When Free Isn’t Free
A few weeks ago, the hubby’s parents called and offered us free tickets to Holiday World, if we could go before the end of the month. We decided it would be a fun family day and with my own parents living an hour or so away, it’s an easy weekend for us.
Besides, who could turn down free theme park tickets?
Of course, I already knew this was a case where free isn’t really free. There’s gas money for the road trip — 5 hours round trip to my hometown, plus 2 hours round trip to Santa Claus, Indiana! Then there’s lunch, dinner, snacks, souvenirs — it adds up quickly.
I had budgeted about $200 for our “free” family fun day. We spent less than $150, but I haven’t factored in gas. It’s a little hard to gauge when you don’t use the entire tank — plus, we worked in a little (okay, very little) time with my family, too.
We rode every ride in the park — and all of our favorites twice. We had a lot of laughs. We made some fabulous memories with the girls. And, we really enjoyed spending the day as a family. It was nice to treat the girls with something extraordinary on a random, ordinary weekend.
So, no, our day wasn’t free — but it was totally worth it!
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