High end playsets - worth the $$$?

[AngelaS]

We have a CedarWorks set and all the children who visit love to play on it...toddlers to preteens! The thing that sold me on it is the internal platforms that make it easy for little kids to climb up.

CedarWorks is right now having their annual sale. If you decide to get one, pm me....I get a gift certificate for anyone *I* refer and I'd be happy to split it with you! :D

[muskiesusan]

Did you put it together yourself? We are going to get a Cedarworks set and DH thinks he can put it up on his own. I'm not so confident.....

Susan
Mom to Nick 10/01/01
& Alex 04/27/04

[vikivoly]

Angela,

I've read your many rave reviews on Cedarworks and had already planned to let you know if we were going to purchase one. We obviously haven't decided which brand, since we're still debating if we want to invest that much. I'll let you know if we go with a CedarWorks.

Is the 10% off sale they have now about as good as it gets? How frequent do are their sales?

Thanks!

[AngelaS]

Yep, I think their playset sale only comes around once a year. The 10% off covers shipping basically! :D

We bought the Jungle structure, extra fort fences, a slide and a yardarm initially. We hung our own baby swing from the yardarm, until about 2 years later when I shelled out more money to get an overhead ladder and two other swings. Buying it in sections REALLY helped me! LOL (Or course, my inlaws paid for the main structure...). :D

[AngelaS]

Susan---think Tinkertoys. :D My dh and I put ours together in the course of a weekend. We would have done it sooner but our toddler was helping and she kept running off with the hammer. :D

[kransden]

They also are offering the free kid chairs right now too!

Karin and Katie 10/24/02

[vikivoly]

I also posted this in the Baby Bargains "Around the House" forum.

We are looking at buying an outdoor playset for DD. I really don't want it until next Spring, but I understand now is the best time to shop for deals. For those of you with high-end playsets (Rainbow, Cedarworks, etc.) are they worth the money? ...really worth it? They are easily 4x the cost of the typical sets you see at TRU or Lowe's, will we get 4x the use? We are not wealthy, so it would be a huge investment for us. However, if I felt we would be getting that much more use, I think it would be worth it. Do kids really play on these sets when they are 6, 7, 8 yrs old? My brothers' have the typical Eagle's Nest sets that Lowe's carries and their kids don't (and never really did) play on them. Now I could see them getting all excited to come to our house to play on our big, expensive set, but if it was in their backyard everyday, would they be as excited?

I realize that durability and safety come into play, but I wouldn't be willing to invest that much more based soley on those two factors.

If you have a more economical set, do you wish you would have paid the extra money for the high end set? Would I be better to get a cheaper set and put my money into cool accesories?

When is the best time to buy the Rainbow & Cedarworks sets? I received a recent flier that the Rainbows were 30% off during the month of July and Cedarworks is currently running a 10% off sale. If I wait until October or later, will the deals get more tempting?