sections in this template are flagged, and the flags are not decoration. The release in Section 4 is the operative clause, and its enforceability turns on state law and on exact wording, including in some states formatting rules about type size and conspicuousness that a plain paragraph will not satisfy.
Section 6 is the one operators are most likely to get wrong without knowing there was a question. Whether a parent can sign away a child’s own future claim is answered differently across the country, and in several states it is simply not enforceable. Since most of your riders are children, this is not an edge case for a bounce house business. It is the main case. Take both sections to a local attorney once, and reuse their language for years.
Get it signed before anyone gets in the unit
A waiver signed after an incident is worth nothing, and a waiver signed at the gate while twelve kids wait is barely better, because nobody reads it. The strongest sequence is to send it with the rental agreement, before the event, so the customer reads it at a kitchen table rather than in a driveway.
Decide who signs, and be consistent. Most single-household backyard parties are covered by one signer: the adult who booked, signing for their own household’s children. Events where other families attend are the harder case, and operators split between a single-signer form the host signs and a per-participant sheet at the entrance. Whichever you choose, write it into Section 1 so the form matches your practice.
Fill every bracket, and keep Section 5 honest
Everything in square brackets is a blank: names, the date, the unit, the rider and weight limits from the manufacturer’s label. Never send a waiver with a bracket still in it. An unfilled rider limit is the exact fact you would most want on the page later.
Section 5 has to match the rules you actually post at the unit on the day. If the sign says one thing and the signed waiver says another, you have created the disagreement rather than prevented it. Print the same list twice: once here, once on the yard sign.
Store the signed copy where you can find it
A waiver you cannot produce is a waiver you did not get. Keep the signed copy with the booking, not in a folder of loose paper in the trailer, and keep it for as long as your attorney and your insurer tell you to, and that period is longer than most operators assume, because a claim involving a child can arrive years after the party.
Photograph or scan paper forms the same evening. The reason to do it that night rather than that season is that the signed page and the setup photos from the same event belong to the same record, and that record is far more useful assembled than scattered.
Where the waiver sits in the paperwork
Three documents emailed as separate attachments is how signatures go missing. The strongest setup is one agreement the customer signs once: the rental contract, the weather policy, the safety rules, and this waiver together, with the deposit request going out after the signature rather than before.
That is how BounceDay handles it: your own waiver text is built into the contract your customer e-signs, kept exactly as your attorney wrote it, with the signature and the timestamp stored against the booking. Whether you use this template on paper or send it from an app, keep the signed version somewhere you can produce it in one search.
Keep your paperwork in one signed place
On Solo and up, BounceDay builds your own contract, waiver and weather policy into one document your customer e-signs, then takes the deposit at signature by card or bank transfer, or on your own payment links. Your templates stay yours. Adapt them, send them, and keep every signed copy on the booking it belongs to.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this bounce house waiver template free to use?
Yes. The full waiver is on this page and you can copy it or open a printable version to save as a PDF. No email required. Fill in the brackets, and have a local attorney review the release and the minors clause before you rely on it.
If they signed a waiver, can I still be sued?
No. A waiver does not prevent anyone from bringing a claim, and it does not decide one. What it does is record that you disclosed the risks and that the signer agreed to the rules. That is evidence that matters, alongside your insurance and a well-documented setup. How much weight a release carries is decided by the law where you operate, which is why the clause is flagged for an attorney.
Can a parent sign a waiver for their child?
A parent can sign for their own child on the practical parts: reading the rules, agreeing to supervise, giving emergency contact and medical consent. Whether they can release the child’s OWN future claim is a separate question answered differently from state to state, and in some places it is not enforceable at all. Since most riders are children, this is the section worth paying an attorney to write for you.
Do I need a waiver if I already have a signed rental contract?
Most operators use both, and many put them in one document. The contract fixes the commercial terms: price, date, site, deposit, cancellation. The waiver is about the participants and the risks of use, and it is often signed by people the contract does not name. Combining them into one signed flow is usually cleaner than mailing two files.