Movie Screenings

With movie tickets being so expensive at the movie theater, I try to find more frugal ways to watch movies. One very common thing that I love to do is attend movie screenings! This is definitely a match made in heaven for me. Not only do I live walking distance to the hotel that hosts most of the movie screenings, it's also FREE to participate! The only catch is that it's first come first serve so to guarantee me a seat (and a great seat in the theater) I have to arrive about 2 hours early and wait in line. For those of you who don't know how it works, two sites that I love to use to attend these screenings are Gofobo's website and 43Kix Las Vegas facebook page. You can check periodically on Gofobo's website for open screening, and on average you get a maximum 2 passes per movie and usually 4 passes for family/kids movies. You need these passes to attend, but it DOES NOT guarantee you a seat since it's first come first serve, hence, the two hour line waiting I mentioned. A little trick that I do is if all the passes are taken on Gofobo's website is that I can go on 43KIX Las Vegas' facebook page, and sometimes they post a link for the same screening. Through their link you can get passes that are available exclusively for them even though Gofobo's site says there are no more available! All you do is type in your zip code to find your nearest movie screening on Gofobo, and for 43Kix, just search your city to see if they have a facebook page. I know they have one for Chicago!

With that said, JAM was really excited to see the new Madagascar 3 movie, but I wasn't too excited to spend $30 on just movie tickets. Not to mention probably another $20 on the concession products he's gonna whine to get. Thankfully, 43KIX released passes to see it this past weekend! The downside: the movie theater that was hosting it didn't think their line arrangements through thoroughly. They made us form a line in the 100 degree weather that already peaked at 9am.

It was HOT! Luckily people around me had umbrellas for shade and we had water. JAM found some lovely shade at a nearby restaurant, which also had misters while I burned in the sun to hold our place in line (the things I do for my son). Regardless, Madagascar 3 was great! Tons of funny jokes for the whole family, and if you loved the first two movies, you'll definitely love this one. Another plus, it was in 3D! Some people don't like it, but my kid loves it. After the movie, the promoters asked 5 kids to dance to the "I like to move it move it" song that's popular with this movie for a prize. My son was too shy of course, but they ended up giving all 5 kids prize packs to the upcoming Ringling Bros. Circus! BUMMER! At the very least, we saw another fun movie for free and they had these fun paper wigs and temporary tattoos for the kids after the movies.

All in all another successful movie screening. I'll probably stick to movie screenings that are hosted at the hotel that is walking distance to my place from now on though since this theater lets you wait inside instead of in the heat.

P.S. I didn't receive any form of compensation for speaking about these sites or movie. I just wanted to share another frugal tip of mine and some family fun ideas for the weekend.