Line #73 Main/TreehouseOfFun


1	[[quoteright:330:[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dennis_The_Menace_treehouse_5514.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:330:He actually builds this. [[BookDumb Somehow]].]]
3	->''A tree house, a free house,\
4	A secret you and me house,\
5	A high up in the leafy branches\
6	Cozy as can be house.\
7	A street house, a neat house,\
8	Be sure and wipe your feet house\
9	Is not my kind of house at all--\
10	Let's go live in a tree house.''
11	-->-- "Tree House", ''Literature/WhereTheSidewalkEnds'' by Creator/ShelSilverstein
12
13	Treehouses make a great place for kids to hang out. They're located in the great outdoors, provide a high vantage point to watch for parents or rival gangs, and are naturally secluded enough to hide contraband (unapproved comics or magazines) but just close enough to sneak into the kitchen for sandwiches, cookies and lemonade. They make good clubhouses, and "no babies allowed" is an easy enough rule for them to make when they're up so high. Rope ladder optional -- otherwise just nail a ladder of boards to the trunk.
14
15	This trope is prevalent in WesternAnimation, as it provides characters with a kids-only space for play and it contrasts with the conventional interior spaces in the home. The poorer kids might have a basic 2x4 platform crudely nailed up with clapboard sides. A rich kid might have a luxurious, carpenter-build treehouse with windows, curtains and seating.
16
17	Less commonly, adults may build large treehouses.
18
19	Compare ArborealAbode and TreetopTown.
20	----
21	!!Examples:
22
23	[[foldercontrol]]
24
25	[[folder: Comic Books]]
26	* The first issue of Creator/PhilFoglio's revival of ''ComicBook/StanleyAndHisMonster'' revolves around Stanley's attempts to build the world's best ever treehouse, following the instructions in a book of Fun Things For Boys he finds in the attic, without his parents finding out.
27	* In ''ComicBook/CrossingMidnight'', Toshi jumping out of the treehouse that the twins loved playing in so much is how she discovers that she is MadeOfIron.
28	* In one issue of the Reboot ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperheroes'', Spark and Triad, who are on Spark's homeworld, hide out in the Ranzz siblings old treehouse. Triad, who grew up in an OrphanageOfFear, is deeply moved by what it represents, much to Spark's embarassment.
29	[[/folder]]
30
31	[[folder: Comic Strips]]
32	* In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin and Hobbes are in the treehouse a lot. Hobbes gets a lot of mileage out of the fact he's the only one who can climb up without the rope ladder being down, and can force Calvin to do ridiculous, flattering, and humiliating things to access the ladder.
33	* A ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' Sunday strip had Linus startled by a falling plank of wood. He stops and watches as more planks, tools, and eventually Charlie Brown crash down from above, then consoles him on how hard it is to build a treehouse.
34	[[/folder]]
35
36	[[folder: Film -- Live-Action]]
37	* Juliet's [[EthicalSlut sexually liberated]] neighbor Suzy has a decidedly adult version of one in ''Film/JulietOfTheSpirits'', where Suzy entertains male lovers. But her sex house is an actual treehouse, which is in an actual tree, complete with mechanized lift to bring up her boyfriends.
38	* In ''Film/{{Sleepover}}'', Julie and her friends have to sneak out of the house and go into her treehouse, painted in bright pink and yellow.
39	* ''Film/StandByMe'' has the boys hanging out in one of these at the beginning of the film.
40	* ''Film/TheMonsterSquad'' hold their meetings in one.
41	* In the movie version of ''Literature/BridgeToTerabithia'' there is one used by the main characters as refuge place from real life problems.
42	* ''Film/StepBrothers'' features a traditional tree-house enjoyed by the two leads and stocked with an impressive collection of porno magazines from several decades. Eventually replaced by an even cooler tree-house made from the remains of a small boat.
43	* In Disney's ''Film/SwissFamilyRobinson'', the titular family contrives to build one as a home on the island where they're stranded. [[FridgeLogic Why didn't they put their ingenuity and materials toward building a boat?]] RuleOfCool, of course!
44	* Tony has a grown-up's tree house in ''Film/OurBlushingBrides''. The tree house is actually a fully tricked-out apartment with electricity, a fireplace, phone service, and oh yeah, an electric ladder for climbing up.
