College Event Hire

College Event Hire

College event hire covers the further education colleges, sixth forms and universities we supply across Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and into London. The calendar runs from autumn applicants' and taster days through Christmas balls in December and the February Valentine's ball, then leavers events, summer balls and graduation events from May through to July, with staff parties and reward days in between. The items below split into photo booths, rodeo and simulators, indoor electronic games, and outdoor activity kit, because what fits a student union common room is not what fits a campus lawn.

Photo booths and selfie mirrors turn up at nearly every kind of college event. The magic selfie mirror ran at the UC Farnborough graduation and across three days of Andover College applicants' and taster events, and the green screen photo booth was out at Sparsholt College for their Halloween event. Both print on the night and both come staffed, so the student union or the college office is not left running them. For the December balls, Rodney the rodeo reindeer and the Christmas photo booth were out at Andover College's Christmas event alongside the dance machine and under pressure, and Farnborough College had the green screen Christmas photo booth and lights out challenge at their Christmas fair.

For the evening socials, summer balls and leavers nights, the rodeo bull is the regular pickup. We ran a Wild West themed rodeo night at the University of Southampton, the summer ball at the University of Chichester with the rodeo bull, the inflatable axe throwing and the interactive play system, and an end-of-year staff party back at Southampton with the human table football, giant buzz wire and high striker. The surf simulator and the last man standing sweeper are the other two that pull a queue at an evening do.

The indoor electronic games are what fit a function room or a student union common room where space is tight and a 13amp socket is all you have. The 80s retro arcade and the cocktail arcade machine, the dance machine, racing simulator, pixel play, the Vault, dash and grab, cash grabber, lights out challenge and under pressure are all indoor, plug-in and staffed. Sparsholt College is one we see through the year: the 80s retro games at their Valentine's ball, racing simulators and electronic games at their Christmas ball, and the magic mirror and high striker at their summer ball.

For the daytime events, reward days and leavers afternoons with outdoor space, the climbing wall, laser clay pigeon shooting, laser tag and the assault courses are the headline kit. RGS Guildford had the last man standing sweeper, dash and grab and hungry hippos for their upper sixth leavers day, Godalming College had their leavers fest, Reigate Grammar School had a leavers day, and we are back at Churcher's College for their summer open day with the clay pigeon shooting and laser tag. Bohunt Farnborough's end-of-term reward days have had the rodeo bull, a 60ft assault course, laser tag and the Chaos reaction game. The 3 in 1 sports inflatable, bungee run, zorbing and kick and stick foot darts fill out the rest of a busy reward day, and Sparsholt College had the foot darts out at an applicants' day.

Colleges and universities tend to book through a student union, an events office or a procurement route, which means the paperwork usually matters as much as the kit. We carry £10 million public liability insurance with the additional licensed-premises cover for the venues that need it, every inflatable is PIPA-tagged and inspected annually by our in-house RPII inspector, and every member of staff we send is enhanced-DBS registered, first-aid trained and RPII-examined. The insurance certificate, risk assessment and method statement are yours on request for the procurement file. We have run Monster Event Hire from our unit in Havant since 2002, the kit is all our own rather than sub-hired, and the operators are the same full-time crew whether the booking is a sixth form leavers afternoon or a three-day applicants' week.

When you enquire, tell us the college or university, the event type, the date, the venue room or outdoor site, the rough timings, and roughly how many students or guests you are expecting. A shortlist from the items above helps, and if the booking is going through procurement, ask for the insurance certificate and risk assessment at the same time.