party host

assistant manager

shift manager

attendant

store manager

Pump It Up

As soon as guests arrive, it is my duty to make sure that all guests check in and fill out safety waivers for their children. Once all guests have checked in, I play a safety video and make sure all the children are paying attention so they know what not to do while playing in the arena. After the video is over, I have all the children and parents follow me into the arena and then let the children play. It is required that one Party Attendant is to be in the play area at all times so I make sure one of my team members is in there at all times, all the while taking pictures of the children playing if the host of the party asks for them. During the first 15 minutes, I make sure that the hosts of the part, are satisfied with their pizza order and see if they would like to order any additional pizzas for the adults or cancel any pizza. Since there are four parties going on at once, we have a new and improved rotation. Once the party has been in Arena A for 40 minutes, I move them into Arena B for another 40 minutes with new inflatables and toys. Once they are all moved into Arena B, I setup their cake, any decorations, goodie bag, etc into the Party Room that they will be in. Once the party is all set up, I grab the party hosts and bring them into their party room for a "speech". The speech consists of getting their drink orders, letting them know that we clean up everything, pack everything up, cut and serve the cake, etc. Most of the Hosts/guests have been to our facility or hosted a party with us before so they usually know how everything goes. It is usually more of a reminder, but it is still required. Then after the 40 minutes is up in Arena B, the rest of my team and I move the party into their party room where the pizza and drinks are all set out for the children while the adults can help themselves. Since there is only 40 minutes in the party room, we sing happy birthday first so we can have the cake and ice cream cut out and ready to be served when everyone is done with pizza. While everyone is eating there is a slideshow of the pictures that have been taken in the arenas so everyone can see and it gives them a chance to decide if they want to buy them, but it really is just for show. Towards the end of the 2 hour party, the last 10 minutes, I bring the party hosts the bill and they pay up front to one of the managers working. Then when everyone from the party leaves, my team and I clean up any mess in the party room so it is ready for the next party.

I have learned quite a bit from working at Pump It Up. My conversation skills, and leadership skills both have improved a great deal. I learned how to work under pressure and I am no longer nervous when it comes to that.

The management at Pump It Up is very friendly, but they will keep us in line if we do step out of line. They make sure that we always have something to do so we are not goofing off.

My co-workers are also very friendly, but they all do their jobs and are hard working. Each and every one of them make sure that they meet the requirements by the manager and satisfy every need of every guest.

The hardest part of the job is when the children start to act out and disobey the rules. Getting them to listen when they do not want to can be challenging, but it is possible.

The most enjoyable part of the job is making sure all the guests are satisfied with their visit and have fun.

Pump it up is a great place to work if your into it but if you don't like it it's not worth it. You don't get paid very well you work with cranky parents who leave you bad reviews for little mistakes. You get work based on your reviews if you have three bad reviews they put you on suspension and take you off the schedule. There's not great training for the first few days you shadow party's and then for the next few weeks you work rock wall and then after all that you host your first party based off of the information they gave you when you first started and expect you to host the party by yourself. The parties are supposed to get 40 minutes in each arena and 50 minutes in the party room but management always has you kick them out early so you can clean up and set up for the next party and when the parties tell you they're not leaving before their time is up you have to get management who tells you to let them stay and the next party complains about how they lost more time because the last party didn't leave on time. There is no wiggle room for parties.you're supposed to make $6.75 an hour and you're supposed to get tips but you never make more than a few bucks. It's a fun environment and you will almost always get along with fellow employees but the people who host their parties their are very high strung and they do not like that kids are hosting their parties.

The pay is really good for what you do. The job is insanely easy. Flexible hours for people who are in school or have another job. Free pizza and cake occasionally. The joy of watching kids smile.

I do enjoy the job when I’m not being yelled at by the customers or being called incompetent by the owners. 

I worked at PIU for 4 years and progressed to the highest management position available. The owners are impossible to deal with. They don’t take care of the facility and take their personal anger out on the staff. Basic morals are completely nonexistent.

The staff is mainly teenagers and can be hard to deal with, but for the most part, they do make the job easier to enjoy. 

The customers will treat you like absolute trash. Who knew throwing a party for a 4 year old could be so hostile? 

There are some cute kids with nice parents that come through but it’s mostly ignorant, demanding, and just plain stupid adults coming in and yelling at teenagers because they didn’t realize the party was going to be so expensive even though the prices are listed online and told to them multiple times. 

It’s great when people create tiny humans and bring them to PIU when they’ve had enough of them. Specifically when the parents drop them off and they’re under the influence of obscene amounts of sugar.

1- pay is minimum (atleast in Houston, Texas)
2- the free food would be coming from the parties that we slip cookies or the party hosts give us the food because they don’t want it. 
3- management is okay. Theres a manager of all managers and then a manager for the day. 
4- kids. Oh. My. God. I had to fill incident reports back to back one time. Worst i saw was a bloody nose. (Im an attendant) 
5- usually not the kids giving you attitude. Its the parents. Only bad things kids do is grab balloons that you literally just picked up and move them into the arenas. Then you have to get them out and rebag them. It sucks. A lot. 
6- its only stressful when your running late. 
7- eat before work. And use restroom before too. Manager gets mad when you’re not in room. Watch how camera is placed if you’re going to use your phone to “check time”
8- coordinators get most tip percentage
9- your tips are split by anyone working. 
10- discounts on drinks i think. Havent checked for food or booking own party. 
11- cleaning after is okay. Lot of vacuuming and sanitizing. Especially in flu season. 
12- best thing about working is the coworkers. Make some fun memories (i got a bag of balloons stuck in the ac fan and couldnt get it down ao they turned the fan off and wouldnt stop laughing.)
13- managers play favorites. Their friends or families can slip by and not have to vacuum or mop something. 
14- dress comfortably. Running shoes or good soles are a must. 
That’s about it.

