In our grade school (kindergartner’s thru 4th graders), we have an annual talent show that I attended for the first time.

What was the reasons I waited until this year?

My 6 year old daughter participated in the event this year!  She was suppose to do a hula hoop show, while a song played for 3 minutes.  So I was expecting a interesting but somewhat mundane hula hoop routine.  I was very surprised when she started out as I expected, but then she started doing jumps and then started moving around (pseudo dancing).  The audience clapped at the jumps, but the dancing and moving around floored everybody (especially me).  I was filming her on a camcorder, and actually had to look at her, messing up the frame for a few seconds. Later, I asked my wife if that was part of the rehearsals they were practicing, and she said no (I think she was surprised too). I was very proud, but really I was more amazed than anything else (this is rare for me)!

After my daughter’s 3 minutes spectacular show, I thought everything else would be lame (and there were a few mediocre performances), but I was pleasantly surprise with most of the acts.  There were two 4th grade girls that nailed the Hannah Montana (most of the girls sang these) songs they performed.  In my opinion, there were 3 standouts (my daughter being one of them of course ;)).

So why am I posting this?

Yes I’m proud of my daughter, but really this is a great form of entertainment!  It’s free and you are supporting your community in spirit and financially if you buy a bag of popcorn 😉

I got especially lucky, because one of the 4th grade girls did two performance that would have rivaled Hannah Montana herself.  The girl (named Katie) did a performance that was performed so well, that people almost stood up (I know I almost did).

I imagine that not all talent shows were as good as the one I went to last night, but it’s entertaining anyway, and occasionally, you’ll get to see that big diamond shine a little more brightly than the other jewels (nobody was rough last night…).

So this is my frugal tip for some free entertainment.  It only happens a few times a year, so check it out if you get the chance!

You might be amazed by some of the performances…  I know I was!