45	* In ''Film/DennisTheMenace'', Dennis, Joey, and Margaret find an abandoned treehouse in the woods and decide to restore it to its former glory as their own personal hangout. During this time, [[BigBad Switchblade Sam]] steals Margaret's baby doll, and Margaret accuses Dennis and Joey of doing so due to their objection to having a nursery in the treehouse.
46	* ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' has the Ewok village. Based of a Finca Bellavista in UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}}, the Ewoks live in villages suspended in the tall trees of the forest moon of Endor. Bonus points for not only being a village, but also connecting by rope swings and ziplines.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder: Literature]]
50	* The ''Literature/TreehouseSeries'' by Creator/AndyGriffiths and Terry Denton is about two boys who have an elaborate treehouse that includes a library, bedrooms, a bowling alley, and a shark tank. There are numerous sequels, in each of which they add more stories; as of 2019, the most recent is ''The 117-Storey Treehouse''.
51	* George and Harold from ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' hang out in a treehouse most of the time, to the point that all of their comics have a "Treehouse Comix, Inc." logo.
52	* The ''Literature/MagicTreeHouse'' series has two kids, Jack and Annie that go into their magic treehouse and are transported through time.
53	* Rush Melendy builds himself one in Elizabeth Enright's ''The Four-Story Mistake'' and it's also in ''Then There Were Five.''
54	* In Doris Fein's ''Literature/AndrewHenrysMeadow'', Andrew Henry builds one for a friend, though not for himself.
55	* From Creator/ShelSilverstein's ''Literature/WhereTheSidewalkEnds'', "Tree House" talks about how wonderful a treehouse is, contrasting it against a street house where people have to be neat.
56	-->A tree house, a free house,\
57	A secret you and me house,\
58	A high up in the leafy branches\
59	Cozy as can be house.\
60	A street house, a neat house,\
61	Be sure and wipe your feet house\
62	Is not my kind of house at all--\
63	Let's go live in a tree house.
64	* ''Literature/TruthOrDare2000'': In 1959, the Jordan siblings became obsessed with aliens and pretended their treehouse was a starship.
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder: Live Action TV]]
68	* The live action ''Series/TheBradyBunch'' briefly had a treehouse too, just long enough for Bobby to sprain his ankle climbing up, developing a fear of heights.
69	* ''Series/BarneyAndFriends'' features a treehouse which debuted in season 3 and was renovated and put to extensive use throughout the next three seasons.
70	* Cory moves into his treehouse in the pilot of ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' because his brother betrays him and his parents take his brother's side.
71	* Creator/AnimalPlanet has a series called ''Treehouse Masters'' that follows a team of treehouse builders. As these are professionals working for adult clients, the treehouses can get ''very'' elaborate; including things like multiple stories, lighting, and plumbing for kitchen or bathroom areas.
72	* ''Series/GoodLuckCharlie'':
73	** In the episode, "Up A Tree", Bob makes a deal with Mrs. Dabney to cut down the [[ChildhoodMemoryDemolitionTeam tree branch that holds up P.J. and Teddy's childhood treehouse]] so that she will bring her noisy dog [[spoiler:that she was pet-sitting for a neighbor]] inside at night. Teddy, however, doesn't want Charlie to miss out on the experience, so she, with the help of the rest of the family, protests against Bob. Towards the end of the episode, Bob surrenders and joins the rest of the family in the treehouse. The treehouse collapses from their combined weight, but they rebuild the treehouse.
74	** In the semi-final episode, "Down A Tree", P.J. is unable to afford the rent for his and Emmett's apartment, so he moves into the treehouse and makes Gabe promise not to tell Amy. Gabe keeps his promise, but Amy finds out anyway when she finds an extension cord that power's P.J.'s electronic devices. After the rest of the family (barring Charlie and Toby) talk to P.J. about how [[AnAesop he shouldn't be afraid to ask his parents for help in dire situations]], their combined weight once again causes the treehouse to collapse.
75	* ''Series/TheGoodNightShow'' has the You and Me Tree, introduced in 2011's sixth season.
