justamouse Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Maybe they aren't maybe it's just the size of my family. For us to see a Shakespeare production it would cost me 170. For us to go the Ren Faire it would be 100. When I was a teen I used to go to this stuff all the time, at least three times a summer to the ren faire and every play I could get in. And I hate that I can't make this a part of the kid's summer. I feel like because it was so affordable back then I had a richer education. Do y'all hit the summer circuit plays and ren faires? /whine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brilliant Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 (edited) We are so lucky to have EXCELLENT free and cheap entertainment in Southern California. Yes, there are overpriced events - I posted a couple of months ago about how much it would cost our family to go see Journey and sit on the GROUND! But we have free Shakespeare by several companies (we usually see 2 plays). There are free outdoor concerts - this summer we have already seen country and classical and surfer 60s rock (at 3 different venues). And we have a service called Goldstar that sells half-price tickets to many events - it's nationwide but only in certain cities so you might want to see if they have anything in your city. Also talk to people in your area, and check the newspaper or online for free/cheap events. I feel your pain and hope you get to do some fun stuff with your family!! Edited July 18, 2011 by OC Mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meriwether Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 I only have 4 kids and some are young enough to still get into things free, but I hear you on the price per things that make having a bigger famiy more expensive. Energy bills don't change that much whether you have 2 kids or 12. Kids can wear hand-me-downs. Buying a movie to watch at home costs the same for 1 person or 10. But movie tickets? Theme park tickets? Eating out? There are some things we just don't do because it is a lot per person. Would some of your kids be more interested in doing one or the other? Maybe Dad could take some kids to one activity and Mom could take some kids to another. I'd hate doing that, though, I like doing things with the whole family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 We are fortunate to have a touring Shakespeare company coming practically to our doorstep in a couple of weeks, for a free performance on the courthouse lawn. During the school year, there is a stage company - Arts on Stage - that does school performances and are fine with homeschoolers. Tickets are cheap. The Annapolis Opera does a couple kids performances for reasonable rates each season, too. But, yeah, going to even a matinee theater show is horrible, and we've written off the Renaissance Festival and Fairy Festival pretty much permanently at this point. I know people with multiple kids who do one or the other multiple times. I don't know how they do it at all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpidarkomama Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Not with our family of 6! But we find plenty of free or very inexpensive things to do. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 Ok, I'm searching for more free stuff. There HAS to be something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiseOwlKnits Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Look into homeschool days for the Ren Faire. All of them in TX have homeschool days...they're just not heavily advertised. We went last year to the one near Houston that's huge and paid $8/ticket to get in. Plus they let us bring in drinks and lunches, which they don't normally do. It was awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 I hear you! We're going to San Diego later this week and I looked into visiting the zoo. I couldn't believe that it's $40 per adult and $30 per child :eek: Our local zoo only charges $95 for a year-long family membership. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeeBeaks Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I hear you! We're going to San Diego later this week and I looked into visiting the zoo. I couldn't believe that it's $40 per adult and $30 per child :eek: Our local zoo only charges $95 for a year-long family membership. It's only like $30 for a yearly pass to the zoo for a child here in San Diego so that is truly awful. There are discount coupons around the city here in various places though if determined to go. The rest of Balboa Park (where the zoo is located) has less expensive things for families though so look into that, including a free art museum (Timkin) in Balboa Park. Edited and go distracted - Yes, we find it hard too with a larger family for some things. But, like someone else posted, we too have Junior Theater Productions or more affordably priced shows. The library reading program gives out mid-week baseball game tickets and so forth. And my kids love the beach - that is still free here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommaduck Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Like you, we can't afford it due to family size. Even the local museum, we've found that if we pay the $100 for a yearly family membership, that is cheaper than paying over $100 for our family to go in on one visit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-M- Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 (edited) It's just four of us here now, and it was $176.35 for our tickets to The Winter's Tale at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. (Tickets purchased through Ticketmaster.) The Bristol Renaissance Faire tickets are $17.95 if purchased in advance (online), $19.95 at the gate, so it's about $80 for a family of four, unless you catch an online coupon or special. By the time you add food and participation in the myriad activities, rides, games, and attractions (which are described online as "for a small fee" -- SNORT! A small fee? My capacious behind!), though, you arrive at an amount that makes the price I paid for tickets to West Side Story (Broadway in Chicago / Cadillac Palace) look reasonable. Which, to be clear, it wasn't. But we are stoked, anyway. (*wry grin*) So, yes, to answer your question, we go to summer theater offerings (i.e., the Illinois Shakespeare Festival) and the Renaissance Faire. We also attend concerts and plays (and, more recently, opera) during the regular season. We "trim the fat" in other places to make it work, it's that important to us. I know many people talk about free performances in or near their communities, but since leaving the city, we've found the quality of those to be somewhat -- to be kind -- lacking. In my experience -- and folks know I favor live over recorded performances -- a high-quality recorded performance is infinitely preferable to a mediocre community theater performance. Both are free. Spend time with the one that enriches your appreciation of the arts. We learned that lesson years ago when we saw a staged Nutcracker that would have made Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, swoon. It took the American Ballet Theater's Swan Lake to wash the taste of that out of mouths. Heh, heh, heh. If we lived near a four-year college or university, I'm betting we would have access to better free and deeply discounted fare, but we do not. If you do, check into those to see what might be available. And to address your final sentences... you know, I