Blog Love, Movie Theaters, and a Family Date

I have a confession to make. I am slightly obsessed with blogs. They inspire me in so many ways. There are a few blogs that I follow and read regularly. I want to share one of these blogs with you.

If you haven't already, you need to check out Jordan Page's blog, Fun, Cheap or Free. She is also known as the Fun Cheap or Free Queen. You may have seen her on Studio 5 or other local channels. Plus, she will be on the new season of Extreme Cheapskates on TLC this November. Not only is she a frugality expert, she is also a wife and a mother of three. Through her blog, she shares ideas and tips on how to create a fun/cheap/free lifestyle. I recently watched one of her Live Q&A sessions on You Tube, and I fell in love with her! I admire her positive, spunky, and honest attitude. Not to mention, all of her great ideas to save money!

A couple of weeks ago, Jordan blogged about an awesome movie theater secret right here in Utah. You can see the full post here. I just had to share this secret with everyone! Holladay Center Cinema 6 Theaters or Westates Theaters have recently been purchased by Water Gardens Theaters. They just had their grand opening last weekend. This theater is awesome! Water Gardens Theaters focuses on purchasing theaters that have recently gone out of business. Their main goal is to help the economy. They are creating jobs and allowing their customers to enjoy the movie-going experience without breaking the bank. Their prices are unbelievable! The tickets are $3.50 each. All day long, for everyone. Unless you are 2 or younger. And then you are FREE! However, the movies they show are not the new releases. The movies that are shown at Water Gardens have left the mainstream theaters, but have not been released on DVD. I still like them because they have a lot of family-friendly movies for my kids to enjoy. They do not show any R-rated movies either and are closed on Sundays. Now on to the best part. The food. You will not believe me when I say this, but the most expensive item is $3.00!!! You can get a large drink and a large popcorn for $6.00! Most people, myself included, have wondered how this company is even making any money on their concessions. Well, Jordan took care of that too and spoke to an employee of Water Gardens. They did market research and found that 90% of people that use mainstream theaters do not purchase concessions, but sneak in their own or go without. With their prices being as low as they are, almost 100% of their customers buy at least one item, if not more. And it all adds up. I like to support businesses that are helping our economy and have the customer's interest at heart. It is a breath of fresh air that some businesses aren't operating just to make a buck. We should all support this awesome business!

I just had to try this theater out! Rich and I took the girls to a movie there last Saturday. This was a first for our family. We have never been to a movie as a family of four. It was awesome! The girls each got to pick out a treat from the treat tables. Emma picked Swedish Fish and Haylee picked Strawberry Sour Punch Straws. We also got 2 medium drinks and a medium popcorn. With our movies tickets and our food/treats we spent a total of $24.00!! I'd say that is a dang good deal for four people to see a movie and have some junk food to enjoy it with. Not only are the prices amazing, but so is the staff. All of the employees were extremely polite and friendly. After we got settled in our seats, we discovered one of our drinks did not taste very good. I took the drink back to the counter and they felt so bad! They changed out my drink and also gave me a small bag of popcorn for free because of my troubles. We saw Smurfs 2 and it had us all laughing. It was such a cute family movie. I was a little worried about Emma losing interest, but her eyes were glued to the screen the entire time. It was so special to look over and see both of my girls watching this movie with big eyes and smiles. It was the best family date and we will be going back for sure!

P.S. I really like this blogging thing. I think I am going to keep at it and do it more frequent. I have so many ideas for future blog posts so stay tuned!