Just curious - our kids' activities tend to charge fees for shows/events. Piano recitals, ballet, etc. The ballet tickets are $35 each. Do you buy tickets for attendees for these events? I've been buying them thus far, I consider it like a cost of the program/lessons. Just curious what others do.
Yes, I buy tickets for my mom (the only one who ever attends these things). Both because its usually an online order (she computer illiterate) and because she is very low-income.
ETA: My sister has always bought me tickets for her kids' graduations. I honestly never thought to offer until this post lol.
$35 is a lot. If it were one ticket, I'd probably just buy it. If it's like 3, I'd probably ask for $$.
I marked "it depends." My family seems to assume they will pay, which is fine with me, but sometimes I just buy the tickets and don't ask for anything back if it's not that many tix/not that much $.
I buy for DDs recital. The tickets need to be purchased online and good seats are taken within minutes. It is worth the expense to me to skip the drama over who got what seats and why is some sitting closer than someone else. Everyone sits together and some people will reimburse me for the tickets and others do not.
All of our parents are fixed income, so we would definitely buy the tickets. I hate that the fees are so high! DS is in indoor percussion and it's $15-20 for each competition, which is every week. So drive an hour, pay $15, watch your kid for literally three minutes, drive an hour home.
We haven’t encountered this yet because grandparents and other family live too far away to be able to come to stuff like this very often, and nothing so far has had a fee. So in our case, if we specifically invited them to come see something that cost $$$, we’d probably pay. If we lived closer and grandparents expected to be invited to every event, I’d probably expect them to pay.
My parents don't live nearby so it's usually a moot point. They would probably handle purchase and payment on their own.
My MIL lives nearby and occasionally comes to kid stuff. We buy hers - she doesn't have a lot of money and it would be a major production to try to send her instructions for how to purchase, especially online.
*This reminds me that DD's ballet recital tix went on sale yesterday and I need to hurry up and order them.
My kids don’t have living grandparents, but I think I would. My parents would probably try to pay for all of us, but they were well off. MIL was not so we would for sure lay for her.
Post by penguingrrl on Apr 9, 2024 11:49:51 GMT -5
We usually just buy the tickets and don’t mention the cost. It’s usually easier to buy the tickets all together in case it’s assigned seating than to hope we can all sit together.
The only thing we've had tickets for is her dance recital.
I don't mind buying them, but one year I bought tickets for MIL and her husband and then her husband didn't come. I was out almost $50 with the fees and pissed.
Post by sunshineandpinot on Apr 9, 2024 12:17:10 GMT -5
Yes, if the tickets are sold in advance I definitely buy them. If it's cash at the door I try and catch them and will buy, but if they end up paying, I don't sweat it. We usually then go to lunch or dinner and treat as well.
Yes, my parents are the only ones close enough to attend and I always buy their recital tickets. DD's studio does 3 recitals and she usually has different numbers in 2, tickets are around $20 each, so about $80 total. They always buy her flowers and usually give me money when they visit, I figure it washes out.
If my sister ever made it up I'd buy hers when I bought my parent's. She would probably give me money without asking.
We've only had 1 dance recital, and I did pay. They ended up not coming, so that was a bummer, and then the next year was Covid, and she hasn't gone back to dance.
We handle buying the tickets. Usually it's a convoluted process and tickets need to be purchased all together. So far, I've only needed to coordinate buying for DD's dance recitals and tickets are <$20.
Most relatives (my aunt/uncle, SILs/BILs) give money, some don't think of offering (my ILs). I'm not chasing people down for it. I sort of budget it into cost of DD taking dance. When it comes time for the show, money just flows for pictures, program sponsor, a DVD of the show, new dance shoes/tights, costumes, etc.
For us, some family members are on a tighter budget than we are and DD is just thrilled to have people there to see her. It's worth fronting the cost for some people for a once a year event.
I buy the tickets when we invite grandparents to join us at a show we're taking our kids to see, so I'd also buy the tickets if they were attending a show my kid was in.
Partly it's just easier for me to do it all in one group purchase and not need to explain how/where to go/what date/what time/etc., and then worry that a grandparent went rogue or misunderstood. It's just easier for me to execute. Plus I'm happy to cover it if they're spending time with the kids.
None of our kids' activities require entrance fees. If they did, we'd probably base it on how we handle everything else - my parents pay for themselves but we pay for DH's. The two sets of grandparents have similar financial situations in terms of pensions/social security/savings, but my parents enjoy their lives and DH's think they're poor
Sometimes they do, sometimes I do. It depends on if they carpool with me. If I pay door fees then they normally buy DD and I lunch/dinner depending on the time. If we don't carpool, they pay their own way.
Post by gretchenindisguise on Apr 9, 2024 14:13:06 GMT -5
I buy the tickets to my kids musical performances for them. It's just easier for us all. It does get expensive but I'm happy they are able to see some of their shows.
Post by minniemouse on Apr 9, 2024 14:15:43 GMT -5
I clicked it depends. I always buy them and don’t ask for money but I am pretty sure they have always paid us back. I admit I’d probably be surprised at this point if they did not reimburse us but I wouldn’t really care- and would not ask. Ticket prices have ranged from $12/each for a band concert up to $25/each for a dance recital.
Post by expectantsteelerfan on Apr 9, 2024 15:01:16 GMT -5
I clicked it depends. Dd has taken dance since she was 3 years old (she's 12 now) and has a holiday show and a spring recital, and tickets to the recital are $20 each now (I think they used to be cheaper), although we get 2 free per dancer. But seats are ticketed by actual seat number, and we often have 11 people coming to her recital who want to sit together. When the tickets go on sale, it's an insane process of trying to get the best seats all together, so I always bought them personally, but in the early years I did allow people to reimburse me for them, because that was a LOT of money for us to be spending, on top of the costumes, and we were struggling a bit for money in those years.
Most other kid events have been free (ball games, band concerts, etc.), but our financial situation has changed over the years, so now if something does charge admission, we do take care of buying tickets for everyone and don't ask for anyone to reimburse us. However, dh's parents do still insist on paying their own way, and if we say we've got it, they will slip us cash when we aren't paying attention, and then will overpay, so we've learned to just accept it rather than fight it for them. But most other stuff is more reasonable (IMO) anyway, like I think the school musical tickets were $5 per person.
We typically pay for everyone's ticket for DD's events but if someone offers to pay for their tickets, I do accept it. Her recitals are always free but she performs in 3 ballets (2 full length, 1 repertoire) each year which have varying ticket costs. We are very lucky that we have quite a bit of family close by who love to come so it's just so much easier if I get all the tickets myself since I get presale access. We do not invite family to her ballet competitions, most of those are streamed so they watch her online.
Post by fortnightlily on Apr 10, 2024 8:17:02 GMT -5
I said it depends, but we haven't run into this. None of DS's activities charge a fee for attendance. I think most of the time I'd be inclined to just cover it, but the family we'd invite are also comfortable enough to afford their own tickets.
So apparently I shouldn’t be surprised that I have to pay $20 a person for my kids’ dance recital 😭
I think it's very common, unfortunately. DD has been at 2 studios; both charge a recital fee to the parents ($50ish) instead of selling tickets. No limit on the number of guests you bring and no reserved seating.
So far DS has just been in community center sports which are free entrance. For other activities requiring tickets, our parents will offer to pay or reimburse us if we paid ahead, so I guess it depends for us too.