We have a Sony DVD camcorder and the three pack of DVD-Rs costs $10.49 and then we also needed a conventional roll of film — yes we still have an actual camera — since the baby took the SIM chip out of our digital camera and hid it somewhere.
We bought our bottled water at Walgreens — 4 bottles at 79 cents each — rather than paying $2.50 per bottle at the event.
When my wife and I go out on a date, the babysitter costs $13.00 per hour. A four hour date with dinner, a movie, and pay for the sitter goes over $100 easily.
Having a family is the greatest luxury of all in this country. Forget the BMW convertible and the granite countertops. Baby is the most expensive item of all. No wonder many educated people are just skipping having kids or putting childbearing off as long as possible.
JS
PS: Yes, there is a AAA/Military discount at the flowerfields. It is one dollar less per person. Woo-Hoo!
We have a Sony DVD camcorder and the three pack of DVD-Rs costs $10.49 and then we also needed a conventional roll of film — yes we still have an actual camera — since the baby took the SIM chip out of our digital camera and hid it somewhere.
Ah yes. Like my dad's dvd camcorder. I hate to say this, but you sort of walked into the cost on that one, because you wanted the latest and greatest. You could have settled for a camcorder that has a built in harddrive and just transfer it to a computer where you rip them onto normal cd's/dvd's that costs pennies on the dollar. Or you could have settled with the camcorder that uses digital tapes, and transfered that to the computer and cds/dvds. But, oh no, you wanted the camera that writes directly into that funky small dvd format that costs more per disk than normal dvd's…… 🙂 The good news. You can now make an argument to get a new HD- camcorder. Just make sure it uses a builtin hard-drive.
The cheaper alternative, is buy the mini dvd's in bulk. You don't need the ones from sony 3-pk. And yes, they sell them in bulk. Search on amazon. BTW: I never have spent money on normal blank CD's and DVD's. Ok, maybe the cost of tax and a postage stamp or too. In the past there's always deals from staples/bb/etc for "free" cd/dvd spindles. And I typically stock up 2-3 of them each time. In fact, my closet has a couple crates full of blank cd's dvd's that will take me years to consume. You laugh, but that's at least a few hundred $ i didn't have to shell out on media. You just have to get in the habit of shopping around, rather than buying spotaneously priced items.
Just curious OT question for folks with kiddies in general…I have 2 year old kid. I take a lot of pictures. But, use my camcorder less. Even when I do, I rarely go back and look at the video I shot, let alone edit them, let alone make my friends and relatives sit through an afternoon watching them (I thought my friends and family would have better things to do). Is this generally the case for everyone else, or am I just being a bad parent? 🙂
Why are you buying 4 individual bottles of water at walgreens? Buy your family 4 waterbottles, and fill them up with water from gallon you normally get for $1 at the groceries. Aside from wasting money individual bottles, you're also not generating as much trash with the extra plastic containers you end up tossing.
I know, I sound cheap. But this sort of thing adds up,especially if you go out a lot…You really don't need to be shelling out $4 on water and $11 on blank media each time you go out.
 The shortcakes are a wash. I guess you could have brought snacks, but then again, I would have opted for the shortcakes myself 🙂
