Halloween Is Expensive - Trip To The Farm Left My Pockets Empty!

October 23, 2007 · Filed Under ·  

So on Sunday my wife and I rounded up our three kids and headed to Hawes Farm, a local harvest farm, pumpkin patch, corn maze, hay ride, $3 bottle of water, $6 pumpkin, kinda place. I knew my wallet was in for a beating when I stepped up to the window to pay and was told each kid was $10 for a child pass which let them do all the games, rides, and unlimited use of the blue portable pit toilets. O.K., so I was willing to go along with the $10 for each kid, heck we only do this once a year. But then I was told that my wife and I had to pay $7.50 each for what they termed “adult spectator fee”. I said to the farm lady behind the plexiglass in my slightly irritated voice, “Let me get this straight, we have to pay $7.50 each so we can watch our kids play?” She replies, “Yes, it is like the county fair where everyone has to pay.”  I think to myself, “well at least at the fair they have exhibits that I find interesting plus deep fried everything!” So what is a Dad suppose to do? My kids are totally jazzed to get in the farm and at this point my 3-year old daughter (the horse fanatic) is drooling at the mouth upon spotting the horse drawn hay ride. So I whip out the credit card and $35 dollars later we are all sporting colorful wristbands and heading for the blue pit toilets. My daughter has a bladder the size of a kernel of corn.

The kids get their “farm on” for a couple hours and it is very pleasant, not very crowded and plenty of fun activities. Tired of country music blaring in our ears, my wife and I decide it is time to head for the pumpkin patch to let the kids each pick out the infamous orange squash. My first mistake was several hours earlier in the car ride when in the excitement of the season, I said, “kids we should get some big old pumpkins to carve this year!” So upon entering the pumpkin patch anything under 50 pounds was immediately scoffed at by my little ones. Finally, I was able to talk them both into pumpkins that were of slightly above average size and that I was reasonably confident I could load into the mini-van without causing a hernia. Again I make the walk of shame to the lady behind the plexiglass window and one by one she weighs my catch and finally proclaims, “That will be $16.25 please.” Turns out we had 56 pounds of squash and at 29 cents a pound….say goodbye to my last crisp twenty dollar bill. I think I will do a post tomorrow on some more affordable Halloween activities!!

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Comments

4 Responses to “Halloween Is Expensive - Trip To The Farm Left My Pockets Empty!”

  1. Jennifer on October 23rd, 2007 10:22 am

    Annoying. I think I would have said, “OK kids go on in. We will wait for you out here…” and then to the bouncer, “Have fun…mwahahahaha.” I’m sure they’d like to see what my 3 year old would do to that place without supervision, but it’s not really worth $7.25 to me, as it happens to my house on a daily basis.

    I want to take my kids to a corn maze, but its $10 a person (no pumpkin patch or porta potties) and I’m not paying $40 when I could grow my own corn maze for about that much moola.

  2. Kyle on October 23rd, 2007 10:29 am

    Not a bad idea, I live on 3 acres, I could have a big ol’ corn maze next year and charge all the neighbor kids to get in!!

  3. Lynnae @ Being Frugal on October 23rd, 2007 11:43 am

    Good grief! Where do you guys live? I don’t think our pumpkin patch is that expensive! Actually our pumpkin patch sells tickets to individual events…corn maze, pony rides, face painting….and then offers some free activities as well.

    We just set a dollar limit, and then ask the kids to prioritize their activities and let them do their top picks, as well as all the free stuff.

  4. Kyle on October 23rd, 2007 11:58 am

    We live in Redding, CA, couple hours north of Sacramento. I like the idea of the pay as you go farm, would have saved us money! The ’spectator’ fee for my wife and I is what bothered me the most and will keep us from coming back next year. There are a couple other similar farms we will look into instead.

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