Wood Swing Sets

I was really wanting to buy a wooden playhouse instead of a playground set, but was astounded by how expensive they were! I thought my 3 yo daughter would get more imaginative play out of a playhouse...

Then we looked at Lowe's for playsets and they have add on pieces and the bottom of the tower could be a sandbox or a playhouse, which we added on. She LOVES it! It's a bit smaller than the more expensive playsets like Rainbow or Bear or whatever - but it's good for her and her younger sister to get some play on it to entertain themselves...

Lowe's installed it and so far, so good - it's only a month old. :)

Sam's club has an awesome one for $1100 and if you have a handy brother that's awesome...the set is comparable to a $5,000 one at other stores...quality but you have to put it together...

try Adventure Playsets Sam's club and Walmart carries them.

My sister just purchased one from Walmart for like $400. A nice wooden one. I would go with one from there, you'll spend way more at Toys R' Us.

M.,
a girlfriend of mine purchased a wooden one from i believe it was lowe's but it may have been home depot, and my children and i spend many hours at her house using her swing set and it is great. i am not sure what they paid for it but i think it was alittle over $1000. it is very sturdy, i have actually swung on the swings with my kids and was not afraid of ending up on the ground, i am no skinny minnie!

We got one for my 2 1/2 year old from Costco (formerly Price Club) about 1 1/2 years ago and it was way cheaper then anywhere else. He loves it and plays on it almost everyday. It did take my husband and his father about 6 hours to install (and they are pretty handy), but now that it is up it is virtually maintenance free.

My brother in law purchased a really nice set at BJs two or three years ago. Good that you have someone handy to help put it together. It took my brother in law and my husband one day to sort and start putting it together and my brother in law finished it with a friend the next day. It was WAY cheaper than Wood Kingdom, is great quality and has weathered nicely. Check their website to see if they offer it online; I haven't seen one in the store this season, but maybe they'll have it in the one near you. Costco.com may be a site to check out too.

We just put up the Brookview II from Home Depot this weekend. It came to $707. We shopped for weeks before making our purchase. The thing that is really nice about the Home Depot swingsets is that you can add to them. My kids are 7, 5, and 1. Right now they are happy with the activities it came with, but there are is a tube slide, rock wall, a tower and many different swing styles they can add. Your best bet would be to look online. We liked the ones at Toys R Us and Walmart, but the construction of the one from Home Depot seemed much more sturdy. the quality of the wood is even nicer, it is made from the same wood you would build a deck with and you can also weatherproof it like you would a deck.

Hi M.,
We just finished putting together a swing set for our son this Memorial Day weekend! It was Gorilla brand and we bought it online through Walmart.

Pros:

Paying lower price for decent size set.

Came fairly quickly.

Seems to be well made and safe.

Came with lots of stuff (tire swing, picnic table)

10yr. warranty - our son is 2 1/2 and don't think he'll still be using it as much 10 yrs. from now.)

My son LOVES it

Cons:

Directions weren't great.

Following the directions we still had a few pieces of wood leftover.

Another piece we bought as an add on came with NO directions at all!

While the Cons are annoying, I definitely think that for the price (and size - it's fairly big) it was worth it. I'm lucky my husband is handy and was able to adjust some of the measurements/figure out the add on so it would be safe.
Happy Shopping!

PS Cedar is more expensive. Pine is cheaper.

I'm not sure of your budget, but we recently bought the 2008 Sunray Premium Playground set from Costco (available online, but price includes shipping) and it's rock-solid and a very good price for what you get. Our 2 1/2 year old LOVES it. The guy we hired to install it has a company that only does playset installations and said this set was the way to go in terms of quality and price. Hope that helps.

My in-laws bought ours for the kids...they got it from some Mennonites who are in or around Stanley, NY. It's a great set, built well and best of all...they installed it!

HTH,
J.

Hi M.,
You could try Costco or BJ's, our neighbor just put one up in his backyard- it's great quality and the kids love it, I believe they found it at Costco in Norwalk. There's a BJ's in Fairfield, not sure where you live.
Hope this helps!
Lynsey

There's a really nice one at BJ's for $999, it's big and there's a wonderful playhouse on top. Not sure of the quality, but it looks great.

I just got one from toys r us my kids love it {twins 3 years old and 8year old } BUT installing it will take a long time it took us 10hrs. I dont care how handy he is it will take a long time lol the kids will love it. The wood kingdom TO MUCH $

hello M.,

Check on craigslist. I saw one there the other day for $700 and change. Maybe $750. But it looked really nice!! Long Island. Keep your eyes peeled. Someone I know also baught one from Toysrus and it is wonderful. The one on craigslist though was worth almost $2000 if I recall correctly. That is worth it!

M.:
We have one from SunShine Play sets (I think, it is on RT 110 in Farmingdale across from Estells) They have sets that you can put together for reasonable prices...Also I know that Lowes, Homedepot, BJ's and Cosco carry them...Again you have to put the set together yourself but it might be worth checking out. Good luck.

creative playthings is great.
i just got a swing set from them and
i am very happy with it. my son in 2
years old and loves it.

M.:
We bought ours from Sams Club about 4 years ago. It was half the price of many other wood swing sets. All of my kids love it and it has held up beautifully over the years. The only problem is you need to install it yourself. It took my husband (who is handy)about 5 hours to put it up by himself.
Good Luck!
L.

In this situation I believe you get what you pay for. Eastern Jungle Gym in Monroe CT is an outstanding product. Adults can climb on it without as much as a shimmy or shake. Very solid. Their showroom is an outdoor playground where you can climb all over them. Give them a try. Good luck!

We have the Toys R us model and are very happy with it (or I should say my 5 year old and 2 year old are happy with it). It took ahwile for my husband to put it togehter but was well worth it. The quality is good and it is still in great shape a year later. My only advice would be buy up from the set you would like. we purchased the smaller one and wish we had bought the bigger size (better to grow into). Good luck!

Hi. We purchased our set from Creative Playthings in Westbury, about 7 or 8 years ago. I think the reason our set has lasted so long is that my husband has sealed the wood every other year, which I would recommend for any wood swing set. Also, I would recommend asking for a better price, given today's economic situation. Good luck!

Hi M.,
I have a wooden swing set that my boys have out grown and you can have it for FREE! It's in pretty good shape may need a new chains for the swing seats. If you are interested please e-mail me at ____@____.com. I will try to send you a picture. I live in Sugarloaf NY near Warwick and CHester.
Hope this helps!
J.

If you live close to the Amish County in Lancaster County, PA, you won't find a better quality for a reasonable amount. There's a number of shops in Intercourse and Bird-in-Hand.
Remember, you get what you pay for at chain stores.
K.

We just purchased a wooden swing/playset from Toys R Us. It takes a LONG time to install, which is OK if you don't mind that it's not going to be up overnight. Overall, though, my son LOVES it!!

As a tip - To save additional money, we purchased it when it was on sale 20% off and then applied for the Credit Card, so we received an additional 15% off. Together that saved us a few hundred dollars.