One of the great little perks of summer is this - Free Movies! Almost all the theaters have them. OK, so they're last year's releases and you have to get up at the crack of dawn to get the everyone ready before the 10AM showing, but if it means a morning off from the grueling rigors of swim team practice, the kids are game! Especially if it involves food! This is where they get you. Last year I brought my kids to a free movie and spent $28 in concessions! This year, the wiser me came prepared.
After doing a little research, I discovered a few interesting facts. Regal, the nicest theater near us, has only full-price concessions. AMC charges $1 for their movies, but offers $3.00 Kid Packs which include a Kids'-sized drink, popcorn and a snack. Movies 400 offers free movies with $1.00 popcorn and $1.00 drinks. If you bring in a canned good, the popcorn is free!
Since we were including a friend and I would be multiplying everything times six, I went with Movies 400. I packed snack bags of candy in my purse, traded creamed corn for popcorn and got away with a great movie and concessions for a mere $6.00!
The drinks and popcorn were appropriately sized for kids. (Do you really want your 7- year old drinking a 64 oz. Frozen Coke, anyway?) My feelings exactly.
TODAY'S SPENDING:
6 Movie Drinks: $6.00
Groceries (I just went for cereal!): $16.46
TOTAL: $22.46