Advance Notice on Doing the Puyallup

Special to Seattlest by Tod Bookless

"Rainbow Breaks" courtesy of Seattlest Flickr Pool member TrevinC

With our warm-again, not-again weather this summer it is hard to imagine that it is time to start thinking about The Fair. The Puyallup is offering online deals including the all-you-can-ride Dizzy Pass, but most parents would have to take off work to take advantage of
that. There is an opening weekend special which includes admission and seven rides for $20 (you have to click on "Continue" and then "Ticket Packages" to find it), but as every parent knows, seven rides is just a good start. A standard sheet of 20 tickets is $15, with each ride taking a few tickets.

Every year we ask ourselves why we do it. We pay total strangers to spin our children and to sell us expensive food that is clearly bad for us, yet we love it. If parents stood in their front yards and spun their children around in circles all day the neighbors would call Child
Protective Services--if we pay carnies to do it, then everything is fine.

Our Seattlest tip is to set a budget with your children before you go so they understand that they get a certain amount of tickets, and then it is off to see the fuzzy farm animals or the ShamWow guy. It is an opportunity to help them learn to budget their tickets and for parents to still have money left over for scones.