If you have a wife (girlfriend) and 2 kids, where do you draw the line on money for a event such as Vikings game, Wild game, Gopher games, concerts, State Fair, Valley Fair, water park / theme park. At what point do you say “no thats to much money. Is it $50 per person? $100 per person? No limit?
We all want to make memories for the people special to us but there has to be a limit. Whats yours?
BTW, there is no right or wrong answer. 
Sporting events in person for a family is ridiculous. Your looking at a $500 night to attend a Vikings or Wild game after you factor in decent tickets, beer, food, parking, etc.
Someone just offered me 2 tickets in the lower bowl for the week 1 against the Packers. 400 bucks for the pair. Not worth it.
College events are more reasonable. Twins games are pretty cheap, 10 bucks will get you in the door and then you can sit in a better spot since the stadium is half empty.
It’s all relative to the event and the attendees. The ex was a huge Yankees fan, got her to the last series against the red Sox in Yankee stadium before they moved over to the new one. Kiddo is a huge UConn and Paige fan, got her to the championship game this winter. Some things are worth spending money for and some things not.
If you want to do something in life it doesn’t make sense to let some money get in your way. Work some weekends, put in ot, get another job but do what you need to to get ahead and make life happen. Otherwise enjoy watching others live it.
I can got to skyzone and jump on trampolines for an hour and drop a benny w the fam, nothing is cheap nowadays. I had to just pay $20 to go watch my kids JV volleyball game 
No limit. That’s why I work hard to make memories. No reason to die with it all. Why put a dollar amount on a memory?
There is an ebb and flow to it. Some events are worth more to me (and my kids) than others.
Our son was married in June, spent >$10k. It was worth every cent, one of the best days of my life.
I have a wife, a daughter, and another daughter coming soon. I don’t put a price on certain family experiences. If I can get my 2 girls and wife somewhere that they love and that I enjoy too, odds are I’ll do it. A week in Hayward probably cost me $4k and we split the cabin a few ways. Worth every penny.
As far as the “me” stuff and specifically professional sporting events, I don’t go to nearly as many anymore. College football and high school football are still my favorite and always will be. Thankfully they’re not quite as crazy as NFL/NBA/NHL stuff in many cases
I spent close to $500 just going to the local county fair, nothing crazy either a few rides and some food and games. On a Thursday night. No truck pull or demo. Safe to say I will not be attending the state fair! It’s robbery what they are charging! But each there own. I should add that’s two kids and wife and I at fair.
I know a dude who blew $5K paying for his girlfriend of 3 months and her little kids to go to Disney land/world. Broke up 4 weeks later. Made me feel better about my Cigar International order and some Weller.
even now during the inflation surge, i have never told my wife/kid that they need to ease back on spending on certain things especially food. great thing about credit cards is you can charge items out 30-40 days and pay them off while getting points for future purchases. card companies hate me and have paid me close to 1k just for using the card for my convenience….thousand bux is a thousand bux
This-
If you want to do something in life it doesn’t make sense to let some money get in your way. Work some weekends, put in ot, get another job but do what you need to to get ahead and make life happen. Otherwise enjoy watching others live it.
For me, I work 100% commission…representing 4 companies.
Sell, sell, sell and sell.
We don’t go to sporting events often especially due to pricing. But we are at every dirt bike event there is within 100 miles. My money gets piled in to buying toys and having family outings riding wheelers, dirt bikes and side by sides.
You guys can spend 500 for a crappy vikes game, I’ll stay home 100 percent of the time on that. But I’ll spend 4k on a condo for a week at the dells because we all enjoy it. I work lots of time so I can pay cash for dirt bikes and keep the kids riding.
Unfortunately I worked and did cheat my family out of vacations/sporting events.
I wish I could have that time back.
However, I do have a 2.5 year old Grandson that will be the recipient of me trying to make it right.
We don’t go to sporting events often especially due to pricing. But we are at every dirt bike event there is within 100 miles. My money gets piled in to buying toys and having family outings riding wheelers, dirt bikes and side by sides.
You guys can spend 500 for a crappy vikes game, I’ll stay home 100 percent of the time on that. But I’ll spend 4k on a condo for a week at the dells because we all enjoy it. I work lots of time so I can pay cash for dirt bikes and keep the kids riding.
I’m with you on a family vacation to the Dells or a dirt bike or new toy like that. But quite honestly the experience I get at home from the comfort of the recliner with a beverage in hand watching football in HD on a big screen Tv is just as good as attending the event in person for 400 bucks. When they come out of the Viking ship for the intro is awesome but no freaking way I’m paying that to get packed in like a sardine for 4 hours at that price.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
We don’t go to sporting events often especially due to pricing. But we are at every dirt bike event there is within 100 miles. My money gets piled in to buying toys and having family outings riding wheelers, dirt bikes and side by sides.
You guys can spend 500 for a crappy vikes game, I’ll stay home 100 percent of the time on that. But I’ll spend 4k on a condo for a week at the dells because we all enjoy it. I work lots of time so I can pay cash for dirt bikes and keep the kids riding.I’m with you on a family vacation to the Dells or a dirt bike or new toy like that. But quite honestly the experience I get at home from the comfort of the recliner with a beverage in hand watching football in HD on a big screen Tv is just as good as attending the event in person for 400 bucks. When they come out of the Viking ship for the intro is awesome but no freaking way I’m paying that to get packed in like a sardine for 4 hours at that price.
For the 4 of us to go to a vikes game would be 4 to 5 hundred, not great seats and a mediocre game. That none of us cared about. I can not see that worth it at all. We do enjoy gophers games. The kid and I have been to about 10 of them. He doesn’t even like football but the feeling in the stadium and walking down frat row can make any one a little pumped up. With food a hat or 2 for us and 1 beer is usually 200 bucks. I’ll do that 2 times a season.
