You say the word free and I'm already planning when to hop in line.
Ha ha ha ha.
I'm so very cheap.
But I LIKE to think I don't appear to be the trashy or gross kind of cheap. People would tell me if I made my family look that way, right?
I recently asked on one of the mom groups I'm a part of on Facebook for recommendations of a backpack diaper bag.
I legit have 6 diaper bags, and really I'm just not feeling any of them for the new baby situation. I want a backpack which I don't have. I want a backpack that is big enough, but not HUGE. That's the thing.... I either have tiny bags or HUGE bags. I need a backpack to be hands free and at a good size to carry everything I need for three kids.
Here's the thing....
I had like 20 women comment... cause ya know, it's social media and everyone has an opinion.... :) Ha ha. I liked all of their comments. The bags all looked lovely. Stylish and very functional bags. The ONE thing....
These bags were over $100.
$150....
$170....
*cheap person jaw drop*
I can name 0 things I've spent $100 on in the last 3 months.
Well, besides my mortgage....
Hospital bills....
Ya know.
Ha ha ha ha ha.
Jeff is probably the luckiest when it comes to this stuff, cause I never go shopping. I never buy makeup. I'm not high maintenance in THOSE areas of life.
We make up for it in my obsession with going places for our kids.
I'm ALLLL about that!
The number of eye rolls that have been produced, because I want to go do "this fun thing" with our kids if definitely Genius Book of World Record worthy.
I should look in to getting that submitted. Do people get money for being in that book?
Just think of all the trips to the dollar spot at Target I could make with that money....
I digress.....
We went to Cow Appreciation Day at Chick Fila the other day.
My kids LOVED it! As we were getting ready I was putting a black nose and spots on Grace's face, to look like a cow. I didn't know if Hunter would want stuff on his face like that, but as soon as I was done with Grace he was flagging me down and pointing to himself for me to make him a cow too. So cute. He's the sweetest little dude.
So for this event, if you dress up like a cow they give you free food. :)
We love Chick Fila too. Chick Fila is in Grace's top 5 places to eat. Probably Hunter's top 1 place, cause he just gets unlimited sauces to lick.
We got there just in time too. 10:50.... there was hardly anyone there. No line. As soon as 11:00 hit it was a mad house. There was a line out the door. Cows everywhere!
I looked pretty identical to my kids. White shirt, black pants, spots on my shirt and face. I just didn't get any pictures of myself, cause..... priorities. Ha ha
My kids went and played in the play area after eating....
..... which, can I say..... I hate when kids older than like.... 6 or 7 play in that area. Ha ha. Bite my tongue, I'll probably feel sad when Grace is 9 years old and not playing in the kid land.... but seriously, kids that age are HUGE on those toys. Freakin stampede on my baby. And they don't pay attention.
I could go on and on.
The sign even says "For children less than 3 years of age". That's already excluding Grace!
Hunter ended up crying in the middle of the structure somewhere, because there were SO many kids.... he was the smallest.... and the stampede was prevalent.
A totally random girl... probably like 6 years old... went and got a worker to save him! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. When the worker came in and started climbing the thing to get him I was like..... Oh crap, maybe I should have tried harder to get Grace to save him.... but I was also grateful. There was no way my gigantic pregnant self was going to climb that very tight space.
And of course when I thanked her she gave me the most geninue smile and said "my pleasure". For real, Chick Fila must go through so much screening when they hire people. They only hire the nicest people there are.
I'm convinced.
So I guess the moral of the story is.....
Free is awesome!
Free is fun and makes great memories.
BUT sometimes free is dangerous with the number of crowds that accumulate.
I think timing is key.
If we would have been hungry for lunch by 10:00 then that would have been better in the stampede department.
Grace and Hunter really loved looking at all the people dressed as cows though.
Grace told me several times that she wishes every day could be cow day.
A couple of days later we attempted another event.
This event wasn't free, but it was dang near close to free!
Build a Bear was having an incredible sale called "Pay Your Age Day". So Hunter could get a Build a Bear for $1 or $2 dollars and Grace could get one for $4. Crazy good, right??
I could walk out with two new Build a Bears, normally $60 total, for $6?
Brilliant.
Everyone else in the country thought it was brilliant too.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
We stood in line for about an hour and then left.
Most people that actually made it in waited for about 5 hours.
I maybe would have been able to make it that long if not for a couple of large factors....
We were waiting outside in the heat and I just can't do that in my current physical state.
34 weeks pregnant and outside in the summer don't mix.
The other big factor was.... I wasn't prepared to entertain my children there for five hours.
I did not bring nearly enough snacks or fun things.
It just wasn't in the cards.
My mom was there as well as my sister in law and nieces, and my mom told us she'd just buy them a normal Build a Bear on a different day, ha ha ha ha ha. She wasn't about to wait for 5 hours either.
So really, does being cheap always win?
No.
Many times it doesn't.
Many times it's a pain.
But other times it's great and you can live frugally.
I like to think that I live somewhat frugally at least.
Who knows.
My husband's the accountant, so ask him.
After our Build a Bear fail we went and got some Beanie Boos to ease the blow.
Beanie Boos are usually like $3 - $5 bucks, so it was all about the same.
I guess minus the magical experience of stuffing your own bear.
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