bonesdilligaf: I would love to see someone try and go through the monkey bars while someone is swinging.

just like some of those japanese game shows...

You could almost buy them their own ship for that.

... one again... if someone has 2mil in their checking account, spending 40 k on a playset is irrelevant. Its like an average person spending $600. Saying something is a 'waste of money' is all relative as well. If you make 29 k a year it is a waste of money, but not if you pull in 50k a month...

Chameleon
Save your cash and take them somewhere cool and life-changing. 40K could take the whole family to France, or Australia, or something.

That's what the other stacks of $40k are for. The people buying these things ain't poor.

I see it, Emperor Sled ! That thing would prolly tip over like my grandpa at a keg party if Junior tried to cannonball fro mthe top of it.
/what, like you guys never did that?
//or try to swing high enough to wrap the chains around the bar
///them was the good ol' days

I was totally happy building my own forts from cardboard boxes. It was extremely educational as well. I learned spatial dimensions, creativity, etc. Refrigerator boxes were the best.

Anyone else have the ghetto sandbox that was just a huge tire on the ground filled with sand?

Mmm, white trash upbringing.

58 feet long, $40,000, and it'll never be as fun as this:

EmperorSled
Is it just me or does anyone else see a major design flaw with this playset?

That's not a flaw, that adjustable swing chain placement.

/now you can add an XL swing!

Me wantee!

Freezebyte
Hell, I woulda killed another kid to have one of those motorized cars that you can drive back when I was little.

Those aren't toys, they're practice for when the kids grow up and have to drive the little scooters around Wal-Mart so they won't blow out a knee crossing the store.

There is a major league pitcher (middle reliever for the Dodgers right now) who lives in our little town here. The guy has been a pro ball player for nearly 20 years now, and as such has made pretty good bank.....His daughter and my daughter played softball together for a couple of years, and as such I got to know he and his wife fairly well....They built a nice, though not fancy, house out in the country, fairly big custom home with a lot of nice features, no gold plated anything, just nice...Anyway, they installed a playset for their kids complete with the rubberized ground cover and they spent somewhere close to $80,000!!! Thing is fricking HUGE, probably 50' wide, with five or six swings, a two story playhouse, rope bridge to two different turret stands.......It probably takes up 1000 sq. ft. or better....

rocket333d-

Playgrounds suck these days! I was trying to find a see-saw a few weeks back (for nostalgia's sake...), and all I could find were these half-arsed "safety" see-saws. You'd be lucky to get more then 6 inches of the ground with these things.

Part of growing up is getting cuts, scrapes and bruises- and not crying about them!

FTFA But Ruff and others say the five-figure sales are few and far between. And to tell the truth, it's been a tough year for play set sales, according to area retailers.

So basically not many people are buying expensive playsets but you felt the need to write an article about how people are spendings tons of $$$$ on playsets? You should hook up with the writer of the emo article and put out some hair raising non-stories.

Yes, it is pretty stupid for such a short term investment, but... well... these things sound a little dangerous so at least it's better than what kids have been allowed to play with lately.

Reason #145266 why I don't want kids.

Most of these kids will grow up to receive more money from their trust funds than most of us ever could earn through hard work, intelligence, and dedication. And I'm fine with that, I'm no communist. But it pisses me off that the money that gets handed to them will be taxed at a much lower rate than my income.

I have to agree with the box comments above. Large appliance boxes lined up in the yard was a train or a tunnel. We each were given a marker and told to design a box (5 kids, parents must have raided ABC Warehouse) and then the eldest (me) got to carefully cut out each "window" or "porthole" based on the designers instructions. We had awesome castles, rockets and pirate ships to have battles from.

/good times

Doctor Funkenstein: What happened to taking kids to parks?

Too many needles and used condoms on the playground.

That, and the fact that there's always some dumbshiat who brings his/her giant, dumbass kids to the playground and doesn't even bother to keep an eye on them as they trample all the smaller kids and generally just ruin the experience.

