Yes, you can be frugal at the Minnesota State Fair

Yesterday, I rustled up my boys and took them to The Great Minnesota Get-together, a.k.a The State Fair. I was reluctant after hearing that it might rain throughout the day, but school starts Monday and we thought we should at least try. So we prayed the rain away and headed out.



This year, it was extremely important that we be frugal in our spending at the fair. Since my boys had won free tickets though the summer reading program at our library, it helped offset the costs.



I was surprised at how much we could actually save while attending and thought I would share a few tips of what we did.

• First of all, we always eat a light breakfast. Cereal, or a banana and juice will take the edge off your hunger, and give the energy you need for your journey as well as.




• Share your food. I find that I really love cheese curds but don't want to eat the whole tray. I had a few of my son's and it satisfied my craving for them. But please, do purchase something just for yourself. Sharing an ice cream cone or roasted corn-on-the-cob would be a little much. You can also buy the big bucket or "best value" sizes which are perfect for sharing, instead of each person buying a smaller size.




• Have your kids bring their own money. My children are older so they have summer jobs. I let them know from the beginning that they should save for the fair and it helped them learn to budget and shop wisely. All important skills growing teenagers need to learn.




• The Rainbow Playgrounds are a fun stop you should make if you have little ones. You can sit and watch your kids go to town on the slides and swings provided by Rainbow Playground Systems, all for free. This has been a yearly destination for us.




• Stop by the Lego Experience tent just past the Kidway. I've never seen this before so I don't really know if it's new or not, be but be sure to visit. There are 4 different stations that your kids have to go to in order to collect 4 stickers to get a free Lego idea book. The book itself is not all that great but the tasks are a lot of fun. Your family can race other families to build the tallest building or you can assemble houses and add it to the huge Lego City. Loads of smiles!



• Try something new. Whether it's a new food on a stick, or ride you've never gone on, try it out. It will add lots of laughter to your adventure. My son tried Alligator for the first time and found it quite tasty!

Be sure to pick up a flyer at the information counter. There are a slew of $1 deals listed in it as well as freebies throughout the fair.