The Show on a budget, is it possible?

The Royal Adelaide Show and a budget don't often go hand in hand, however it can be done!  Here are our top tips for saving money at the show, and even if you are not in Adelaide read on, it's much the same for any annual show around the country.  We visited the Royal Adelaide Show earlier this week and spent $12 other than entry costs, and that was for parking (It helps that our daughter is too young to understand showbags and rides)!

• Take food with you, or eat just before you head to the show - You can take food into the show, and there are plenty of grassed shady areas to sit an eat, usually with some form of entertainment nearby.  If you are heading to the Adelaide Show, check out the IGA stand for bargain priced fruit.

• Decide on a budget before you go, and stick to it! - Work out how much you have to spend on showbags, rides, food etc before you go, it's better to have a plan than blindly spend money and regret it at the end of the day.

• Find the free activities - There are so many free things to do, the favourite with my daughter was the farmyard walk.  There are plenty of animals to see, entertainment in the arena and on stage, demonstrations etc all included in the entry price.

• Pre-Purchase entry tickets - You can save money by pre-purchasing your entry tickets, for the Adelaide show you can do this from IGA supermarkets.

• Plan to visit on bargain days - The Adelaide Show has bargain days on Wednesday and Thursday where adults can enter at kids prices before 1pm.

• Plan your transport to the show - depending on where you live, determine if it works out cheaper to catch public transport or pay for parking, which can often be expensive.

• Determine which showbags are the best value for money - In Adelaide my pick would be the Yellow Brick Road bag, it's only $10 and kids love following the trail and collecting all of the goodies. 

 So with a bit of planning you can have a great family day out without the budget regrets later on.  Feel free to share how you keep costs down when visiting the show.