[...] out: *Another parent’s point of view *An affordable children’s museum SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Museums for Kids: Are [...]

Your CTC idea is excellent. Their costs have always been prohibitive to us, as are most other theater productions. I looked into Cirque du Soleil and couldn’t believe the cost. I have a hard time paying that much for just a couple of hours of entertainment.

I’d love to take my kids to the theater, however. We’re fortunate to have a college nearby that puts on annual children’s productions, and deals like you mentioned would be distinct possibilities.

Old Log Theater has a summer production this year as well, and I think GoCityKids has a coupon so that tickets are only $10. We’re thinking about doing that with friends.

I’m a new reader and assume you’re from MN from this post… anyways, I was on an email list for the CTC since I homeschooled last year. They had 7.00 tickets to Peter Pan last year (in the middle of the day, in the smaller theatre) so we took advantage!

At this point we have four boys under the age of ten. I, too want to expose them to a lot of theatre but it is expensive. Mary Poppins is coming to St. Paul in September, but just for me and the boys to go at the cheapest time (Sunday night @ 6:30) it would be almost 100.00! That’s like going to 2-3 CTC plays!

So try to get on that email list for great last minute low-priced tickets, it was a lot of fun!

Thanks for the info about Stages. I’ll look into that. I’ve been wanting to take the kids to a play but the price usually keeps me away.

And yes, there are plenty of Underwater Adventures coupons out there. If you want to go, be sure to find a discount of some kind.

Also, check out the Stages Theatre Company in Hopkins. They have better prices on tickets and all their shows are about an hour long children’s productions. We love it! They also have BOGO coupons in the Entertainment book, frequently email coupons if you are on their list and sometimes pass out coupons fo the next show when you attend another. Plus they have the Flex Pass, which comes down to $11/ticket and parking in the lot across the road is free.

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Still, we didn’t go — because we had so little time left that, even with the discounts, it wasn’t worth the price.

The Mall of America also has free family movies on Saturdays. http://www.theatresmoa.com/events.htm (Scroll down past the unfortunately placed Hooters ad.)

For Disneyland, we discovered that the cheapest Southern California pass was cheaper than buying tickets for three days at Disneyland. We enjoyed our three days, and now have a fun outing for school holidays as well (They aren’t good on the weekend). When it comes to Disneyland, I’ve heard if you don’t hit it in the off season you’re wasting your money. We have enjoyed a lot of fun days with very few lines (our big trip was in early December). I had friends visit during spring break last week… they ended up riding ONLY ONE RIDE due to the lines!

Here in San Diego there is a Go Card that offers lots of fun attractions and good value. Sea World also has a fun card promotion…pay for a day, and you have a pass that’s good for the rest of the year (parking not included). Balboa Park has a different set of museums free every Tuesday, so that’s where you’ll find us Tuesdays in the summer. San Diego Museums aren’t very big and they aren’t really great for more than a few hours of fun, so I haven’t gone the membership route yet. I’m still thinking about it. If I lived in San Jose it would be a different story. They have an awesome Children’s Museum, Tech Museum, etc.

My other piece of themepark advice is don’t pay for anything except for admission: bring your own food, try to avoid buying souvenirs or have your kids spend their own allowance. Make sure you pack sweatshirts, sunscreen, etc. Get creative with lodging…for our Disneyland trip we stayed at a timeshare and endured a presentation…great accomodations little cost. Stay with a friend. For Vegas, we are cashing in Amex points.

There are many ways to save on family fun, museum visits, theme parks, zoos, hikes. A little planning can make every adventure a little more affordable even for a larger family.

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A Disney cruise is one thing we actually have considered, for the reasons you’ve mentioned, plus we’ve heard they’re really good about food allergies on Disney. If we ever do go see Mickey, there’s a good chance that it would be attached to a cruise.

Thanks for weighing in. (And, to help me find more local things to do with the kids, I’m hoping my copy of your book is in the mailbox today!)

On the other hand, we really get a bang for our buck on memberships. Usually single-museum memberships would pay for themselves with only two visits per year from our family. Find one that includes reciprocity to other museums, and we’ve got it made.

Family size is kind of interesting to think of in terms of travel. When you think about restaurants, airfare, or tickets, the more you kids you have, the more you pay. Yet it doesn’t cost us any more to drive four kids than one, or to stay in a motel room (unless we require a larger car or larger hotel room because of it).

It’s not easy to make the decisions on what the value of a dollar is, and it’s an issue that every family sees differently.

Nowadays the kids are older, so the entertainment is different, and in many ways cheaper. They like to go to the movies, and don’t mind going at matinees ($5 versus $8). Since the EP theater is attached to the EP mall, we can bring in food court purchases, which taste better and are far cheaper than the movie theater offerings. I’ve trained them to request video rentals via Netflix rather than the video store. Stuff like that. My kids are old enough to bike to Dairy Queen in the summer for an ice cream cone, saving me the trip, not tempting me to buy something, plus they get exercise (it’s about an 8-mile roundtrip).

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