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Business & Tech

O'Fallon Couple Brings Inflatable Dreams to Town

O'Fallon Patch talks to a local couple who built a successful family business, one bounce house at a time.

If you’ve ever been to a kid-friendly event around town that featured inflatable entertainment, you might have met Pam or Bill Dilallo, the owners and operators of O’Fallon-based All the Fun Inflatables, LLC.

The Dilallos have been married for 27 years and they have two adult children. Pam Dilallo said that the whole family works together to make All the Fun Inflatables a successful business.

“Our son Joe, now 24, and our daughter Jackie, 23, have both helped us since we started up the business and they are still helping us,” Dilallo said.

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Running their business, in addition to working other jobs, keeps the Dilallos on their toes. In addition to managing and maintaining the inflatables, they handle their own marketing, accounting and scheduling, among other things.

 “Joe does most of the delivering of the inflatables and Jackie does a lot of the cleaning,” Dilallo said. “Bill is in charge of loading the trucks for the weekend and any maintenance, and I am in charge of all the customer calls, scheduling and accounting.”

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She said that the family also has a few nieces and nephews who help out each summer.

“Since this is a seasonal business, we all have other jobs,” Dilallo said. “Bill works full-time for the and I work for a propane company full-time in the winter and part-time in the summer.”

Humble Beginnings

The couple launched the business in 2000 with just one bounce house, hoping to make a little extra income, Pam Dilallo said.

“Each year, we would purchase another inflatable to expand the business with the profits from the year before,” Dilallo said. “Now we have a large selection of inflatables including bounce houses, slides, combos, obstacle courses, a bungee run, jousting, sumo wrestler suits and a dunk tank.”

Business as Usual

“We do a lot of direct mailing, such as the Flash Flyer during the warmer months with special offers, and it seems to work for us,” Dilallo said. “Our prices start out as low as $125.00 for a three-hour rental on the bouncers and go up to $750.00 for the largest obstacle.”

She added that the company has a standing special offer too: if a customer rents an inflatable for four hours, they’ll receive one hour free. All prices include delivery, setup and takedown in the St. Charles County Area, and the team will set up the inflatable before the party time and come back after the party is over to take it down.

“We make sure that the person that is in charge of supervision knows all the rules so everyone is safe and no one gets hurt,” Dilallo said. “Reservations can be made a year in advance, but we do have customers who will call a couple of days prior.”

She said that in most cases, two weeks’ notice is enough, but that certain weekends are booked early, so if you know you want to rent an inflatable for your event, you should set it up as far in advance as possible.  

Looking to the Future

Dilallo said that last summer, All the Fun Inflatables had many calls for a waterslide, so they’ve got one on order that will be delivered this spring.

“We are very excited about the new purchase,” Dilallo said. “We are very dedicated to renting the highest quality inflatables at the lowest cost possible to our customers.”

Dilallo added that the company provides setup and delivery directly to the customers’ locations.

“Our customers consist of schools, churches and a lot of private parties, especially birthday parties,” she said. “We have met a lot of nice people throughout the years in this business, and probably about 75 percent of the customers are repeat customers.”

In addition to birthday parties, Dilallo said the company does company picnics, graduation parties, church and school events and “pretty much any parties with children.”

Dilallo noted that throughout their years in business, the couple has seen several similar businesses open in the area, but that it seems that within a couple of years, they’re no longer around.

“I feel blessed that this business has gone well for us and that our whole family is still involved with helping with it,” she said. “I’m sure in the years to come our son Joe will take over the business.”

Would you like to see your business featured in this column? Email Patch reporter and social media miner, Angela Atkinson at angela.atkinson@patch.com to arrange for an interview.

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