The 12 Questions We Get Asked Every Week

01How far in advance should I book a tent in Metro Vancouver?

For peak-season Saturdays in May through September, book your tent six to eight weeks out — and earlier if your date lands in July or August. Off-season and weekday events typically have two to three weeks of room, and chair-only or table-only orders are our most flexible same-week category.

Surrey is the exception in a good way: it's our shortest delivery route, so chair, table, and 10×10 popup tent orders are usually feasible inside 3–5 days there even in peak season. Marquee tents 20×40 and larger need installer scheduling no matter the city. Twenty-two years of Lower Mainland summers say the same thing every year — popular dates fill fast. You can enter your date online and check live availability with no obligation to book.

02What does the delivery and setup fee cover?

Delivery and setup is an add-on service quoted up front, priced by distance from our Surrey warehouse — the fee covers round-trip transport, crew setup of tents and dance floors, takedown, and pickup. Chairs and tables arrive stacked and get placed where you want them.

Every quote we send is itemised: rental items by line, delivery, crew setup time, add-ons, and taxes. There are no fuel surcharges and no zone uplifts — if the quote says $X, you pay $X. We don't publish one flat delivery number because the honest answer depends on your address; build your order online and the delivery line is priced before you commit to anything.

03What happens if it rains on the day of my event?

Rain alone changes nothing — our marquee tents are weather-rated and we install through normal BC rain every week. We refuse install only in lightning, sustained 50+ km/h wind, or temperatures below freezing. Those are safety thresholds, not service issues.

"We install through normal rain and pack up at sustained 50 km/h wind. The forecast decides the sidewalls; the safety thresholds decide everything else." — Forever Party Rentals Team

The practical rain plan is sidewalls: $50/day, rented as a contingency, with the install decision made on Friday's forecast. We recommend them October through April and for any shoulder-season event. If the forecast forces a full date change, we waive the change fee when you call before crew dispatch and roll your deposit to the new date. Our guide to event tents in Vancouver rain covers gutters, sidewall configurations, and what actually leaks.

04Can you set up a tent on a driveway, patio, or deck without stakes?

Yes — we stake tents on grass and switch to weighted ballast on pavement, gravel, stamped concrete, and decks. No holes in your driveway, and nothing gets drilled without the property owner's permission.

The ballast is real weight: for a 20×40 marquee, plan 400–600 lbs per corner — typically one filled 50-gallon water barrel (450 lbs) at each corner pole, with foam pads underneath so pavers and deck boards keep their finish. Modern code-built decks handle the distributed load; older decks need a load check first. The one surface we won't tent is artificial turf. Tell us the surface when you book and we send the right hardware — our patio and deck tent guide walks through each setup.

05Do I need a permit for a backyard tent in BC?

Usually not — most BC municipalities don't require a permit for a residential backyard tent under 30×30 with under 100 guests for a single-day event. Surrey's temporary tent permit is typically triggered above the building-code threshold (about 60 m² / 645 sq ft) on commercial property or near buildings, so a backyard 20×20 is almost always exempt. Verify at your city's building counter, because rules shift year to year.

Parks are a different story. The City of Vancouver requires 4 months of lead time for new special-event permits at busy parks like Stanley Park — we recommend submitting 5–6 months ahead to survive revision rounds. Most park venues also require a Public Liability Insurance certificate naming the venue; we include PLI with every booking by default. The city-by-city rules are in our Metro Vancouver tent permit guide.

06What size tent do I need for my guest count?

For seated dinners: a 20×20 marquee seats up to 32, a 20×30 seats 48, a 20×40 seats 64 — or 50 once a dance floor goes in — and a 20×60 seats 96. Cocktail-style receptions fit more — the same 20×20 handles 50 standing.

The price ladder runs $550/event for the 20×20, $630 for the 20×30, $1,100 for the 20×40, $1,260 for the 20×60, and $1,890 for the 30×60 — the size we quote for 150–200 guests. If you're between sizes, size up: the dance floor, buffet line, and DJ table claim more square footage than the guest-count math suggests. Our free tent size calculator does the arithmetic for your exact layout.

07How many people fit at a 5ft round or 6ft banquet table?

A 5ft round table seats 8 comfortably — 10 in a pinch — and a 6ft banquet table seats 6 people, or 8 if you use the end seats. That's the whole answer most callers need; the rest is layout preference.

Rounds are the wedding default because conversation works better in a circle; banquets pack tighter along walls and suit buffet and head-table runs. Our 5ft rounds rent for $13.50/day, 6ft banquets for $10.95/day, and cocktail highboys — the standing-reception workhorse — for $15.50/day.

08How do I get a discount on my rental order?

Two discounts stack: bundling a tent, tables, and chairs into one of our packages saves 10%, and paying your order in full within 24 hours of your inquiry saves another 10% — automatically, no coupon hunt.

Otherwise, booking works on a 25% deposit with the balance due before delivery or pickup. On chairs, the line you pick moves the total more than any discount: fanback folding chairs run $3.25/day, resin garden chairs $5.50/day, and white Chiavari chairs $8.50/day. At 100 guests that's a $525 spread between the plainest and dressiest option — worth deciding before you chase percentage points.

09How clean is the equipment — and what if something gets damaged?

Every item is pressure-washed, cleaned, and inspected before it leaves the warehouse — our tables come back clean enough that many clients skip tablecloths entirely. Chairs are individually checked, and we often bring a few extras free of charge in case one turns up short mid-event.

On the damage side: the damage waiver is 8% of the rental subtotal, added to every invoice unless you opt out in writing. Waive it and the full replacement cost of any damaged gear lands on you. On an outdoor event with wind, candles, and a dance floor, we don't recommend the gamble.

10What is your cancellation policy if my plans change?

The 25% booking deposit is non-refundable — but if we ever cancel your booking, you receive 125% of everything you paid back. That's our cancellation protection guarantee, and it has a timing twin: if we fail to begin setup within the agreed window, 25% of your order comes back to you automatically.

Weather reschedules are handled separately from cancellations. Notify us before crew dispatch and we roll your deposit forward to a new date at no charge. Customer-initiated cancellations fall under the standard deposit terms above — which is one more reason the sidewall-and-heater contingency usually beats cancelling outright.

11How do we get power at a park or remote site?

Battery power stations — for most tent events a single EcoFlow unit replaces a generator, with no noise, no fumes, and no fuel run. We rent three sizes: the Delta 2 (1,024 Wh) at $110/weekend for speakers and phone charging, the Delta 3 Max (2,048 Wh) at $215/weekend, and the Delta 3 Ultra (3,072 Wh) at $335/weekend.

The Ultra is the shoulder-season workhorse. An indirect-fired tent heater's fan draws under 7 amps, so the biggest unit in our fleet runs an 80,000 BTU heater fan for roughly 10 hours plus the DJ rig — our most-rented setup for weddings without venue power. The heater itself rents for $100/day. And if the site has no cell signal either, a Starlink kit at $145/weekend puts real internet under the tent.

12Can I pick up rentals myself instead of paying for delivery?

Yes — popup tents, chairs, banquet tables, and dance-floor sections are pickup-eligible from our warehouse at 9317 188 St, Surrey, open 7 days a week, 10:30 AM–6 PM. Pickup orders save the delivery line item entirely.

The one category that stays delivery-only is marquee tents: 20×20 and up require installation by our crew, so they aren't pickup-eligible. A 10×10 popup at $75/day is the biggest shelter you can load and set up yourself — everything larger comes on our truck, and honestly, that's where you want it.