Best place to get a sturdy swing set?

[ClarabelleCowFan]

We are looking to buy a new swing set for our yard. I love the big, sturdy Rainbow type sets but those are WAY out of our price range right now. Walmart had a couple of wooden sets but they looked so flimsy and there is no way that those would even support the older kids if they wanted to swing.

Our criteria for a new swing set are:

*Heavy duty wood construction. We have 5 kids and 4 of them would still want to play on it (ages 3-12) or at least swing on the swings.

*Big enough that 4 kids could be playing on it at the same time.

*Easy to take down and reassemble (we move every 2-3 years).

*Less than $1k.

Do these even exist in this price range? Are we better off getting a kit and building our own? We still have the wavy slide from our old set.

 

[quentina]

I am not sure of the quality of construction however; Sam's club has a really nice one. I believe it is 899 or 999 (not sure).

 

[redlawyer]

I saw an awesome one today at Costco for 1,000. Its the kind my kids wished they had!

 

[ceecee]

I really wanted the Rainbow as well. We got ours at Sam's Club for around $800 and it was pretty good quality, we had up to 6 kids on it at once, no tipping like our first cheapy set. DH added a deck to the bottom instead of a sand box and make the roof wooden. we also stained it. We only have one child so I couldn't justify the $3000 plus either since she was 6 at the time. If I had more kids I probably would have gone with the Rainbow.

 

[akenneson]

Lowes sells a kit with brackets and swings such and it tells you what to buy for lumber and then you put it together with a slide and any other extras you want. We did this for our girls last summer. It has a small climbing wall, rope ladder, little clubhouse type area, a slide, swings and space for an extra play piece. It is unbelievably sturdy not like our neighbors Walmart set that blew over in the wind and broke into splinters. It is made of real lumber and it only cost $500 for everything. The only thing is I don't really know if it would be movable

 

[Fishteacher]

Last spring we were able to get a gorilla set from walmart.com for under $1000 (including shipping). We absolutely love it - Good Luck!

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

Thanks. We don't have a Costco but there is a Sam's Club in town. I looked at the ones on their website but can't tell how sturdy they are. Will have to go check them out.

The Rainbow website doesn't list any prices but when we looked at them a few years back they were insanely expensive - into the thousands.

We'll check out the build your own ones from Lowe's. Since we still have the hardware from our old set we may be able to save a little that way. Any volunteers to come help DH build it??

 

[emer95]

We got ours from BJs about 6 years ago, and it was $900. It sort of looks like a Rainbow, and it is very, very sturdy. Our girls are 10 and 12 and they still play on it. There is a fort with a balcony area and a wooden roof (that is now a "Justin Beiber fan club" home, lol) monkey bars which they use constantly, swings, a slide, a rock climbing thing, a little picnic table/sandbox area. We put it together in one day, and stained it once. It looks great and I'm so thankful we didn't spend more than $900.