76	* In the ''Series/JonathanCreek'' episode "The Scented Room", the appalling Sylvester Le Fley and Lady Cutler, upon learning that their LonelyRichKid son wants a treehouse, install a metal box in a tree, with a lift so he doesn't get dirty climbing. He is not impressed.
77	* ''Series/PunkyBrewster'' features a huge treehouse, complete with a pulley to bring up Brandon the dog, behind Punky's and Cherie's apartment building. (The same treehouse still exists when Punky and her kids live in the building, although one episode of the short-lived ''Series/PunkyBrewster2021'' reboot centers around its desperate need for renovation.)
78	[[/folder]]
79
80	[[folder: Tabletop Games]]
81	* ''TabletopGame/{{Toon}}'' has a setting called "Toony Tykes Adventures" for fans of stuff like ''Calvin and Hobbes'', ''ComicStrip/LittleLulu'' and the like. One of the scenarios features the "Treehouse of Doom", a super-awesome treehouse designed with input from actual kids.
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder: Video Games]]
85	* Click Clock Wood in ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' features a treehouse in different stages of completion, throughout the various versions of the world. If you go in it once it's finished, you can find a [[PlotCoupon Jiggy.]]
86	* The HubLevel[=/=]menu screen for the first world of ''VideoGame/ABoyAndHisBlob'' (Wii) is a treehouse. A really ''epic'' treehouse, with three stories as well as a lookout.
87	* Subverted by ''VideoGame/CosmicOsmo''. In the middle of a ''universe'' of fun, the treehouse is "a place of relaxation" with nothing but a hot beverage dispenser and some teacups on a picnic table.
88	* One of the earlier {{edutainment}} computer games had a treehouse. There was a chalkboard you could draw on, and a telescope you could look through, a few links to mini-games and some 'just for fun' clicky-things. It was neat, for the time, but really quickly you tended to run through the limits of what you could do.
89	* ''VideoGame/{{Limbo}}'' has lots of treehouses. How fun they are, are left up to the player's imagination.
90	** The kids who live in them seem to be having fun, at least.
91	* The PC game ''The Treehouse'' is all about this.
92	* ''Videogame/HeartOfDarkness'' - A boy keeps his spaceship in his treehouse, along with many other fun things.
93	[[/folder]]
94
95	[[folder: Webcomics]]
96	* The duo of ''Webcomic/SuicideForHire'' run their questionable business out of their old treehouse. The "fun" part is for them, as the door for customers is lined with booby traps.
97	* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' has a strip claiming some part of the artist's brain is always dedicated to "planning the ultimate treehouse". He has plans in his room that, at least according to that page, he'll giddily invite someone to see.
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder: Western Animation]]
101	* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' has Mighty Pete, a tree that Helga's father Big Bob wanted to tear down to put a Big Bob's Beepers chain in its place, but in the end, the kids and Arnold's grandma saved the tree.
102	* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS2E12Clubhouses Clubhouses]]" had the kids building a treehouse to play Truth or Dare in. Randy and Sharon both remembering playing in a treehouse is part of the subplot.
103	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Bart Simpson has a Treehouse of Fun, which occasionally turned into a [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E3TreehouseOfHorror Treehouse of Horror]]. It has a trapdoor entrance which comes in handy when Marge serves as a police officer in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E23TheSpringfieldConnection The Springfield Connection]]".
104	** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E25WhoShotMrBurnsPartOne Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part One]]", the actions of Burns' oil drilling company cause the treehouse to be blown to smithereens.
105	** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E14DasBus Das Bus]]", the kids imagine living in one while stranded on the island. When Bart and Nelson attempt to actually build it, however, the result is described by Milhouse as "kinda ''really'' crummy". Bart, in the tree's defense, says, "When Monsoon Season comes, you'll be glad it's there." The treehouse promptly collapses.
106	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Timmy Turner had a treehouse.
107	* The title characters of ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' rebuilt their's and Candace's treehouses in "Tree to Get Ready", with an additional feature to [[TransformingMecha transform into battling robots]]. Notable for being one of the few times Candace actually has fun with her brothers instead of trying to get them in trouble.
108	* The kids of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' often are seen in their treehouse, or a "clubhouse".
109	* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' has a huge, sky-scraping monstrosity of a treehouse as not only a clubhouse, but a secret headquarters, one of many across the globe. The KND even have a tree house ''on the Moon''; after [[spoiler:it gets lost to a ColonyDrop in TheMovie]], they build a BIGGER one.
