Talk me out of this consumerism desire? maybe?

[FireDAD]

I might be having trouble seeing things clearly.
I am currently considering purchasing two season tickets to our local hockey team in the Quad Cities. It would be an anniversary gift for my wife. We both love going to the games and the season tickets save about $5 per ticket and there are other nice perks that go along (jersey, free parking, 24 tickets for friends through the season,etc) However, I realize that if we just picked and choose games that we wouldn't go to every game and our out of pocket wouldn't be this high. I do know that if we bought these tickets we likely wouldn't miss a game. At $350 a ticket I am having trouble spending that for what amounts to an anniversary present. We make just over 6 figures with only mortgage debt so this wouldn't really slow us down on FIRE too much. I have trouble spending that much on ANYTHING, let alone something that is purely consumption.

What would you do in my situation?

[marblejane]

If you buy the season tickets, do you have to go to every game? Could you sell tickets to a few games? Maybe look at the schedule, decide which games to watch at home, and sell your tickets to those games as a compromise.

[FireDAD]

We can sell them/give them away. Sadly this is a small team, no local watching option.

[Sylly]

I would echo marblejane's suggestion.

Just because you can go to all games, doesn't mean you have to. An option is to go to a subset of the games (maybe more than you would if you buy individual games), and try to recoup your cost by selling the rest, until the overall cost is more to your liking. If you still want to just go to every game, then it's up to you to come to terms with the cost.

But you should check in advance whether there's a market for those tickets in your area, whether it be through ticket vendors or your local craigslist. If there isn't, then the above option isn't really available to you.

I've purchased NHL tickets from other people (presumably Season Pass holders) through Ticketmaster before. I would guess there are alternative sites, as well, though I'm not sure if it also works with smaller league teams.

[Snow White]

I opened this post thinking you would tell us why you HAD to have the new IPhone 6 or even worse, their new watch.  But instead you want to buy EXPERIENCES that both you and your wife will enjoy for months and it won't significantly delay FI for you. 

I say buy the season tickets and enjoy all the games you want and sell or gift the other tickets.  This process is about enjoying the journey and it sounds like season tickets to see your hockey team play would enhance your journey!

[FireDAD]

True, we can always sell them on craigslist, thats not a problem here. I like the idea of the season pass because I do a fair bit of traveling on weekends for my side hustle, and if we have these tickets then my wife has a guaranteed something to do with one of her friends and there is no way for her to feel guilty about spending money while I am gone working.

Great input so far, I'm going later tonight to see a salesperson and try and get a better price and see what other options there might be.

[FireDAD]

Oh, if it helps, it is 33 home games plus the first round of playoffs included over 5 months.

[frugaliknowit]

Echo what others have said.

You can also make an effort to cut back in other areas to make up for the indulgence.  Less meals out, less starbucks, etc.