We do twins games on deal nights. 5 dollar seats are great, sit there for 5 minutes and you can see the 100s of better seats that are open. We wonder down and sit where ever is open. Security never cares and the kids have fun. The big money I spend is on week trips out of town, if it’s a fishing trip, a fun trip or hiking. Family memories are what’s important. Our biggest bonding is on out of town trips camping. Those are usually the cheapest trips as well. Tent for 5 days. No phones for me and her and no phones or tablets for the kids. 300 dollar camp sites for a week and we all have so much fun. Speaking of that us 4 will be on vermillion in a tent this Wednesday to the following Tuesday. I love that. Priceless
I just got home from the weigh in at the International Falls Bass Championship. They really do it up for the kids. Final 10 boats pull through the tent and the anglers throw hats, Frisbees, candy, tackle. Kids love it. Best of all it’s free for the parents and the kids are in a safe secure environment.
For me the dollar amount doesn’t matter as much as the type of event or outing we do and the family time spent together. We’re not huge sports fans so activities like Carnivals, theme parks, ice fishing weekends and week long cabin rental vacations are what we do. The memories made during those times are worth the price to see the excitement in our daughter and to later have her tell stories about these experiences. In fact, we sold our cabin last year with the intentions of renting a cabin for a week once or twice a summer. We did this so that our “cabin time” was all about family bonding time and doing fun activities and not having any work to do. This also allows us to see more places and do more different activities than we would when tied to one place. My daughter and I have a thing for the crane games with stuffed animal prizes. Anywhere we see one we have to play it. We have been pretty successful but the excitement she has when we win or even get close is worth the money every time. She even remembers where we won each stuffed animal. It’s more important to us to spend time as a family doing activities and not get hung up on the costs.
I’ve never cared enough about a sporting event or a fair to say it’s worth the money. That being said I fish in tournaments, there’s entry fees in every one of those. So I guess it’s different strokes for different folks! Spending 500$ to watch adults chase a ball is just ridiculous
I’ve never cared enough about a sporting event or a fair to say it’s worth the money. That being said I fish in tournaments, there’s entry fees in every one of those. So I guess it’s different strokes for different folks! Spending 500$ to watch adults chase a ball is just ridiculous
I agree on spending 500 is rediculous. But fishing a tourney isn’t something you are bringing the 3 little ones with
If everyone wants to go ( wife, 28& 24 yr old) we’ll do it. I ain’t takin it with me when I tip over. Memories and watching them have fun is all the payback I need.
I wouldn’t support any of the events mentioned and waste my life attending them unless I was paid large sums of money…$100 per hour wouldn’t come close to cutting it. They can keep it.
.50 is my limit.
Now a fishing trip with the fam anywhere? I never think about a limit (including the fishing limit).
Now that I think about it, I’m not sure why I even posted to this thread(?) 
Incomes determine alot to what is deemed excessive. $500 for a day at $50k a year is alot, take it up to $100k it’s not as bad, $125k it gets better etc etc
If we can be honest with ourselves it’s a bit humorous how we judge others here spending their money on other activities other than chasing scaled vertebrae who have no intellect. Good grief at least other sports are humans against each other
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Notmafiaguy wrote:</div>
Good grief at least other sports are humans against each other
I should probably try that because the fish are kicking my butt.
I wonder what a pound of walleye actually cost me, Gotto be close to $10,000.00 a LB.
I refuse to do that math EPG refuse!
First of all good to see a Friday topic make it to Monday 
. For me it all depends on the event and circumstances. For example I didn’t and don’t care how high gas got, I was going to visit my parents at the cabin as often as possible, and will continue to do so. On the other hand, I’m a huge Eric Church fan, and some friends were going to his US Bank concert, tickets were $250/each. I figured with dinner, drinks and a hotel or Uber home it was going to be $1000 night, which wasn’t worth it imo as I’ve seen him in way better venues a dozen times at least. But if the Vikings ever make the Super Bowl, I may not go to the game as that’s a little excessive, but I will go to the city that’s hosting the game regardless of price.
Many comments on how people don’t want to miss out on life with their kids so they work a ton of extra hours to be able to afford certain things. As someone who’s dad wasn’t around much when I was younger, I will say that I hope you don’t miss out on too much of life with your kids by working too much. Those random nights and weekends spent with your kids (versus putting in extra hours at work) can mean just as much to them as a trips/sporting events/whatever you spend that extra money on.
Lots of great dads in here. Cheers fellas
I dont take the whole family to sporting events much anymore. Its not just about cost its about everyone is so dang busy. I would like to see a Vikings game in person at the new stadium, but that would be a 1 time thing. Before kids me and my wife went to concerts, games all the time, but its just not that easy anymore. If we were closer to the cities things might change, but adding well over an hour for the drive takes a lot of the luster off seeing things in person.
I’ve been to all types of “Pro” sporting events and NFL is the only one I’d rather not attend. For me, it’s so much better to watch on TV and I can keep up on other games while watching. (during commercials, if the game is a snooze, etc) Plus, I like to hear what the commentators are saying. (most of the time) and I really miss the replays when watching it live. Watching the Wild is my favorite sporting “in person” event, but for the price, a Twins game outside on a beautiful day is affordable and enjoyable.
I probably won’t see another concert in person in my life, and we haven’t done the fair in years since my kids are grown and do stuff on their own.
Watching the Wild is my favorite sporting “in person” event
Ice hockey is my favorite event in person too. Can’t afford NHL though. Occasionally make it to a college or HS game instead which is far more affordable.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
