Buying a swing set--WWYD??

[lfeikert]

This is so silly, I know, but I can't make a decision here so I thought I'd post my situation and get some unbiased opinions! DH and I go back and forth on the decision hourly it seems!

We live in amish country. We have one very big supplier of wooden swingsets/climbers, etc. It began as two amish men making them and the business has grown over the years. Now they ship all over the country. They are pretty expensive, but the sets are beautiful and very well made. We have created a set for our kids that is not extravagant, but not the plain jane model either. It's going to cost about $1900. Yesterday DH drove by a house that had a sign advertising gym sets. He stopped and this is just one amish man making these swing sets in his garage. He makes about the same style as the one we had looked at minus a few components. You can tell a difference in the two sets, but not a huge one. This one is about $850.

My heart tells me to get the nicer one. My head is saying $1000 is a lot of money!!

Soooo . . . . What would you do?

 

[PlutosFriend]

This is so silly, I know, but I can't make a decision here so I thought I'd post my situation and get some unbiased opinions! DH and I go back and forth on the decision hourly it seems!

We live in amish country. We have one very big supplier of wooden swingsets/climbers, etc. It began as two amish men making them and the business has grown over the years. Now they ship all over the country. They are pretty expensive, but the sets are beautiful and very well made. We have created a set for our kids that is not extravagant, but not the plain jane model either. It's going to cost about $1900. Yesterday DH drove by a house that had a sign advertising gym sets. He stopped and this is just one amish man making these swing sets in his garage. He makes about the same style as the one we had looked at minus a few components. You can tell a difference in the two sets, but not a huge one. This one is about $850.

My heart tells me to get the nicer one. My head is saying $1000 is a lot of money!!

Soooo . . . . What would you do?

What are the main differences? We bought a very small Rainbow model years ago. We have been very happy with it. It is sturdy and doesn't give splinters. Those were two things very important for us

 

[MareQ]

Get the cheaper one! The novelty will wear off quickly and the kids won't play with it as much as you thought.

When DH bought our kid's set he paid $6,000!!! and didn't tell me till afterwards! GRRRRRRRR! @@ The kids play with it in the spring then by the end of the summer they don't care about it - I MAKE DH take them outside and have picnics in it every weekend when it's nice.


If the cheaper one is made very nicely and will hold up just as well as the other one - I say go for it!

 

[Tybug]

In 20 years are the kids going to be upset that the swingset they had didn't have(insert whatever componets)...?

$1,000 dollars is a lot of money(put it in the college fund) and the kids get a swingset. JMO...

 

[mommasita]

I would go for the cheaper one..

Kids grow up so quickly. We got a decently priced one, and now kids are 8 and 11, we replaced it ALL with a giant pool that FILLS our entire yard

 

[JESW]

Here's a whole different opinion...

I live in a subdivision where just about everyone has or had one of those wooden swingsets, including us. You hardly EVER see the kid splaying on them - mine included. The most use we ever got out of ours was when my youngest was a toddler and we pushed her on the baby swing. But just like all the other parents I felt I *had* to have one. Big waste of $$$$ for us for the most part. It now sits in back yard waiting for someone to take it away next year.

My kids preferred playing other things or going off to the park instead of playing on a swingset in their own back yard.

Jill

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

I would get the cheaper one.

 

[rt2dz]

I would get the cheaper one and then see about adding anything "extra" that is "missing". To me, that is just a lot of money either way for a swing set.

I do have one that my kids play on a lot and we played on ours a lot as kids. Both are exteremly well built with all the bells and whistles, but my dad built ours as a kid, and then one for all his grandchildren. Mine cost us nothing but the materials (under $300).

I would think with that cost, keep it simple and then visit the park.

 

[dogluva]

I bought a wooden one for my oldest children. We moved about about four times and had to take it apart each time (I never knew why we bothered, they rarely looked at it). Finally, we moved to a house and decided not to take it apart again. So we left it with the house. The new house has a cheap, metal one that is cemented in the ground. The kids love it. They played on it the first week more than the ten years I owned the wooden one. I don't know why, I just know they like the metal one better. So, personally, I would go for the cheap one.

