This place is actually pretty rad. For under 10 bucks you…read morecan give your kid a lot of hop for not much drop in the wallet department! Now usually these kinda places freak me out... cause I'm a germ a phobe but this place seemed pretty clean and hey when it's cold out and you need a little slide time this is a great option! There are plenty options for jumping and bumping here.. I will be back I bet!

Completely let us down - we had a major cultural event in Des Moines with over 4000 people turnout…read more Bounce houses were booked in advance, money was paid before the event - they were supposed to arrive at 10am, and I got a call at 12:06pm saying they couldn't arrive until around 1pm. Main crowd and families gathered between 11-2pm ... They still hadn't arrived by 1:30pm. Completely let us down ... NOT SHOWING UP at all. Got a refund but our event was ruined as we couldn't keep families at our festival long enough - kids couldn't enjoy the bounce houses. We had ordered 2 to ensure kids had something to do. NEVER HIRING FROM HOP-A-LOT again.

I requested a singing telegram and my expectations were surpassed with Trixie. She arrived and sang…read moreher original song she wrote for the occasion and delivered a balloon bouquet! I have no complaints and would definitely recommend!

From the owner: Clowning Around provides comedic or serious clown performances at a variety of events. TRIXY has…read morebeen a clown for 20+ years. She has done balloon twisting, face painting, magic and singing telegrams. But now just loves doing Singing Telegrams for all ages. This includes writing and singing songs with original words to familiar tunes about the person she sings for. Or she can do a medley of three birthday songs. The singing telegram also comes with a bouquet of lovely hand-made balloon flowers. JO JO has clowned for 15+ years. He does birthday parties, festivals, business openings, and business parties. He makes many different balloon creations, from balloon animals to swords to super heroes & princesses to super duper hats! At parties he specializes in balloon twisting, and can add a funny action song, magic, children parades with instruments and hats, or games.

Always a hit with kids! We come here for the parties. I'm…read moresure it's just as fun as a play date/weekday jump session. A 2 hour party for 25 kids costs $345.00 for a weekend party. Includes pizza and pop. The party is jumping first for 1 hour and 15 minutes. They start in room A and then to room B. The two rooms have different inflatables. The first room has a huge bubble machine. The second room has a floor video game. The 45 minutes at the end is rounding up the kids into the party room to eat, look at pictures on the TV that the workers take via digital camera, and open presents. Service is ok. Employees are young people. Some are teenagers. So their service isn't above and beyond par. They get the party scheduled and moving. I do like this place compared to other competitors. The difference is that they know how to schedule the kids and move them along. It's easy to maneuver and not as chaotic when there are multiple parties going on. No idea how they clean the place in between parties. (Hopefully they DO clean...???) But we recommend Pump it Up.

I took my little man to a birthday party here today and I was definitely impressed. This place is…read morea lot like Monkey Joes and The Playground in Ankeny. It is like Monkey Joes in that it is all inflatables. It is like The Playground in that it has different rooms with the play equipment in it. Of the three places mentioned I'd have to say I like this place the best. The facility has two big rooms and the two rooms have 6 inflatables total with three in each room. I posted pics of some of the inflatables. The big plus is that they have changed out and updated the inflatables unlike Monkey Joes who has had the same inflatables for years. Outside of the inflatables the rooms also have some small toys to play with and one room has a game that is broadcast onto the floor that the kids can stomp around on. As far as the birthday party went it was pretty cool. They start you out in one room for a set amount of time then move you to the second room for a set amount of time. Finally they move you into a party room for cake and presents. There were two people attached to the group and one person seemed to lead. He took pictures throughout the party and had them playing on a TV at the end. He also took notes and wrote down who gave what presents. All in all I'd definitely recommend Pump It Up for your kiddos and parties.

We were visiting some family in Des Moines for the week when my 4 year old began to become stir…read morecrazy after being stuck inside due to weather. We decided to pack up her, my sister and my 8 year old nephew, and head over to Kids Empire at about 1pm on a Friday afternoon. We are definitely not new to Kids Empire, as we frequent two locations in the Chicago suburbs, so we knew what to expect, but I definitely didn't expect this location to be as run down as it was considering it has far less traffic than the locations we typically visit. The spiderweb is down and blocked off due to the webbing being too weakened and a substantial fall risk, and the landing area for the slide that you ride the plastic sleds down had exposed particle board - splinters galore!! The layout also didn't make a ton of sense, as there were random holes to access lower levels in the middle of pads, without a solid way to get around them. This is easy for older kids and adults to maneuver around, but my 4 year old kept having to go down in the hole, then pull herself back up - had I not been there, I could see her getting frustrated, or accidentally injuring herself. I haven't seen this layout at other locations before. The play space is also much smaller than other locations, considering the square footage of this Kids Empire. There is a TON of seating though. The toddler area is pretty well maintained, but I didn't appreciate the two 7-ish year olds who were climbing over the walls and almost trampling my 8 month old nephew. We were told that 3 and over weren't allowed in the toddler area, but that rule definitely was not enforced. I know it isn't staff's job to manage other people's children, but a simple reminder to the parents would have been well appreciated. The cost is $24 for children over the age of 1. This includes to admittance of two adults and one sibling under the age of 1, for open play. Normally, I'd find this reasonable, but maybe not for a space this run down. Socks are also required, but you can bring your own from home - I do appreciate when play places don't require the purchase of their socks, as we already own 12 pairs of sticky socks from other play places. Okay place to visit once, staff was very friendly, but I think we will try our luck somewhere else next time. It is unfortunate that there aren't more indoor play places for kids in the Greater Des Moines Region.

