Best Party Rental Add-Ons: Concessions, Photo Booths & More

Busy season will bring a spike in demand, which means more bookings. But if you want to maximize revenue during your busiest months, your focus shouldn’t just be on booking more events. You should also have a strategy for getting the most out of the events you are already booking. One of the easiest ways to raise average order value during busy season is by offering the right add-ons.

When you combine your main rentals with options like concessions, yard games, photo booths, and pop-up tents, you make each order more valuable while giving customers a more complete event solution. 

In this guide, we’ll cover some of the top party rental add-ons for busy season, and explain when each one makes the most sense for your business. 

Tl;DR

Why Party Rental Add-Ons Matter During Busy Season

When demand starts to ramp up, the profitability of your operation depends more on how much revenue you can generate from each booking as opposed to just order volume. 

Acquiring new customers takes time, effort, and marketing dollars. Whether that booking came from SEO, paid ads, referrals, or repeat business, there is still a cost behind getting that customer to your site and onto your calendar. Add-ons help you generate more revenue from the customers you are already bringing in, which can make each booking more profitable without increasing your customer acquisition costs.

Additionally, add-ons are not just a way to increase order value after the sale. They can also be one of the reasons a customer chooses your company in the first place. This is because they meet a growing expectation in the event market: customers want a more complete experience for their event, not just a single rental item. Interactive entertainment, photo moments, and extra activities can make an event more engaging, more social media “shareable,” and more memorable.

Add-ons also help position your business as more of a one-stop shop. Instead of sending customers to multiple vendors for entertainment, concessions, and extras, you can offer a more complete solution in one order. That not only makes the booking process easier for the customer, but also helps differentiate your rental business in a more competitive market. 

Best Party Rental Add-Ons for More Revenue

With busy season demand picking up, the right add-ons can help you increase revenue per booking without making planning and deliveries more complicated.  

Here are four of the best party rental add-ons to offer and why they’re popular:

Concessions

Concessions are one of the easiest busy season add-ons to sell because they have a nostalgic appeal, are affordable, and are a simple upsell that fits naturally into party packages. Options like popcorn, cotton candy, and snow cone machines fit naturally with kids’ backyard parties, school events, church gatherings, and community functions where hosts want to add a simple crowd-pleaser to the setup. 

Concessions often have strong margins, and the equipment is usually straightforward to maintain as long as it is cleaned properly and kept in good working condition. That makes them a practical way to raise average order value without adding a lot of extra complexity. 

Yard Games

Yard games are a practical busy season add-on because they can often be paid off quickly, require very little maintenance, and are easy to bundle with existing rentals. Items like Giant Jenga and Giant Connect 4 work especially well as simple upsells alongside inflatables, tables and chairs, or other backyard party packages.  

They are easy to store, easy to transport, simple to set up, and broad enough in appeal to work for birthday parties, school events, church gatherings, and corporate picnics. For rental companies looking to increase average order value without adding a lot of operational complexity, yard games are one of the easiest add-ons to work into the mix. 

Photo Booths 

Photo booths are an excellent busy season add-on because they appeal to a wider age range than many traditional party rentals. While inflatables are often geared more toward children, photo booths can work for weddings, corporate events, school functions, and private parties where both adults and kids are part of the guest list. They also create the kind of interactive, photo-friendly experience that is increasing in popularity because of social media.  

From an operator standpoint, photo booths can also be attractive because, once the initial equipment investment is made, ongoing maintenance and supply costs are often very manageable. 

Pop-up Tents

Pop-up tents can also be a smart add-on to offer because they increase order value without feeling like a forced upsell. For many customers, they solve a real need by adding shade, light weather protection, and a more comfortable setup for outdoor events.

That makes them a natural fit for backyard parties, school functions, church events, and corporate gatherings where customers may already be renting tables, chairs, inflatables, or concessions. Instead of looking like an extra item tacked onto the order, pop-up tents will create a more complete event package, which makes them very easy to rent.

Choose Add-Ons That Are Easy to Sell, Bundle, and Deploy

The best add-ons are not always the most exciting ones. They are the ones that fit naturally into the way your business already operates. 

That means choosing add-ons that do one or all of the following:

• Work with the inventory you already rent
• Are easy to recover from storage at the same time as your main rental
• Make sense for the events you already serve
• Can be easily bundled into deliveries without creating a ton of extra work for your team.

A backyard party company may have an easier time selling yard games or concessions alongside inflatables, while a business focused on schools, churches, and community events may see more value in larger add-ons like dunk tanks or photo booths.

Just as important, the best add-ons are easy to market. If customers can see them clearly on your website, add them during the booking process, and understand how they fit into a package, you have a much better chance of turning them into consistent revenue. And when your team can easily track inventory, build bundles, and manage bookings in one place, it becomes much easier to add extra revenue to the orders you already have. 

Turn Demand Into More Revenue With Add-ons

The right party rental add-ons can help you raise average order value, strengthen your packages, and make your party rental business more competitive during the busiest times of year. 

The key is getting your add-on items in front of customers at the right time: when they are wanting to book. That is where the right event and party rental software can make a real difference. With ERS, rental companies can showcase add-ons on their website, recommend them during the booking process, and build them into party packages. That makes it easier to turn add-ons into a repeatable part of your sales process instead of relying on manual upsells. 

The most successful party rental operators do more than book more events. They have the right tools in place to get more value out of every booking. 

If you want to turn add-ons into a more consistent part of your sales strategy, book a demo with ERS to see how the software can help. 

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