09/02/2026
🎉💗 Happy Birthday to our very own “Mrs. Jumpin’ Joeys”…April Phipps!!💗🎉
Today, we want to take a moment to celebrate someone who is largely behind the scenes, but who has been an incredibly important part of what has enabled Jumpin’ Joey’s to become what it is today!
For years, April has been at Joey’s side through the late nights, long weekends, crazy summer schedules, community events, growing pains, and everything else that comes with building and operating a thriving family business.
Sometimes being Mrs. Jumpin’ Joey means staying up late helping Joey with whatever needs to get done.
Sometimes it means spending hours on hold trying to work through whatever red tape or administrative issue has come up - all while taking care of their little ones and keeping things running on the home front.
Sometimes it simply means being a listening ear after a long, stressful day, or sacrificing date nights and family plans because there’s just too much going on.
And often, it means accepting that their summers are much different than other families’ summers. While other families may be planning camping trips, vacations, weekend getaways, or spontaneous adventures…Joey and April are in the middle of our busiest months…operating at full capacity nearly nonstop! From late spring through early fall, nights, weekends, holidays, and family time are 100% dependent on whatever needs to happen next for the business - and April has made those sacrifices right alongside Joey.
A lot of the time, being Mrs. Jumpin’ Joey also means taking on a bigger share of the responsibilities at home so Joey can devote his attention to whatever problem, event, customer, or unexpected situation needs him.
And if you’ve ever attended a community event where Jumpin’ Joey’s was a supplier, there’s a good chance you’ve seen April and their two little Jumpin’ Joeys pop in to say hello and see how things were going. ❤️
And then there are the parades! 😂
While preparing for our very first parade, we learned that the rules no longer allowed participants to throw loose candy into the crowd like we remembered from the parades of our childhoods. Anything given to attendees needed to be handed directly to them instead of thrown, where it could end up in the street as litter.
So, naturally, we decided to make treat bags to hand directly to the kids instead.
Something April said during those early parades stuck with us: those bags would become part of the impression Jumpin’ Joey’s left on the kids receiving them - and on the parents getting to watch the excitement on their children’s faces. So regardless of how much time they took to make, they were worth it for the experiences they created and the memories they helped make.Those bags eventually became little Jumpin’ Joey’s goodie bags filled with candy, toys, bubbles for the kids to blow along with our bubble machines, and sometimes flags, beads, and other goodies.
We typically make ~800 bags for EACH parade…by hand. Most of the time, it’s April and one other person putting them together. On more than one occasion, that’s meant pulling all-nighters to make sure there were enough for the entire parade route.
While it would absolutely be easier to buy something pre-made…there’s something special about seeing kids light up when they spot the Jumpin’ Joey’s truck coming down the parade route knowing someone took the time to put those little bags together specifically for them. That excitement is why we keep doing it…even when we’re questioning our life choices somewhere around treat bag #647. 😂🫧🍬
April also plays a huge role in one of our favorite Jumpin’ Joey’s traditions - our annual giveaway, where we gift at least two free parties.
Every year, she hosts a gathering at their home with the Jumpin’ Joey’s family, friends, and crew for our annual Facebook Live drawing. She makes sure everyone’s fed, creates plenty of fun and excitement for the kids, and helps create an environment where their own children get to grow up seeing that giving back isn’t an obligation…it’s something exciting, meaningful, and worth celebrating! ❤️
Jumpin’ Joey’s has never been just about renting inflatables.
It’s about creating safe, high-quality experiences for local families and our community…and being able to give something back to the communities that continue to support us.
There are so many people whose work makes that possible, including some whose contributions our customers may rarely - if ever - see.
April is absolutely one of them!
So today, from everyone at Jumpin’ Joey’s, we want to say:
Thank you, and Happy Birthday, April. ❤️
Thank you for the late nights, the thousands of goodie bags, the family plans you’ve sacrificed, the extra responsibilities you take on at home, the community events you show up for, the traditions you help create, the kids you’re raising to understand the joy of giving, and all the countless little things you do behind the scenes that allow Joey and the rest of us to keep doing what we do! 🥰🥰
We appreciate you!
Please help us wish Mrs. Jumpin’ Joey a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! 🎂🎉🥳💗
