Tents and tunnels

[betsydenny]

DD is obsessed with tunnels after playing with one at a friends house. I would love to get her one and probably a tent too. We need soemthing that will fold easily and quickly as we live in a small apt. The PlayHut ones look good but the tent doesnt have a floor. Does it matter? Do kids care whether there is a floor or not? (I know she wouldn't now but is it something they might like later?)
Is there anything else I should look for?
Thanks so much!
Betsy

[dowlinal]

Gymboree sells a tunnel that completely collapses. When they have discount codes for clothing they also apply to the toys so you can get a good price with a code.

[redhookmom]

Marshalls has tunnels. At least they did a week ago. They were 12.99.

We had a tent once that I refuse to open up because I cannot collapse it. I have spent way to much time trying to figure out how to "swoop and cross" to get it back in the bag. So my suggestion would be to make sue it ie easy to put away.

[ett]

I just picked up a tunnel at Ikea for $10.

[essnce629]

I got Conner a Ryan's Room tunnel for Christmas at TJMaxx.com for $14 plus $3.95 shipping (the price is now $16.99 on their website though). They also sell a matching tent and clubhouse that the tunnel can connect to for the same price. I searched everywhere for the best price and this was definately it. Everywhere else sold them for $30 shipped. It pops open like one of those window shades for your car and then collapses flat and ties closed to be stored in its bag. I higly recommend it. It was a huge hit with my 17 month old ds and my 3 year old cousin. I saw the ones at IKEA yesterday and it doesn't look like it collapses as easy. it has long plastic supports that run the length of it so I think you'd have to store those 6ft long pieces somewhere in order to fold it up and then you'd have to rethread it each time. The material also didn't seem to be as high quality as the Ryan's Room one and was kind of thin. Here's the link to the TJ Maxx tunnel, tent, and clubhouse: http://www.tjmaxx.com/catalog/search.jsp?N=0&Nty=1&Ntk=AllSearch&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&Dx=mode+matchallany&Ntt=ryan%20room&D=ryan%20room

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http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/19620.jpg

***Latia
Conner 8/19/03
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/aug2003angel
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif 16 months & counting! http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/9870.gif

[Raidra]

We have the Ryan's Room tunnel, too.. although my mom paid full retail for it before I had a chance to research prices. The tunnel is a huge hit. Even the dogs and my husband like to crawl through it.

We also have a big Playhut tent. Colwyn loves crawling in and out of it. I tried putting some pillows in it since there's no floor, but Colwyn ended up rolling off one and bonking his head on the floor. So now we just leave the floor bare.. he doesn't seem to mind.

[MrsZaz]

I have the tent from Ikea as well. My 2 1/2 year old son (and my husband) love it. There are poles that hold the tent up but they fold down (along with the tent) into a (approx.) 14"Lx 5"w package.
Hope that helps.

Colleen

[DDowning]

When we were climbing the walls with all the rains here last week, I made a makeshift tent using blankets and chairs. That kept Carson entertained for a good 45-60 minutes running in and out of them. Just something to consider....

[Jen841]

We found a variety of Playhut things here over the holidays. We bought a small ball pit with a tunnel into it. 25 balls is so not enough, but it is a fun thing and it will fold to be very small. I believe it was $17.99

We have another Playhut tent we can attach to this which is a fun plus. When he loses interest in the ball pit, we'll move them to the basement.

In our basement we have our camping tent up for Jude to play in and he loves it. It is big enough for us too. Basically, don't limit yourself to just children tents, feel free to recycle your pre-children sporting equipment!

[sarsah]

My oldest is 4 1/2 and doesn't seem to mind that there is no floor in his Playhut tent. We have quite a few pieces -- Target carried it one year and my mom went crazy buying it when it went on clearance.

Sarah.....mom to Jason (5/25/00) & Devin (5/12/03)

[SeekerMage]

I second or third...whatever...IKEA...they have several different tunnels and tents. I know they had a cute castle tent with matching tunnels, and a simple primary colored tent with tunnels the last time we were there. Target also had in their camping section some really cute tents on clearence this past week. One was a lady bug with differnt bugs all over it tent..and a fairy princess type tent with big pink flowers and such. No tunnels but the tents were about $13. or so. Oh...and both places the tents fold up nicely (even have storage bags for them too)

[new_mommy25]

Conner is so cute!! the expression on his face in the second picture is priceless!

[betsydenny]

Thanks all! We ended up ordering a tunnel from Pacific Play Tents. We actually have the Ikea one at Grandpa's house but needed immediate foldabilty which that one does not provide. Will let you know how we like it. Putting the tent on hold for a while as the tunnel itself will take up virtually the entire living room! Ah New York apartments....
Thanks for all your help!
Betsy

[votre_ami03]

Nolan has the IKEA tent/igloo thing, $8. For easy storage, I slipped each pole out of one connector & it lies completely flat. Large, but flat. It would easily hide away in a closet.

Christy, mommy to Nolan 7/22/03

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030722/1/7/2/-7/.png

[twofallbabies]

We have a regular-sized card table, and a child-sized card table, and placed next to each other and covered with blankets, they make a great tent as well. My boys call it their treehouse or their clubhouse. We have a tent as well, but it's waaaaayy too big to open in the house. It's one tent in the middle, then a tunnel out each side, and a smaller tent at the end of each tunnel. Probably 12 feet from end to end. Someone gave it to my older Ds for his bday in Sept. We used it once, it got dirty, and has been relegated to the basement ever since then.


Jessica, sewing, strollering, candle-loving mama in MD to
Dillon 9/98 & Lucas 10/02

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26+ months

[essnce629]

Thanks Angie. Conner really loves playing in the tunnel now.
The first couple of times I brought it out he was scared to go in it, but after the little 15 month old girl I watch went through it, he finally crawled in after her.

***Latia
Conner 8/19/03
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/aug2003angel
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif 16 months & counting! http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/9870.gif