Costco blog/discussion forum

Summer is coming and the kids need a place to play. Costco Warehouses and Costco.com are offering the Sunray Premium Play Ground System Model 2008 (Costco Item #738285). It seems that every year Costco offers one of these systems, last year it was the Sunray Model 2007.

This includes a big enclosed fort with a decorative chimney, three swings, a rope ladder, a tic-tac-toe panel, a picnic table, and a rock wall for climbing.

The manufacturer of the Costco play yard is Sunray Premium Play Ground Systems. This is just a different name for Rainbow Play Systems, Inc. Check out the Rainbow Play web site for a whole catalog of play systems similar to the Sunray 2008 model.

Rainbow Play Systems is a leading manufacturer of children's playground equipment. They have a huge 130 acre manufacturing facility in Brookings, South Dakota, where they make these play yards. These are then exclusively marketed through a network of showrooms in the US, Europe, and Latin America.

One advantage of buying a play system through a Rainbow showroom is that they typically also offer delivery and installation services. Of course, buying through it through Costco is going to give you a better price, but you'll need a truck and a weekend to install it.

I found this item, Sunray Model 2008, for $1399.99, at my local warehouse. You can order it from Costco.com for $1699.99, with shipping and handling included.