This past Saturday, E.B. and I headed out the door bright and early to attend our town’s annual Octoberfest, which is basically an arts and crafts festival and BBQ competition all rolled into one. It’s a good time because a lot of people come back to our town for class reunions (planned around this event), so you usually end up bumping into someone you haven’t seen in ages. Plus, I love looking at all of the artsy stuff…pottery, jewelry, cute stuff for kids, etc. However, what began as an inexpensive little outing for us quickly turned into highway robbery the minute we rounded the corner to the concessions and kids area.
Strike 1- The $6 soap. And the $7 rubber band gun.
OK, so the Halloween soap is terribly cute….but $6 for one bar?? I know….I’m sure it costs half as much to make it and all, but he totally fell for it, right after he spied and purchased the $7 rubber band gun. My fault? Of course it is. However, I have a system for these festivals. If I purchase him something really cool (like the rubber band gun) at the beginning, he is usually so enthralled that he lets me walk around and look at the things I want with minimal whining. It works. I promise.
Strike 2- The $3 a pop inflatable bounce slide.
So of course, the minute he saw the inflatable slides, it was on! And for the low, low price of $3 for 3 slides….can you see where this is going? We had to do it twice. And then the inflatable bounce house for another $3. Grand total for bouncing his brains out….$9. Ouch.
Strike 3- The 5 star corndog.
So, what really got my goat was the concession stand. Here is the scene of the crime (also known as highway robbery):
Of course, after all of that walking around and bouncing, E.B. was hot and hungry. It was almost lunch time and I saw that this particular concession stand had corn dogs, one of his faves. But E.B. also noticed people walking away from the stand with these cool hurricane-type plastic glasses with a crazy palm tree straw and he wanted it. I thought it was cute, so I ordered him a lemonade in one and the corndog. That’s when the nice lady informed me, “that would be $11”.
$11???!!! For a corndog and drink??? I almost had a coronary right then and there, but was too dumbfounded to do anything but pay her and walk away dazed and confused.
So here he is….eating his $5 corndog and drinking his $6 lemonade watching the train (which is $3 a ride) go by and wishing his mommy would let him ride it. I didn’t. I know. But the line had to be drawn somewhere.
Total for 2 hours of “fun”? $33. But ya’ll…he is sooo worth it!
Ahh, the things we’ll do for our kiddos! It’s amazing how much some of those festivities cost. Sometimes, though, it’s okay to cave in. Looks like it was a fun time.