Here come the clowns

We took Chloe to the circus Friday. It isn’t the first time she’s been to the circus, but it is the first time we’ve been able to take her. We all had a good time, but man is it a racket. We were lucky enough to have coupons for free tickets and only had to pay for one adult. We did pay the $3 per person extra to bump up to the better seats on the sides (instead of the end). So it ended up costing us about $21 to get in, which isn’t too bad for two adults and a child.

After we purchased our tickets we decided to see what kind of snacks they had and how much they were. After seeing the prices we let Chloe pick whether she wanted cotton candy or popcorn. She chose the cotton candy. Salvacion decided to also get a drink because she was thirsty. The drinks were even worse -- $2 for a small and $5 for a large. The small was like a fast food small and the large was like a Big Gulp. The thing is, it was a fountain drink, so they make a lot more money per person on the large. After spending $10 to get a large drink and one cotton candy we went inside to sit down.

They had elephant and pony rides setup at each end of the circus ring. The seats were folding chairs on the sides and bleachers on the end. The folding seats were only slightly better for your butt than the bleachers (I’m guessing) and the VIP seats even had cushions (though they were still folding chairs). We sat down behind the VIP section and starting munching on the cotton candy.

Once the cotton candy was gone (which didn’t take long) Chloe really started to look around. She saw kids riding the elephant and she stated that she wanted to ride the elephant. We are pretty tight on money now that we have the car payment added into our budget. After some brief discussion, it was decided Salve would take her to see how much it was and if it was more than $5 we would pass. They came back rather soon and I knew it must have been pricey. When she told me it was $8 per ride I almost fell in the floor. The elephant only walked in a circle the size of two parking spaces. I told Chloe that maybe she could ride it next time and although she was a little upset she got over it (without even fussing).

The show itself wasn’t bad but they knew how to make money and it wasn’t from ticket sales. They had light sabers and other light generating toys. They had Dora the Explorer and Strawberry Shortcake and SpongeBob Square Pants blowup toys on sticks, like balloons. They had drinks and snacks and foods that tempted the senses. They had elephant and pony rides and clowns doing face painting. A parent that doesn’t know how to say “no” would lose their shirt in a place like this. Luckily for us, we can say “no” and besides, we don’t have shirts to lose. Did I mention money is tight?

Chloe had a good time even without all those extras and she won’t remember them anyway. If anything, she’ll remember going to the circus with mommy and daddy, seeing all the acts, having cotton candy and enjoying the experience. I’m not too worried about being considered a bad parent because I didn’t spend over $100 at the circus.