""I sold one in Michigan for $12,000," said Henry Ruff, general manager of SugarIsland Play Systems in Sun Prairie. It was the most expensive one he's seen go out the door since he started there in 1989. "I never thought I'd sell anything like that.""

I'd like to know who he found in Michigan with $12000 to spend on a freaking playset. Everyone I know here is broke and losing their homes.... We'd be lucky if we could afford a slab of wood to make a dang tree swing.

Zalan
just like some of those japanese game shows...

Ninja Warrior, FTW!

/Ninja mountain? Now THAT would be worth $40k

fatladysings

Anyone else have the ghetto sandbox that was just a huge tire on the ground filled with sand?

Mmm, white trash upbringing.

If you haven't played in a rusted out abandoned car in someone's yard, then you really haven't had the full white-trash childhood experience. Ah, the scapes that would never heal, the mosquito swarms, the mysterious fluids that would make your skin burn...good times.

CrabCakes42

Indeed. It isn't a see-saw unless you have a hard time getting on or off.

My friend and I once saw this weird shaped one where you actually have to stand up on either end and you're propelled by bouncy tires. We tried it and I thought I was gonna fall off and break my neck. Very fun, but hard to describe.

Any five McMansions I can drive past has got one of those fool things in the back yard. Kids nowhere in sight, but they damn well have somewhere for them to play, assuming the playstation dies a horrible death.

I finally took the plunge and bought a new TV...46" Mitsubishi LCD 1080p.

The kid spends all his time in the box it came in.

/not complaining
//TV rots your brain
///too late for me!

it'd be cheaper to just build one yourself.

You've probably already got the non-union labor...

The fun part is when they have the thing all set up, and the President of the Homeowners Association comes-a-knockin'.

Dr.Jones 2007-05-23 12:39:58 PM
58 feet long, $40,000, and it'll never be as fun as this:

Amen.

$52,000 Pirate Ship you know, for kids!

Can seat 4 adults in the captains quarters.

This hits home with me because I just finished building one of these things for my kids this past weekend. We got the plans, hardware and lumber from Menards for $550. I started cutting the wood to plan on Thursday night, and had it completed by Sunday. I think it's 1200sf of play area. I was really, really impressed with the planning that went into it. When it was all said and done, I only had about 3 ft. worth of lumber left over from the entire build. Also, it's sturdy as hell, and having looked at Rainbow, I saved myself about $3500 and got the same thing.

Two bonuses have come from it since:

1. My kids have been playing on it non-stop since I got it, and this has allowed me to watch what I wanted on TV, instead of Cartoon Network or Noggin.

2. My wife decided we needed to, um, "try out" the swings ourselves after I got it built.

holeinmybucket : exactly what I was going to say. If you have the money, buy what you want. 40k playsets for kids is no big deal if you have millions of dollars. Plus, it's hardly as extravagant and wasteful as multi-millions dollar custom cars and 30 minute trips to space.

However, if you're taking out a mortgage to buy these for your kids, well, maybe you should talk to a financial consultant.

Cripes almighty! For $45,000 it had better come with kids and someone to watch them. And a case of beer. And maybe a nanny with low morals and a thing for drunk old guys...mmmm beer & of-age nannies.....

Kimpak: Build your own, its a hell of a lot cheaper.

That's what I'm going to do next time. I made the mistake of buying a wooden pre-packaged Wal-Mart special for $250. It's already starting to fall apart because of the crappy soft wood they used.

WTF.

when we were kids my dad built us a 'western fort' out of fence pickets so we could play cowboys and indians. It was awesome. He also built us a treehouse in a huge oak in woods behind the house. Those were the days....

my neighbor had one of those rusty metal swingsets you get for like 50 bucks at the harware store.

good times

When I was a child I had a lot of toys because my parents were fairly well off.