When I first get to work I look at the schedule and see what parties I am working and write them down with the times. I get my name tag and fold the piece of paper and put it in there. Once a party arrives, I greet them and take their waver forms and tell them where to put jackets and gifts. About five to ten minutes before the party is to start, I turn on the safety video. Once it is over, I line them up and make sure they sanitize their hands and we walk to the first arena. I talk to them as we are walking and ask them questions regarding the rules. Before we walk in the door, I go over some quick rules and tell them if they have any questions to find me. Once they jump around in the inflatables for about thirty to forty minutes we move on to the next arena. When the time is done for that arena, I lead them to the party room where they eat cake and ice cream. Sometimes I will be in there with them serving food and opening gifts and leading games, while other times I will move on to another party. Once I finish all my parties, I clean. I wipe inside the inflatables, vacuum, sweep, restock cups, and mop. Then I will go to the lobby and see what needs to be done. Sometimes I may have to clean the bathrooms, staff room, or sweep and mop the lobby. Once I am done cleaning, I clock out and go home. 

I absolutely loved working here to make birthdays memorable. I love kids and I loved my coworkers.  However, they rope you in by telling you you make $20/hr, then later tell you you barely make minimum wage! I was called in multiple times a week to do manager duties, while not being compensated to be a manager! Also, managers make manager pay only for the shifts they are managing, a whopping dollar raise. If they are a Party Host one day, they don’t get paid their managerial pay. Corporate took over our location, and that’s when it got ugly. The corporate manager made me train over ten people at one time, and expected me to train them perfectly in the two hours I had to show over ten people how we run parties with the different additions parents could add on to it. To top it off, pooled tips started with corporate. Before, you made a percentage of the tips you made running each party you worked, but then, corporate gave the most tips to whoever worked the most hours, regardless of how little that person was tipped or performed. Did I mention breaks were rarely EVER given? Hours were not very flexible. I had weekday and weekend availability and only worked weekends. It completely goes around the party schedule. Granted, you could only work 2 hours if you wanted to, but overall, that’s a rarity in itself. 

This Pump It Up has absolutely terrible management. I normally got scheduled for Friday-Sunday and I wasn’t told my schedule till Thursday night and you were expected to show up and be there. So its very hard to make plans for the weekend when you constantly have to keep it free. I wouldn’t suggest being in extra curriculars and have this job. A typical day is opening, by turning on all the jumpers and cleaning everything down, same for closing but you just do the opposite. To start a party you will introduce yourself to the party parent and then go ahead and start the instructional video. It’s kind of hard sometimes because there will be a party getting started, a party just getting there and a party leaving. It makes it difficult to keep track of the kids for which party when the manager is yelling at you for not getting everyone checked in when the parents let their kids run around wherever and then they end up in a different party room than they should be. You get tips but the majority of the time the manager doesn’t give them to you.

At Pump It Up, there was never a 'typical' day at work. Everyday brought new experiences, new people to interact with, and new challenges. The entry level position at Pump It Up is a Party Attendant. As a PA, you are in charge of playing on inflatables, supervising children to ensure their safety, and cleaning the party arena. The next level up is Coordinator. In this position, you are constantly pressed for time as you as in charge of cutting cake, singing happy birthday, opening presents with the birthday child, and communicating with birthday parents, all within a 30 minute time window. Shift Supervisor is the next position. Cash handling, use of computer, and leading other employees are all responsibilities of this position. Coworkers are usually easy to get along with, because it is such an easy-going environment. I was personally blessed with great management at my location. The hardest part of the job would be the time management, and pleasing the difficult party parents. Overall, this was the best first job I could have ask for. I learned a lot, was promoted twice within two years, and met some of the best people here.

A normal day at Pump it Up would start but getting to know our party's name, wants, needs, and what party the paid for. We then would make sure the play arena was clean and set up the way the party wanted it to be. Once the party arrived, we introduced ourselves and would explain everything that would go on in the order in which it was coordinated. Then, we would play the safety video and further lead the party into the play arenas. From there we would interact with the party by playing games with them and thus implementing the safety rules. After the party would spend 40 minutes in each arena, we would lead them to other area to eat and rest. We would further clean the inflatables and get ready for the other party or other shift

My co-workers were great to work with and really made my 1st job experience a great and memorable one. The management was great as well because we had 4 great owners/management as well as great shift supervisors. 

The hardest part of the job was the constant running around with kids. We had a lot of fun with them, but having party after party and keeping that energy up was hard. However, the most fun part of the job were the co-workers. We were a team and definitely had so much fun.

A typical day at work is attending/coordinating around 2+ parties per day depending on how long your shift is. You are required to play games with children if you are an attendant. If you are a coordinator, then you are required to set up the party room and handle all food.

Management is kind of sketchy. My boss was notorious for stealing our tips. He also never gave us opportunities for 10 minute breaks or even a 30 minute break if we worked over 5.5 hours. If we worked overtime, he would not pay us for it.

The culture at Pump it Up is fast-paced. You are working with children and their parents so you need to be energetic and also have great customer service skills.

The hardest part of the job would have to be customer service. Parents are very specific with how they want the party to be conducted and its important to listen to what they specifically want. Another struggle is making sure everything is on time. Each arena and the party room is only reserved for 40 minutes, meaning every guest needs to be out of the room within the 40 minutes because there are multiple parties taking place at a time. 

The most enjoyable part of the job was working with people who were the same age as me.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Party host 1 salary reported	$17.11 per hour
Assistant manager 3 salaries reported	$17.00 per hour
Shift manager 1 salary reported	$17.50 per hour
Attendant 4 salaries reported	$10.40 per hour
Store manager 1 salary reported	$17.50 per hour

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