Christmas playset crisis

[Sopamanda]

Okay mamas. A friend of ours is moving and sold her house. The new owner didn't want her awesome playset and asked her to find a home for it months ago. She promised it to us. We have planned our 5 year olds christmas around this playset.

She called this morning and the owner renigged. I'm not gonna rant, but the bottom line is I pretty much need to find a playset or something else that's a 'big' gift. Of course she'd promised it to us for free and we don't have tons to spend. The cheapest craigslist one I can find is $500 and looks pretty crappy.

Any deal-finders? Any other 'big' ideas. Of course I have a slew of 'little' amazon toys but there's a gap here I'm gonna need to fill. In 10 days.

(sigh)
One stressed mama.

[SDGal83]

What does it look like?

[ecofem]

This one is on sale at TRU for $599

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=4044821

[logan's mom]

Sam's has one for $589 with free shipping:

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/pr...navAction=push

Still $589 more than you were planning on spending....that sucks. Can you and DH sneak over and steal it in the middle of the night???

[MacMacMoo]

Ask around. If you know any moms with older kids have them ask their friends. When I was in my hometown I help put my nephews playset together and I had mentioned it to a couple people after the fact and they were all "you should have told me before, they could of had ours."

try CL as well.

[MommyofAmaya]

We have this Airplane teeter totter. It is cheaper than a swing set, but still alot of fun, especially if other kids come over to play.

http://www.amazon.com/Lifetime-Airpl...2452214&sr=8-1

The helicopter is cool too:
http://www.amazon.com/Lifetime-Helic...2460439&sr=8-1

[Sopamanda]

I put a facebook post about it, inconspicuous enough to disguise the friend that offered it (it absolutely wasn't her fault, she feels terrible about it). I sure am hoping someone will chime in "Ohhh, I have this friend...she has grown kids and has a playset...). But let's be realistic, it's 10 days before Christmas.

The only other 'big' thing that i can think of is a wii. I was avoiding the video game phenomenon in the house for educational reasons. He also hasn't ASKED for it. I'm sure he would love it but you know, once you go there there's no going back!

My husband is very handy, but not handy enough to build one from scratch in 10 days. Kit, maybe...

He's 5 and as wiley as a monkey. The expense of the airplane/other outside play toy would probably be better put towards a set.

(sigh)

[jenstring95]

What about a sandbox? Or a teeter totter? They have a nice one at Academy (if you have one) that adults can even use.

[mommyapb]

They burn off tons of energy...we have both & they get used daily.

I'm so sorry you are in this situation...Hugs!!!

Amelia
DD 3/06
DS 3/09

[Sopamanda]

If anyone else comes across this in a search, I found that creative spelling searches in cragislist can make a difference. "Swing set, swingset, playset" and "play set" brought up a few more sets. Have two possibilities now. Whew!