If I wasn't so poor...: I'd buy more stuff at the Renaissance Faire...

So, several weeks ago four friends and I made a trip to the Northern California Renaissance Faire (from here on out we shall simply refer to it as "the Ren Faire,"simply because I have a hard time spelling "renaissance") in Hollister for a day of pageantry, revelry and romance. Now this was not my first venture to the Ren Faire (we're keeping the "e" at the end of "faire" to preserve the old-timey experience). When I was little my mom took me annually, but I hadn't been in quite a few years.

Because I had only been to the Ren Faire once since my time of mooching off my mom as a child, I had not realized just how costly the 1500's were. As a kid my mom had bought me a little dried flower tiara and treated herself to a couple of fancy feather hair clips (which I have since lifted from her to wear in my own hair). When I went a few years ago I had only purchased some food and a soda and my ticket was free so I was still pretty much in the dark as far as prices went.

I really should have anticipated some of the prices that I would encounter once I saw the ticket prices. Now, $25.00 for an adult ticket may not seem all that steep, but keep in mind that despite that fancy "e" at the end of it, the Ren Faire is still just a fair. Granted it does have a bunch of people dressed up in period garb, speaking in clever, Shakespearian style double-entendres, jousting, fencing and performing a variety of shows. Oh, they also have those turkey legs.

Regardless of the above (yes, even the turkey legs), the ticket price is probably a bit much for a fair, (even one with an "e" at the end) I really shouldn't have had such sticker shock.

The price gouging didn't hit me until we went into the first stand. This vendor was selling a variety of things from period accurate clothing to home and garden decorations. It was a dispute between my friend

s and I trying to decide if this decorative corset (on the left) on display was just that, for display or as I contended--for wearing, th

at brought the price tags to light. Now I never saw the actual price of that garment because I saw the price of the smaller (this one clearly for decorative purposes only) one (on the right)--$255.00. I was too scared to see the other price after that. Okay, so these are clearly works of art that deserve to have prices that reflect that. This post isn't really about disputing whether or not the items for sale deserve their prices--it's about the fact that the Ren Faire is packed with things way out of my price range, especially for a fair(e). And although I put up quite a fuss about wanting to wear the purple one, looking at the picture now, I might concede defeat by admitting that maybe, it too, is decorative--But that's not really that important.

The corsets weren't the only expensive things. I wanted to get my mom a piece of jewelery...too bad all of the decent pieces were over 50 bucks. Oh! And there were Harry Potter magic wands! But those were pretty pricey too.

Okay, so I did cave, I bought a fantastic feather hair clip for $12.00, which normally I would never do...but whatever, don't judge me. I wear it a lot.

So all-in-all we had a great time, but none of us bought much more than food and drink because everything was far too expensive. So if I wasn't so poor I'd buy more stuff from the Ren Faire...starting with that fantastic corset.