110	* ''WesternAnimation/TheBradyKids'' in the BandToon of ''Series/TheBradyBunch'' were often seen in their treehouse.
111	* The treehouse from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has got to take the cake: it's [[KidHero Finn]] and [[NonHumanSidekick Jake]]'s actual home, built into a hollowed-out tree with numerous rooms connected by ladders. Also, it was apparently built by a vampire.
112	** [[http://images.wikia.com/adventuretimewithfinnandjake/images/3/37/House_breakdown.jpg Here's]] a breakdown of the treehouse.
113	* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Twilight Sparkle lives in an apartment at Ponyville's Golden Oak Library, which is built into a large tree. Also, in "The Show Stoppers", Applejack lets Apple Bloom and her friends use her old tree-house as a clubhouse for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. It's a mess when they first find it, but Apple Bloom manages to fix it up.
114	** This event is why most people agree her talent is carpentry or craftsmanship.
115	-->'''Applejack:''' It's a bit broken down, but all it needs is a little TLC!
116	-->'''Scootaloo:''' Tender Loving Care or Totally Lost Cause?
117	* The treehouse in ''WesternAnimation/MyPetMonster'' had a {{surprise slide staircase}}.
118	* T.J. owns one in ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}''. It features most prominently in TheMovie, ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut''.
119	* WesternAnimation/TheLittleRascals have a treehouse with an elevator which they operate with a rope and pulley.
120	* The ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "Virt-Ed-Go" has the Eds build their own treehouse after seeing an advertisement for Joe's Clubhouse. Then the Kanker sisters commandeer it.
121	* WesternAnimation/TomTerrific's "world headquarters" is a treehouse.
122	* [[MountainMan Buckle]] from ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' lives in one of these, having learnt how to build one from his time as a Disney Imagineer.
123	* In the ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' episode "Treehouse Observatory", the kids build their own treehouse which serves as a hangout for them and an observatory.
124	* ''WesternAnimation/HarveyStreetKids'': The Bloogey Boys have a treehouse as their clubhouse, and they are very reluctant to let anyone else in.
125	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' episode, "[[Recap/RugratsS7E2AngeliconDilsBinkieBigBrotherChuckie Angelicon]]", Stu and Chas build a treehouse in Chuckie's backyard for the babies to play in, but Angelica wants it all to herself, leading to a ''Franchise/KingKong'' parody. A Kid's Meal promotion from Burger King tied in with this episode, with eight different toys that formed a different part of the treehouse.
126	* Most of the characters in Disney's ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' cartoons live in a house that involves a tree in some way. Usually it's inside the hollow trunk of one (even Rabbit's hole has a "back door" in a tree that was retconned into his front door by ''[[WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh The New Adventures]]''); but Owl lives in a proper house-shaped house nestled into the branches of a tree. Or he did, until the whole tree blew over in a windstorm. In ''The New Adventures'', Tigger's home is also introduced, and it's a much more traditional makeshift treehouse.
127	[[/folder]]
128
129	[[folder: Other]]
130	* Ride/DisneyThemeParks:
131	** All of the main "Magic Kingdom"-style parks have an elaborate treehouse placed in Adventureland. The one in California was originally based on the one from ''Film/SwissFamilyRobinson'', and this style carried over to the parks in Florida, Paris, and Tokyo. But in 1999, the California treehouse was revised to be ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}''-themed instead, and this design was the one brought over to Hong Kong Disneyland. The California one was later remodeled ''again'' between 2021 and 2023, becoming the Adventureland Treehouse "inspired by" ''Swiss Family Robinson''.
132	** The Mickey's Toontown area in Tokyo Disneyland also includes WesternAnimation/ChipAndDale's house built into the trunk of a tree (the Toontown in the California park used to have it, but it was removed in 2022 when the land was renovated).
133	* As mentioned in Website/TheOtherWiki Treehouses have become popular recently has serious homes and architectural projects. They also have practical uses in tropical regions like New Guinea to protect the dwellers from the elements. They are also eco-friendly, reducing the need to make a clearing for the home.
134	[[/folder]]

Context Main / TreehouseOfFun