At the Circus

Through some coupons dropped off at the school, we found out about a circus coming locally. We had never been to the circus with the kids before... so we thought it would be fun to take them! Especially since we had coupons!!!

We didn't just have a coupon, we had 6 coupons! Of course it doesn't take a genius to realize that the circus attempts to get you into the door (using a free kid promotion) to work their "magic" to make their money.

We had kept the circus a secret from the kids just in case something didn't work out... the days can be unpredictable right now! But the morning of the circus, Anna was in my room and found the coupons!! I think the kids were excited to find out "the secret". They had very mixed emotions...

Chris was ecstatic about going.... tigers, canons... you name it, he was ready to see it!
Anna was terrified that she could possibly be remotely close to a clown!

{real}

Of course once we got there, we were hit with the money-making stuff. And that's when the "give me's" began! The excitement of all the cool things they would see, or that we got to pick up Daddy early and get the whole evening together was from that point overshadowed with all the "stuff" they wanted.

This picture captures the emotions... Nate not sure what is going on, yet! ( I was really worried he wasn't going to like being inside a dark tent.... do you blame him!!!)  Anna keeping a worried watch for any clowns. Chris grumpy about not getting toy he had seen. Lydia looking around soo much she couldn't get into the picture. And Brian.... LOL!! Taking a picture for the team with a smile :)

We are pretty strict on how we "splurge"! I mean there are some areas and places it's easy to be frugal!! But $8 elephant rides around in a circle once... yikes that is steep!

Nate's 1st time seeing an elephant in real life... wasn't scared a bit!

{pretty}

The actual performances were good. 

{happy}

I loved seeing the kids' (and Brian's) faces.... wonder!

Yes, the paci made a "cami appearance" !

{funny}

How cheap our seats really were! The passes we had were to get the kids in free. Brian had a free adult pass and then the kids had a $5 adult coupon attached to the bottom of their coupons. So all of us got into the circus for $14!!!

We were in bleachers on folding chairs with poles right in front of us!! Not the best view...

in fact Brian mentioned that had we done a little more "looking into the seating"  we would have considered purchasing the up-grade, of course it would have doubled our ticket prices. It would have been nice not to dodge the pole, but it worked out fine!

It was fun! The kids talked about it for days and even did some writing about it for school the next day!

And we had some good talks about using money... some about spending wisely and some about saving. And about how people use situations and words to try to get us to purchase more.... like commercials or the ring master saying a few times how much more fun the circus would be with a $15 light up sword! Or when he says "everyone loves a pony ride... you can't come to circus without a pony ride!"

If we go to the circus again, we'll be better prepared for the "give me's". Like talking to the kids before hand. Or having them save money before they go (or us giving them some) to spend on what they'd like ... or save it!