 

[ilovejack02]

I spent 900.00 on one last spring, kid never plays on it
I have to go make him get on it.

 

[lfeikert]

Thanks for all your replies. For the most part, you are telling me what I already knew--I just needed others to tell me!!

However, I would add that I really do think our children will play on it alot. We live in a very rural area and going to the park just doesn't happen that often. The closest one is about 6 miles away and it's not that great. My parents live in town (which is still pretty rural!) in a small subdivision. There is a wooden one there and my kids love to play on it. I might be surprised when we get one that they don't play on it very much, but I hope not!! They LOVE to be outside.

 

[KirstenB]

Go for the one that has the stuff the kids like the best. Anymore, you can order them with anything on them, the rock climbing wall, slide, swings, castle, etc.

If it was in our budget, I'd buy one. Our friends bought a Rainbow system last year for $7000.00. Many years ago, DFIL offered to buy a swingset for our older dd. I had a vision of a nice wood swingset, not top of the line, but decent. Instead he bought a craptacular metal one. Our 9 yr old uses it almost every day after homework and swim team. Unfortunately now she's too big for it, and I always wanted to get rid of it, but you can't get rid of a gift so easily.

If your kids LOVE being outdoors the way ours do, it's money well spent.

 

[Cool-Beans]

Get the cheaper one! The novelty will wear off quickly and the kids won't play with it as much as you thought.

IMO, this is extraordinarily good advice.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Go for the cheaper one and save the money The kids won't know the difference, they will love that they have one and that's about it

Also going with the cheaper one you save money and give some business to a one man show how wonderful!

 

[irishbosoxfan]

Thanks for all your replies. For the most part, you are telling me what I already knew--I just needed others to tell me!!

However, I would add that I really do think our children will play on it alot. We live in a very rural area and going to the park just doesn't happen that often. The closest one is about 6 miles away and it's not that great. My parents live in town (which is still pretty rural!) in a small subdivision. There is a wooden one there and my kids love to play on it. I might be surprised when we get one that they don't play on it very much, but I hope not!! They LOVE to be outside.

The reason they probably like that one so much is because of the other kids!!

We have one of the metal "craptacular"confused3 ) ones and my girls love it!!!

We priced the wooden ones but the prospect of having to tear it down before we moved to a new duty station was daunting.

Depending on their ages they may soon be over the whole swingset phase anyways(it really doesn't last that long)

I would save even more and buy a "craptacular" metal one---that way you don't have to feel as bad about the money you spent on something that won't get a lot of use.

 

[Mickey527]

Home Depot has a really cute one advertised in their circular that I got in the paper today. It was something like $590. You do have to buy some wood for it but it said only a few. It had a fort, a slide, a climbing net rope and some swings. I am going to get that one for my grandson.

 

[MandM-Mom]

Go for the cheaper one and save the $1000 for your next disney trip!!! The kids won't even see the difference.

 

[lfeikert]

Go for the cheaper one and save the $1000 for your next disney trip!!! The kids won't even see the difference.

This is exactly what my mother told me! We haven't taken them to Disney yet because we just built a new house a year ago. We were saving all our money for that. Plus, we were waiting until DS3 was a little older. I think now we are ready to go DD6 has been ready for two years!

I went back to the amish man today and ordered the swing set. $835 and the only difference is no monkey bars and the whole thing is overall a tad bit smaller. That's $1100 less than the other place. Now we need to be sure to put that money into savings instead of blowing it!

 

[Melrosgirl]

I have a $3500 Rainbow set. The kids love it, but so do the squirrels or some other pest. The thing has splinters ALL OVER it. Sure, Rainbow is replacing the wood for us (wood is free, but the labor is not and we're talking a lot of pieces). Basically the whole thing has to be taken apart. I don't know if I'd spend the money for it again. Actually I would NOT.

Most wooden sets though are not as sturdy as the Rainbow.