Keep an Eye on College Campuses for Free or Frugal Fall Entertainment

This week I am going to be enjoying two nights of fall entertainment, courtesy of our local colleges. If you are looking for fun things to do that are inexpensive and are a little different, I really recommend looking at the programming of your local colleges, especially this time of year - many of them get into full swing with a variety of different events on campus.

A few years back one of our schools offered a Western movie night for six weeks. Each week they showed a different classic western on the big screen in their audio visual center and then afterward had an question and answer time with an expert in the field about that particular film. It was a wonderful program and every night the seats were packed - and not just with college students, with people of all ages. The evening was free, but even if they had charged a little I wouldn't have minded. I loved it - and I got to see "Stagecoach" for the first time!

Last year about this time a friend and I attended an annual poetry reading, also on a college campus. They had two world renowned poets in to read. Again, it was a big auditorium and almost nearly filled with not only students but also adults who were interested in poetry. I'll be honest, I am not a big poetry fan as far as reading it, but I love to have it read to me. And there is something especially wonderful about hearing the author themselves read their own works. This year my friend couldn't come with me so I went solo. It was a great event and a fun night out. After the reading there was an interesting Q&A session and then a lovely reception with dessert, cheese, fruit, wine - the works. It was really rather dazzling. On top of all that, as I was leaving I got a fabulous caramel apple from one of our famous nut and chocolate companies - and the cost? $0.

Keeping with my on campus theme, tonight I am going to the theatre.

This is at yet a different campus (all three of these events were at different schools.) The tickets for tonight's performances are only $8 - $3 if you are a student, which I am!

Typically I find college campuses work hard to keep their prices down because they know that the average students is broke. You can find out about their college events in the newspaper, on their websites or, if you are lucky enough to to have a student run radio station, that's a great place to find out about events.

Just because we are bring frugal, doesn't mean we shouldn't enjoy ourselves - and I am going to go one further. Because we are being frugal this should be an opportunity to explore what other options our community has for us. I'll tell you, I am going to get a lot more out of seeing the play tonight than if I were going to the movie theatre (and paying three times the amount.)

What are other frugal ideas you have found for fall entertainment?



Photo by: webgirlpip