Sand/water table recommendations

I've been wanting to buy my boys a sand/water table for awhile now. I won some $ playing poker last night(dh and I have a weekly tournament at our house), and I was thinking of getting the boys a sand/water table. I've read some reviews-but I thought all of you ladies were the best reviewers! I'd like to stay under $60 if that's possible. We have a nice deck it can go on in the summertime, and I hope they love it as it will be a great distraction when the new baby comes!

So-pros and cons of the ones you have? Thanks!

 

DON'T DO IT! How's that for a review. Wait for sand till they are a little older! It's seriously a HUGE MESS!!!

 

We have them as 2 separate units. We have a Step 2 sand table that my MIL got at Aldi's at a great price (I think $40). And we have a waterwheel table that I got for $20 at TRU. I like separate so everything doesn't end up as mud. We live near the lake and they get their sand and water mix at the beach.

 

We have this one. Reading the reviews, I must be the oddball :crazy: , because I hate it! The legs come completely off and it's always a struggle to get it sitting right.

 

QUOTE(becky5 @ Jan 19 2009, 12:25 PM) [snapback]1153043[/snapback]
We have this one. Reading the reviews, I must be the oddball :crazy: , because I hate it! The legs come completely off and it's always a struggle to get it sitting right.


We have this one and love it. I guess everyone has a different experience with these. At first, we put sand OR water in both sides to minimize messes (they got it when they were 15 months old). Now we can do sand and water and they don't make as big a mess (mainly it's from splashing in the water part...mine don't seem as fascinated with the sand).

 

I agree with PP - NO SAND!!! It gets everywhere. We don't even have a sand box, it is at our neighbors house - but there was sand everywhere all summer!! If you can find a fun water table or even a shallow pool - that is entertainment!! Get some heavy duty solid plastic animals (some float, some sink, some squirt) a couple of buckets and that is hours of entertainment!!

 

QUOTE(Babies4Susan @ Jan 19 2009, 04:22 PM) [snapback]1153035[/snapback]
We have them as 2 separate units. We have a Step 2 sand table that my MIL got at Aldi's at a great price (I think $40). And we have a waterwheel table that I got for $20 at TRU. I like separate so everything doesn't end up as mud. We live near the lake and they get their sand and water mix at the beach.

I agree with this, especially as young as yours are, separate just works better. I wouldn't say don't do sand at all-I've done plenty of sand play with children under two-but I would make it an outside only thing if you don't want loads of sweeping! Another idea would be to get just a water table now and then later on you could invest in a sand pit/box they can sit in (those make less mess in my experience).