A littl eoverpriced at 20 bucks a visit, but my kid does really like it here and I like that you…read morecan leave and come back. It's convenient to take him for a little bit, leave to eat a prepacked lunch or run a quick errand while we are out/take a break to cool down, and then return. I wish it were a little cleaner, and we have had issues a few times with older kids being bullies in the play area but that's a problem almost anywhere unfortunately. Overall aa fun place to visit as a special play day.

Great selection of games and option to buy unlimited games based on time or can just buy…read morepoints/credits. Food on the other hand... incredibly overpriced and underwhelming. $16 for 8 pc. Boneless wings $10 for personal pan sized pizza $3 for fountain soda See attached photos for food review.

I'm updating my review from 7 years ago. I decided to give it another go after my 1 star…read moreexperience. It's much better than previously. We opted to do a birthday party. It was very reasonable in price compared to other things in the area. The kids loved the pizza and to be honest it was a nostalgic flash back for me. I tasted really good. We also did a salad bar trip and that was also better. The food was well kept and nice in appearance. The staff was so nice to us as well this time. Very helpful with the app and with questions. So much so we came back again the following month and the person working the prize counter let my youngest get something that was just slightly out of the prize winnings. They have gotten much better all around with service, food, and cleanliness. Also who doesn't love the old cheese man robot on the stage.

Over the weekend we made memories at build a bear in Jordan creek mall. We had read online how to…read moreget rid of pacifiers. Trade them in for a sleeping buddy at build a bear. They will also let u put the binky in the bear when they stuff it. The employees were wonderful. They were imaginative and made every child there feel special. You picked your animal, stuffed it, chose a heart to put inside and you even get a birth certificate. It was really busy when we left. Try to go when there is no line. They also have a buy one bear get one free on some of the Bears. The only downfall is that the accessories could get pricey.

Here is the math: 1 child that doesn't know the value of money, 1 parent and 1 boyfriend with…read moredisposable income, 1 place with what could become a very expensive toy = 1 possibly dangerous situation. My first thought about Build a Bear was: what's the big deal. It's a Teddy Bear. After walking into the store and seeing an I-Carly Bear I felt that we were going to get taken for the ride of a lifetime. After having the staff member sit down with the girlfriends kid and coach her on kissing the icon that gets placed in the bear that will "bring it to life" I was really glad that I wasn't the one making the bear. To make a long story short, I was dragging myself out of there after seeing the Star Wars outfits that you could buy for the bear. The entire time at the store seems to be really great for kids and adults. The staff is very friendly and I wasn't dragged into participating in any of the "mushier" stuff that the kids seem to get wrapped up in. The amount you spend there can be very reasonable or wallet breaking. You simply have to be aware of what your outfitting your bear with. Would I do it again? Sure. Will I go back to make my own Stormtrooper Bear? Maybe, I'll just need to set some ground rules with the staff first, because I'm not kissing the heart icon thing, at least not in public...

Great patience for working with kids. Ours are especially banshees and we appreciate what you do…read more Tip well, they deserve it. And could use it for a much deserved drink after shift.

Extremely disappointed. I was expecting our stylist to be more sensitive to our son who is timid…read moreabout getting his haircut. Especially since this is a place geared to children. Our stylist did not even make an attempt to engage. Simply asked what we wanted. 3 stylist available, asked if we could push his appointment back. Was told it could be pushed back 15 minutes. We've had better service walk in places.

this place is closed, I drove by today and saw a big sign in the door the building is up for lease…read more we enjoyed this location since we lived in Altoona but now we have to drive to west des moines, this is such an inconvenience

This place was horrible. When my daughter sat down I told the woman what we wanted but that she…read morecould always ask her "she knows what she wants". I had to take a work phone call and the woman wouldn't even speak to my child and ask her if the cut was okay, etc. I appreciate this is a children's hair salon but if I tell you my daughter can decide for herself you should listen and then treat my child with enough respect to ask her and not just me. We are recommending to everyone we know - to not go here. In Ankeny, Iowa.