Frugal Friday-Lights, Audience, Action! "Free" theater tickets!!

One of our favorite ways to celebrate the holidays and save money on quality, family oriented entertainment is to volunteer at a theater in a large town not far from us. We are privileged to have access to a high quality, Christian based theater that produces season after season of fun, thought provoking and highly rated entertainment. We began ushering about 12 - 13 years ago when our girls were just old enough to take tickets, greet people at the door, work the concession at intermission or assist people to their seats. It has been a rewarding experience on several levels; creating family memories, usually spiritually uplifting, and last-but not least-financially beneficial. My husband and I have also organized group trips to the theater for our home Bible Study group and often several of us will usher in lieu of paying the $70/per couple or so for tickets. Here's how it works: we call ahead to secure the time slot of the show we would like to see. (They usually take about 6 volunteers per show.) We arrive one hour before curtain time, discuss our position for the evening with the house manager and then work our "spot". At curtain time, we are then released to find empty seats and sit amidst the audience to enjoy the show. During intermission, a few of us serve drinks at the concession stand. We then join the other patrons to enjoy the rest of the production. At the end of the show we stand by the theater exits and thank people for coming, then proceed to clean up trash and position seats in preparation for the next performance. For our volunteer time we are reimbursed, not only with free admission to that shows performance, but we are also given vouchers to return to the theater to watch the current offering again. This covers us if the show we usher for is totally sold out and we are unable to find seats to sit and enjoy the show the evening that we are there working. (this has never happened to us) So, in effect, we are each given two opportunities to view the show in exchange for about 1 1/2 hour of volunteering. At $32-$38 per ticket...you can see what a GREAT opportunity this is for a family to attend the theater for "free" and also have tickets left over to use again or give away. The Christian theater we attend (The A.D. Players) is rated one of the BEST in the entire country and we really enjoy our involvement with them. This theater was founded in 1967 by Jeannette Clift George who "pioneered a unique style of theater committed to producing plays and programs that uphold human value, offer creativity, and promote literacy and education." You may recognize Jeannette as the lead actress (Corrie Ten Boom) in the movie "The Hiding Place". So... get out the phone book, look in the newspaper and check around where you live to see if there are any untapped opportunities yet to be discovered! If you currently have a theater or symphony your family enjoys attending, call and see how you would go about signing up for their ushering program. Your quest may bring you to an enjoyable endeavor that also becomes a favorite family tradition...especially around the holidays!!