One (I was 5 and my sister was 7) day my mother told us "clean up your toys or I'll throw them away." We didn't clean. So she said "clean up your toys or I'll throw them away."

We didn't.

So they all went to the salvation army.

All of them.

Teddy bear included.

She also had our dog put down because it barked too much.

Anywho. I wonder how much of this is just over compensating. These families can buy a $50,000 set but maybe they're not all that great of parents.

/never mess with my mother

bonesdilligaf: I would love to see someone try and go through the monkey bars while someone is swinging...lol

tools...

and where is the rock wall?

Holy crap! That's the exact piece of shiat that I bought!

It's OK for my two-year-old now, but I'm sure it's not going to last.

FilmBELOH20
1. My kids have been playing on it non-stop since I got it, and this has allowed me to watch what I wanted on TV, instead of Cartoon Network or Noggin.

Get Boomarang and you'll have flashbacks to when you were a kid (basically it's the Hanna-Barbara channel)

2. My wife decided we needed to, um, "try out" the swings ourselves after I got it built.

mmmm, dirty child-themed time -wait, is that legal?

I just want to guess what sort of automobiles they drive.

I would never put money into something that big and expensive for a kid. When I was young, I had a bike, a basketball, and a skateboard when I wanted to be outside. Legos, a guitar, and a DOS computer if I wanted to stay inside. I stayed in shape, stayed creative, learned to entertain myself (single child, two working parents), learned an instrument, and learned how to assemble (and disassemble) a computer. Not bad for under two grand.

An expensive playset doesn't make a good kid. It'll probably just make them vain in the long run, always expecting first class service. Some people will give their kids coloring books and teach them to stay within the lines.
Some parents will encourage their kids to color outside the lines to express themselves. I say take away the lines and give the kid a ream of printer paper. Let them draw their own lines. Plus, it's five hundred sheets for about the same price as one of the commercially produced activity books that are only put out to sell toys and movies.

That's not a playset.

http://www.wizkidsgames.com/mwdarkage/mw_article.asp?cid=36984



That's a playset.

damn show offs, cardboard boxes... yadda yadda...

true but at least they can get hurt playing on them - i say this not wishing harm but getting consolation from the fact that that important component of growing up isnt absent lost in the orgy of wild overspending on children

but how about a (manual) merry go round? nothing like centripetal forces sending 9 year olds sliding through the dirty

/dad welded beams for my swings and merry-go-round, biatches

So this is worth 40K?

jakech: As they say, "Kids need your presence more than they need your presents". Sounds to me like there are a lot of guilty parents out there trying to compensate for something.

yeah, they are compensating for the fact that they work 100+ hours a week to pay for stupid stuff like this instead of being home spending time with their kids.

/"look what I just got my kid"
//"bet that put you back a pretty penny."
///"yeah, I'll be working plenty of OT for that, but nothing is too good for my kid."
////"really? try parenting. while you're at work, I'm gonna take my kid fishing"

I'd like to know who he found in Michigan with $12000 to spend on a freaking playset. Everyone I know here is broke and losing their homes.... We'd be lucky if we could afford a slab of wood to make a dang tree swing.

That would be a CEO of something. They still have money to pay those. Just not the people that actually build things.

$$$$$$$$=parenting?

maybe just try being a parent. It might be cheaper and you are less likely to have your childrens photos on the smoking gun in the future with their faces covered in gold paint.

Give 'em a rock, 3 sticks and a used tampon. That's enough toys.

//Nobody got no money in michigan. We all broke!

Sure, $40,000 sounds like a lot of money, but compared to the inconvenience of actually spending time with your kids (hanging out with them, talking to them, going to the park or the zoo or the neighborhood playground - you know, parenting) it's really quite a bargain.

Personally, my son would rather spend a couple hours playing catch with me and shooting the breeze than just about anything. Except play with his Pokemon cards, of course. Or watch Star Wars again.