Fair Bound
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
United States
August 31, 2012 9:36am CST
At this time of year we have so many county fairs happening. There have been 3 in our area already. This weekend we are venturing to one that we have gone to for the past 2 years. My husband loves to play horseshoes and will enter the tournament. He never wins, but it isn't all about winning.
We take a little money with us and look around the vendors and food booths. We seek out the free shows and enjoy them as well. Last year we spent over $50 for food alone and I told my husband we would be bringing our own drinks and food if we attended again.
So tomorrow I will pack sandwiches and a lot of cold drinks. These will be kept in a cooler in our vehicle. When we are hungry we will walk back to the vehicle and have a little picnic lunch and grab another drink to carry with us.
There will be fireworks on Saturday night and we will stay late enough to view those. The cost for the entire day should be less than $35. We do like to get a hot dog and drink at the 4H booth which has very reasonable prices. And of course let's not forget the overpriced fried dough! Hubby has to have at least 2 of those artery cloggers.
When going to the fair, do you go all out and spend money like there were no tomorrow? Or are you frugal and bring your own meals?
3 people like this
12 responses
@much2say (56363)
• Los Angeles, California
31 Aug 12
It's interesting you posted this today. Earlier this morning there was a notice in my email about a Groupon deal for our county fair and I grabbed it!! I always like to save on admissions to anywhere - to lessen the cost of the day period (and we need it for a family of 4!). The last time we went was before kids - this is the first year we will be going with our little kids. I know my kids will want tons of snacks, for sure we will be packing stuff up!! But knowing their dad, he will splurge to buy the kids a "special" snack anyway. I know it's going to be super hot when we go (it's always been that way), so I'm not sure what all we will bring . . . I don't want to lug around too many ice packs in my backpack as it may not last and it gets too heavy. I personally like to save as much as we can - so definitely I'm not about blowing money at the fair!
1 person likes this
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
2 Sep 12
Someone had posted on Facebook that they had a groupon available and I should have nabbed it. I am always trying to cut corners. We did find the 4-H booth that was selling inexpensive food. There was a vendor selling cans of soda for $1 and that was reasonable too, even though still expensive in my book!
@chrystalia (1208)
• Tucson, Arizona
1 Sep 12
our county fair is my one indulgence-- I save my small change all year, as I am normally frugal (I'm A FARMER/WRITER, I have to be!). But at the fair-- i buy arts and crafts, ride all the rides, see at least 2 concerts, and stuff myself on fair food. the 2 or three days I go cost me and the other half about 200.00 but it's our one big fling all year.Any other event it's bargain day and snacks in the cooler for sure.
1 person likes this
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
31 Aug 12
I took my granddaughter to our county fair and spent over $80.00...but that was for entrance fee and I had a reserved ticket to see the show that night....the rest was food! Yup....between the two of us the balance was spent on fair food...but well worth it!
1 person likes this
@sender621 (14893)
• United States
1 Sep 12
My area just wrapped up its big fair week We have another one coming up on soon . There are are so many activitiies and sights to see at the fair. it can be a goood time for families to come together and share.
@sweetplayer10512 (44)
• Philippines
1 Sep 12
I think that is a wise decision to just pack some foods and bring your own drink in fair then spend some cash on stuff that you just wanna try or love to it. Whenever me and my family go out for fairs, we bring our lunch, snacks and our drinks, there are good factor in bringing foods first, there are no sanity issues, second you don't need to wait in line just to buy some cold drinks (that was our problem before, we are in a crowded area and buying foods will takes tooo long) and last is that you can control the money you will spend for that day. To have a limit in spending while in fair is a good thing as long as it won't ruin the fun, me and my niece love to try some food and game booths, so its okey to spend as long as its not "like there is no tomorrow" and at the end of the day we are all happy.
1 person likes this
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
10 Sep 12
I refuse to pay $4.00 for a cup of coffee on principle. If that makes me frugal so be it.
I prefer to take my own sandwiches and coffee and cool water because of health reasons as well as the cost factor. These places do charge an arm and a leg for the simplest food. If it were not for the fact that entry is free we would not travel 200klms to get to our annual fair at all.
I prefer to take my own sandwiches and coffee and cool water because of health reasons as well as the cost factor. These places do charge an arm and a leg for the simplest food. If it were not for the fact that entry is free we would not travel 200klms to get to our annual fair at all. 
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
31 Aug 12
I guess you could say that I'm somewhere in the middle.
Up until recently I hadn't been to the fair in 20 years. I finally went to the CA state fair that was held in July with my youngest. Although I didn't mean to, I spent a bit more than I wanted to. On the plus side admission was half price on the day we went as well the all day wrist bands. So my son and I were able to go on as many rides as we wanted. We definitely got our money's worth on that! Food, well, we only brought snacks and some waters to drink. As we spent several hours there we got hungry and bought some of the food there. Not much, just a corn dog, soda, and ice creams for each of us (ice creams were later on in the evening), but those few items alone came to almost $20. Ouch! My son and I also went on the monorail and played a few games so that cost extra as well. Oh yeah, and I bought a pair of sunglasses for him as well as my husband (at $5 a pop, I just couldn't pass them up) and a hat for myself. So all in all I probably spent about $50 dollars more than I wanted to that day. That's okay though. My son and I had a blast, so it was worth every penny.
Happy mylotting!
1 person likes this
@lynboobsy11 (11343)
• Philippines
31 Aug 12
Going on a fair is fun here in my country we normally have rides, carnivals and shows. Many clothes,home needs, shoes etc. to sell and food also. But I'm always frugal and aware of the food I ate specially my children. That's why I preferred to pack a food for us.
1 person likes this
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
31 Aug 12
Sounds like a good time for y'all. Hope u have a great day. I haven't been to a fair in years but if i was going i'd be like u & pack a lunch . Use to go alot of places antiquing w/my sons & i always packed snacks & drinks. What money i had to spend at auctions etc. i wanted it to go to something pretty, lol.
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
31 Aug 12
Eating out is expensive as I found out when taking my grand twins out. I am still in London and they were here as my GD needed eye surgery. Naturally, I wanted them to see so much that they would enjoy like the skeletons of dinosaurs in museums etc. Sometimes, we packed a lunch and brought water. We bought the water at a supermarket as it costs so much less and found that if we fed them well at home before departure then a snack would do before they ate dinner in the evening.
To answer your question, no, I have never been in a position to spend money like there was no tomorrow. I like to treat but try to cut down and save from spending money unnecessarily. I think that there has to be a balance. Blessings
1 person likes this
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
3 Sep 12
Fairs are super expensive where food and drinks are concerned. I guess for me it depends on my mood and the money I have available for the trip. I usually splurge for a funnel cake no matter what though
I take my own drink with me but I usually do end up buying another one before the end of the night. I do like to stop either on the way there or on the way home to eat a meal though.
I take my own drink with me but I usually do end up buying another one before the end of the night. I do like to stop either on the way there or on the way home to eat a meal though.