didn't experience any of these things with my family when I was younger. Well, that's not entirely true: I did attend two Broadway plays with my mother's club, one in my junior year, the other in my senior. Honestly, though, the remainder of my exposure to the fine and performing arts was through my high school. And that exposure was somewhat limited. In college, though, my world grew. And grew. It grew more when we married and relocated just outside the Philadelphia area. And still more during graduate school. It wasn't until I moved to Chicago, though, and began teaching my own children that I began to feel like anything even approximating an omnivore. My point, and there is one, is that while it is a Very Good Thing to give children an education in the fine and performing arts, they do, after all -- as I did -- have a lifetime in which to explore. In other words, if for some reason, one can't get her students to quality live performances now, one need only expose them to excellent recordings, to school them in the existence and value of the arts. The students will, in time, have the resources for further exploration, whether in college or in their adult lives. Edited July 19, 2011 by Mental multivitamin Clarity and link error Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-M- Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Prior to last night's performance, one of the board members took the stage to remind the audience that ticket sales account for about thirty percent of any theater organization's operating budget. The remaining funds come from other sources, including grants, patrons, and business donors. In this economic climate, the availability of grants and the generosity of patrons of business donors are, by necessity, shrinking, shrinking, shrinking. But economic constraints aside, I don't remember that tickets have ever been anything less than expensive. I mean, sure, if you sit in the nose-bleed section. But good seats to good events cost good money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 We do season tickets to get deals. If you happen to be under 35, a lot of theater organizations - at least around here - have sort of secret deals on cheaper tickets sometimes. And, of course, free Shakespeare is always good. We just reserved our seats to Julius Caesar at the Shakespeare Theater so the kids can come too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 I hear you! We're going to San Diego later this week and I looked into visiting the zoo. I couldn't believe that it's $40 per adult and $30 per child :eek: Our local zoo only charges $95 for a year-long family membership. I've found that the family memberships to the local zoos are about what we would pay for a visit, too. We're lucky to have an incredible one. Like you, we can't afford it due to family size. Even the local museum, we've found that if we pay the $100 for a yearly family membership, that is cheaper than paying over $100 for our family to go in on one visit. Perhaps they plan it that way-or are they planning on patrons with 2.5? We also attend concerts and plays (and, more recently, opera) during the regular season. We "trim the fat" in other places to make it work, it's that important to us. And to address your final sentences... you know, I didn't experience any of these things with my family when I was younger. Well, that's not entirely true: I did attend two Broadway plays with my mother's club, one in my junior year, the other in my senior. Honestly, though, the remainder of my exposure to the fine and performing arts was through my high school. And that exposure was somewhat limited. In college, though, my world grew. And grew. It grew more when we married and relocated just outside the Philadelphia area. And still more during graduate school. It wasn't until I moved to Chicago, though, and began teaching my own children that I began to feel like anything even approximating an omnivore. My point, and there is one, is that while it is a Very Good Thing to give children an education in the fine and performing arts, they do, after all -- as I did -- have a lifetime in which to explore. In other words, if for some reason, one can't get her students to quality live performances now, one need only expose them to excellent recordings, to school them in the existence and value of the arts. The students will, in time, have the resources for further exploration, whether in college or in their adult lives. I know, I know. But but but, I like seeing it click. When we're reading a play and even with enthusiasm it's not coming together, then watch the movie and there's a lilttle bit more understanding, but then the theater and it all falls into place. They get it. It's not an exercise in futility anymore. re: Omnivore-read Bowling Alone. I'm reading it now and it's all about how we, as a nation, are not much into civic responsibility anymore. It could easily translate to why we don't patronize the arts anymore. The community college is sponsoring free concerts on the green which is good, and I have found some reduced tickets to children's theater. I'm actually looking into starting a Friends of the Library for our branch to bring more to us. *fingers crossed*. I'm going to talk to a local attny this week (Ok, she's my neighbor) and see what we can cook up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 This is why we are uneducated in the arts in this house. :glare: Although sometimes they have Shakespeare at the library or the park! Aquarium yearly pass is really cheap here, at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-M- Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I know, I know. But but but, I like seeing it click. When we're reading a play and even with enthusiasm it's not coming together, then watch the movie and there's a lilttle bit more understanding, but then the theater and it all falls into place. They get it. It's not an exercise in futility anymore. I, too, enjoy "seeing it click," which is why we spend so much time and treasure on performances and tickets, respectively, but there is no "click" with mediocre live productions. In fact, quite the opposite may occur -- which was my point: If, for some reason (e.g., cost), it is difficult to make live productions a part of a student's experience, one should opt for quality recorded performances over poor live performances, even if those performances are free or deeply discounted. re: Omnivore-read Bowling Alone. I have. I'm actually looking into starting a Friends of the Library for our branch to bring more to us. *fingers crossed*. Wishing you much success! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 I, too, enjoy "seeing it click," which is why we spend so much time and treasure on performances and tickets, respectively, but there is no "click" with mediocre live productions. In fact, quite the opposite may occur -- which was my point: If, for some reason (e.g., cost), it is difficult to make live productions a part of a student's experience, one should opt for quality recorded performances over poor live performances, even if those performances are free or deeply discounted. You are right. Horrible performances are a chore to sit through and ruin the experience for them, making them hate it all the more. You're right, I know. Wishing you much success! Thank you! I'll have to budget this in. It's just a very hard year. Grumble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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