The ideas mentioned by the characters in the film are real ideas that were actually pitched during brainstorming, and were shot down for the same reasons mentioned in the film (Bo! wasn't being a jerk in real life, though; and some of the suggestions put forth by other characters that he said were "terrible" were actually ones he suggested in real life).
Sarah's house (actually her friend's house that she was house-sitting at the time) actually has a ball pit in the basement.