TRYING to keep kids entertained during the school holidays can be tricky when the weather is miserable.

I, therefore, jumped at the chance to visit Flip Out in Basingstoke when the weather forecast for the second week looked rather bleak.

The indoor trampoline park in Festival Place is packed with various attractions for the whole family to enjoy, including ninja tag, laser quest, a traversing wall and soft play for the little ones.

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Before taking part our group of six was asked to watch a safety video and sign a lengthy waiver form, accepting that participation can result in personal injury including dislocation, broken bones and paralysis.

I scanned through the 3,000-plus word document which left me feeling slightly apprehensive.

However, when we arrived at the venue, I was pleased I had completed this part of the process in advance.

Flip Out books participants for sessions on the hour, meaning there was a large queue out of the door and those who hadn’t signed the waiver form in advance were slowing down the process of getting everyone in on time to jump at 11am.

We just made it into the park for the start of our 11am session but found another queue for the lockers.

A regular user gave us a top tip not to bother with the lockers and instead find a table in the café to leave our belongings. We found the last available sofa seat and dumped our bags, coats and shoes there before heading off to bounce.

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My sister-in-law had sensibly brought a bum bag to store her valuable items such as her mobile phone.

My six-year-old son, who was just tall enough to use all of the attractions, was excited to try the ninja tag arena with his older cousin, while my sister-in-law and her other two children headed to the trampolines.

I followed the boys crawling and climbing through the net course, with different challenges around every corner including a climbing wall and maze.

After half an hour I was worn out, so headed for a coffee in the café while the kids carried on their adventure. I could see them in the climbing nets from the café, which was reassuring, however, I was a little apprehensive when they were out of sight.

Next, we all headed to the trampolines and had lots of fun bouncing together. My son also loved the inflatable attractions, including one which involved jumping onto a bouncy pillow and another with a bouncy slide.

My son and his cousin had hoped to try the laser quest – an immersive laser tag game where teams are pitched against each other in a space-themed area - but it was too busy. However, it was nice to know there is something new to try next time we visit.

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The hour flew by and as our jump came to an end the kids were ready for lunch, so we ordered pizza and slushies, which ended up being the one thing they all talked about afterwards. They loved filling up the cup themselves with a variety of flavours and laughing as the icy drinks gave them brain freeze.

By this time, the café had emptied with lots of people leaving after their hour jump, making it easy to find a table to sit down at.

While Flip Out can work out expensive for a family, with a standard hour jump costing £13.95, the attraction does offer a variety of deals with cheaper options available.

This includes its membership offer of £9.50 a month, which sounds almost too good to be true.

Those with membership can enjoy a one-hour experience every single day of the month. But bear in mind that there is a minimum three-month term for membership, meaning it will actually cost a minimum of £28.50 for three months per person.

Still, it’s a good deal and you would only need to go three times within the three months to save money.

Flip Out also offers a ‘stay and play’ option on weekdays during term-time for children under five, costing £5.50 for children and £2 for adults, allowing them to stay as long as they like until 3pm.

Top tips for visiting Flip Out

  • Sign the waiver and watch the safety video online before visiting, to speed up the process of checking in.
  • Arrive in plenty of time before the start of your jump session, particularly if visiting in school holidays when there are more likely to be queues.
  • Take a bum bag to store valuables such as mobile phones, so you can leave bags and shoes in the café area.
  • Make sure your trampoline socks are official Flip Out ones. We made the mistake of wearing socks bought at another Basingstoke trampoline park thinking these would be okay to use, but they are not permitted for use on Flip Out trampolines.
  • Check your child’s height without shoes on before visiting. My nephew was about a centimetre too short to go on some of the attractions and was asked to take his shoes off to be measured.
  • Be prepared for noise! In the holidays the attraction can understandably be busy and along with music playing, it might be a bit much for some.
  • If you have younger children not ready to be left on their own, be prepared to go with them as you won’t be able to see them from the café all the time.