Birthday Parties at Broward County Parks: Pavilions, Permits and What Fits

A Broward park birthday is two bookings — the shelter and the show — so lock the pavilion first, then every character on our roster once you know the pad, the power, and whether the park will let a vendor on the grass.

This is the long guide. Fees below come from Broward County’s published parks fee schedule. Vendor rules come from the county’s vendor-registration page, updated August 2026. Parks change packets. Call the park office before you spend the deposit.

Reserve the shelter with the county, not with us. Picnic shelters are reserved through Broward County Parks (WebTrac for many shelters; some corporate halls are a permit request, not a click). Shelter rental doesn’t include weekend or holiday gate admission. A security deposit is posted by size. The county’s fee schedule lists small shelters and gazebos at $40 on weekdays and $80 on weekends and county holidays; medium shelters $100 weekdays and $150 weekends; large shelters $125 weekdays and $250 weekends; corporate pavilions $300 weekdays and $800 weekends. Deposits on that schedule: $50 interpretive/gazebo/funbrella, $100 small and medium, $200 large and extra-large. If a park quotes you something else, take the park’s number. We don’t collect the pavilion fee.

C.B. Smith in Pembroke Pines, Tree Tops in Davie, Tradewinds, Quiet Waters, T.Y. Park, Markham, and the neighborhood parks all get birthday calls. They’re not interchangeable. Some have lake edges. Some have playgrounds that will steal your guests. Some have gate lines on Saturday at 11. Walk the pad before you promise Grandma a bounce house.

Vendors have to be on the county list. Broward County Parks says patrons may only select vendors from the Registered Vendors list. Entertainers, DJs, bounce houses, décor, and food trucks all sit in that system. Registration is an application, insurance, a notarized background affidavit, and an annual fee the county currently publishes at $175. Vendor office: 954-357-8125, ParksVendors@Broward.org. Being registered isn’t a county endorsement. It is permission to work a private rental when a patron books you. Unauthorized vendor activity is not allowed. If your cousin “has a speaker,” that is how parties get shut down.

Insurance on the county page (updated August 1, 2026): general liability $1,000,000 for all vendors; auto $500,000 if you drive on park property; workers’ comp at statutory limits if you have four or more employees. Certificate holder must read exactly Broward County, 950 N.W. 38th St., Oakland Park, FL 33309, with the county as additional insured. We send ours when the park asks. You still have to rent the shelter.

Bounce houses. Allowed through a registered vendor, with limits. The county prohibits water apparatus — no inflatable water slides, dunk tanks, slip-and-slides. Vendors provide their own generators. An attendant must be present, alert, and at least 16, monitoring the unit. Inflatables aren’t a free-for-all on any lawn you like; the park decides where they sit. If that’s the add-on, bounce house rentals for Broward parks only after the shelter and the pad are confirmed. Don’t assume a water slide because the kids asked.

Also prohibited on the county list: mechanical bulls, trackless trains, trampolines (with a narrow reverse-bungee exception), privately owned amusement rides, contact gear like sumo suits, petting zoos, Class I and II animals. If your Pinterest board needs those, pick a backyard or a private hall.

Characters, hosts, and DJs. Performers and DJs are a registered-vendor category. That’s the paperwork lane. The practical lane is shade, a place to change that isn’t a restroom with a line, and a start time that is not the same minute as gate backup. kids party hosts in Broward help when the pavilion is a crowd and you need games that aren’t “go play on the playground.” a kids DJ in Broward needs power the shelter actually has — or a generator the park will allow — and a volume that won’t earn you a ranger. We’d rather recast the hour than fight a quiet rule you didn’t read.

Power is the detail that kills DJ and inflatable plans. Some shelters have outlets. The county still wants vendors on generators for bounce houses. Don’t daisy-chain a blower off a picnic outlet and hope. Ask the park which pad is legal. Walk it. Look at the slope. Look at the irrigation heads. Look at how far the restroom is from the cake table, because that is where the kids will actually live.

Gate admission on weekends and holidays is separate from the shelter. Budget time in the car line. Put the character start after you can reasonably have Grandma seated, not at the posted gate open. We have waited in a lot while the birthday child was still in traffic on I-75. Give us a window that assumes a slow gate.

Food trucks and catering are also on the registered-vendor list. Your cousin’s chafing dishes may be fine; a truck that didn’t file is not. Nature centers restrict onsite cooking — food cooked offsite and kept warm. If your park is a nature center, read that line twice.

Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. is the pile-up. Sunday is easier. Weekdays in summer are the secret, if school is out. Book the shelter as soon as you have the birthday. Then call us with the park name, shelter number if you have it, and whether inflatables are allowed on that pad. We’ll tell you if we can take the date. We won’t guess a fee the park didn’t quote you.

Parks administration: 954-357-8100. Vendor desk: 954-357-8125. Dade entertainment line (786) 220-5686. Broward (954) 239-7244. Palm Beach (561) 293-3535. Ask for Sean. Say the park, not “somewhere in Broward.”