I Got These Air Mattresses and Now My Kids Don’t Want to Sleep in Their Real Beds
We have a three bedroom house: a primary, a room for my daughter, and a room for my son. It’s perfect for our family… until grandparents come into town. For the past few years, my parents have been staying at hotels when they travel from out of state. It hasn’t been ideal – lots of Uber trips are involved – but it’s been alright.
As someone who grew up within driving distance to both sets of grandparents, I’d never had to deal with the whole “where do we put them when they visit” situation. Having grandparents stay at the house seemed like something that only happened in movies like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It didn’t occur to me until recently that I could actually make my kid surrender her preposterously large bed to her elders.
Funboy emailed at just the right moment. I’d seen the brand’s mega-popular pool floats but I didn’t realize they made beds, too. Ironically, my kids’ grandparents have one of the beds at their house for my nephews but I (incorrectly) told them it was a pool float. No, Maggie, it’s a bed. They make both.
I requested one for each of my kids: the Pink Castle for my 6-year-old daughter and a Hot Wheels Car for my 3-year-old son. Funboy also graciously sent along an air pump, which was super easy to use and even works to deflate the beds once you’re done using them.
I was dreading setting this up. I’m not a good setter-upper-of-things. Tents, IKEA furniture, scratching posts – I’ve destroyed a glut of items. But the mattress was so easy. My only issue was that there were actually five separate areas to inflate so it’s not the kind of thing where you plug in the pump, walk away, and come back to find it’s all done; you have to stand by to make sure you don’t overfill any one spot.
I plugged in the pump and let it do its thing while I listened to a podcast about a horrific murder case. (Don’t worry, they caught the guy.) All five areas took less than 20 minutes to fill.
I nestled a sleeping bag on top, tucked in some of my daughter’s creature comforts, and voilà! A sleepover bed fit for a princess. Not only did she willingly give up her bed for Nana, she was stoked for the princess bed. She slept on it for four nights and it didn’t need to be topped off with more air once. She said it was “very comfortable” and it was the “perfect size” for her. For the record, that size is approximately a twin.
We’re looking forward to busting out the Hot Wheels bed for my son, who definitely spied the box and threw a fit that we weren’t setting it up for him yet. It’ll be perfect for a sibling sleepover. (We wouldn’t dream of forcing my parents to sleep in his bed.)
Each bed is $79 unless you catch them during a sale, when the price usually drops to $69 apiece. Here’s the full lineup: