A large, Lego-inspired bounce castle takes up the Kalispell yard of Shayla and Justin Murray. It’s not long before neighborhood kids show up to play with their 6-year-old son Mason and 12-year-old daughter Madi.  

“It’s made us one of the most popular houses on the block,” Shayla said with a laugh.  

When the couple started a bounce house rental business, they didn’t realize it would balloon into what it is today: 20-plus rentals to offer and bustling with summertime demand.  

Back in 2023, the couple was looking for a side hustle to bring in some funds for their young family. While Shayla works as a bookkeeper and Justin works as a truck driver full-time, they weren’t unfamiliar with the world of party rentals and bounce houses.

“My uncle Dennis used to own Glacier Jolly Jump back in like the early 2000s ... And I always thought that was really cool. He would have his inflatable at all the birthday parties,” Shayla said.  

They purchased the Lego castle as their first foray into the rental business. 

“We were just kind of looking for something fun that we could do as a family that would bring joy to other families. We were just looking around online and I saw the bounce house and I was like, ‘Hey, we should try that out, there's not many of them around here,’” Shayla said.  

What they didn’t expect was such exponential growth. This summer, Justin said they were setting up and taking down around six to seven bounce castle or water slide rentals every weekend. 

“It's so funny because we were kind of nervous buying the first one, like, ‘Is this a bad idea?’ And next thing you know, we’re like ‘Yeah, let's get a couple more,’” he said.  

He spends his time during the week cleaning the inflatables after work. It can be kind of cumbersome, but it’s a family affair for the Murrays. Shayla and Justin often recruit the help of Madi and Mason to help set up rentals on the weekends.  

While Mason took advantage of the blown-up Lego castle on the front lawn, Madi said that it’s not half-bad having her parents run a bounce house business.  

“It’s fun to get to test some of them out,” she said.  

She said when her parents unveiled their new business to her and her little brother, they made T-shirts and blew up a castle in the backyard to commemorate the occasion. These days, they always try to leave one of the bounce houses blown up for the kids to enjoy at home.  

THIS SPRING, The Party Store reached out to see if they would be interested in buying their inventory of bounce houses — taking their selection from around eight bounce castles to 21 units. In addition to having six to seven traditional bounce houses, they also rent out five water slides, two smaller waterslides for toddlers, bounce house options for toddlers, a large jousting inflatable and an obstacle course.  

“There’s just a lot of different clientele now and a lot of different events that we can do since we have more options,” Shayla said.  

They also had a lot more interest after starting a website, she added. The couple has run the business off social media pages the last two years, but when they decided to establish a website and put Big Sky Bounce on Google Reviews this summer — things took off.  

Rentals at Big Sky Bounce start at $200. Although summer is the busiest time of year, they still have occasional indoor rentals during the winter. She said they’ve delivered the castles to school gyms and other similar locations in the past.  

As the business grows, the couple said they plan to hire someone next summer to help take on the workload of setting up and taking down the rentals.  

“I think definitely we will have to at some point, because right now it's just Justin and I that do everything. I mean our kids' help, like they'll come with us and help us set up some takedowns ... but I think we would have to if it keeps up like this,” Shayla said. 

But even though it’s been hard work, it’s rewarding. Justin said there have been many times they go to set up an inflatable at a child’s birthday party and it’s clear that their parents wanted to keep it a surprise.  

“Sometimes the parents won't tell the kids and then they all freak. That's always fun. You get to watch that as you're setting it up,” he said.  

To learn more about Big Sky Bounce, visit bigskybounce.net.  

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4440 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support. 

    Mason Murray shoots hoops inside the Lego castle inflatable bounce house on Wednesday, Aug. 19. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider