Toy Story 3 - on a budget

So I've been dying to see Toy Story 3 but taking a family out to a movie is sooo expensive. And leaving the kiddos at home is just as expensive when you account for a baby sitter. (Joseph, Jacob and I were able to enjoy some excursions to the theater earlier this summer as several of our area theaters participate in a Free Summer Movie Series and I knew Joseph would love to go see Toy Story 3 too.)

During a visit to the grocery store I noticed that Kelloggs was having a promo on their cereal boxes. Each box has a code which you enter on a website and get a point. 6 points gets you a free ticket to Toy Story. I started doing the math in my head. . . and with boxes of cereal costing $3+ . . . . well, you're spending $18 on cereal to get a free ticket. Except I had coupons. . . and the store was doing an additional promo. . . . and it ends up that I was able to spend $1 per box of cereal. So that is one movie ticket for $6.

We decided that it would work best to go to a late afternoon matinee. So after Joseph woke up from his nap on Wednesday, we headed to the theater. Christopher left work a little early and met us there.

How it all shook down:

9 boxes of cereal later. . . . . . . (spent $9)
6 points redeemed for a movie ticket voucher (worth up to $12)
3 points redeemed for $5 in concessions cash

At the ticket window. . . . . matinee movie prices are $5
The nice ticket people were somehow able to turn our $12/1 ticket voucher into 2 tickets
We paid $5 for the 4 of us to walk into the movie.

At the concession stand. . . . we ordered a large popcorn and 2 large drinks.
Total was $18.50 - $5 voucher = $13.50
We refilled our popcorn and drinks on the way out. (we have 2 gallon size ziplock bags of movie popcorn in the pantry - yum).

So - total so far:
$9 on cereal
$5 on movie
$13.50 on snacks
TOTAL = $27.50

And then, on the way to the car, I found $5 on the ground.