Are you with the Chamber of commerce or just visiting and if so when because some of the stuff is free on certain days.

No, I am not with the Chamber of Commerce. I am not spamming. I post here regularly for years in many forums. I recently started a thread about Milwaukee free stuff and put out a request for someone to post Chicago free stuff, as I have been looking for it for when I visit there, which is frequently.

I would actually love it if there would be more threads started like this. Maybe one thread for each of fifty states, so that whether you are travelling, or are a native of the city, you can click on the thread and read up on free stuff to do in the area. Anyone can contribute something they know about, and everyone can benefit.

ok, Garfield Park conservatory is free and interesting. I prefer Lincoln Park conservatory. Adler Planetarium has free days and certain free weeks. Art Institute has certain free days. It used to be regular days that were free now it seems like there is a schedule.
If you join one museum as a member, you can get free admission in other cities. I have a LACMA museum card and it got us free admission in Philadelphia and Boston and at the art museum in colorado.
I have a similar question--we are going to Minneapolis next year for a meeting for a week. What in the world would we be doing there? It doesn't need to be free.

Using museum memberships at other museums is a great tip that not a lot of people know about!

I just checked out the Smart Museum at Navy Pier, it is the world's largest collection of stained glass windows. It is always free, for now that is, and it was really worth the time set aside to see them. It was awesome. Free trolley ride to Navy Pier too!

I did visit the Laurie Garden at Millenium park, (its free) and loved it! It is not for everyone's taste or interest though. It consisted of prarie and marsh natives which would only hold the interest of the true garden hobbyist. A lot of people do not understand that type of gardening and see it all as a bunch of "weeds'.

Marge, why don't you start a new thread about Minneapolis? No one will click on this Chicago thread looking for Minneapolis info. Then everyone can keep adding to it as they find new and interesting, frugal events in MN.

As I mentioned before, it would be nice to have a thread started for each of 50 states so that if one was going to vacation say, in Ohio, or just bored at home in OH, you could just do a search for *Ohio* in this forum and 'boom' there it all is.

No, every club I know of charges you for water if that is what you choose to drink for the evening. Bottled water in a club might cost you eight dollars, and if you insist they bring you tap water you will still be charged the eight dollars since you are taking up table space and using their glass and ashtray and restroom.

You also run the risk of your date thinking that you are a cheapskate for trying that "just bring me tap water" stunt and they won't care to be seen out with you again in a nice club. Then you will find youself alone, frittering away your hours on the internet trying to get people to click on a link to a bogus website just to collect a penney for every 1,000 clicks you can get.

BTW, no one wants to click on your link. Shoo.

Last year we had to spend 5 days in the downtown Chicago area over Easter break. What we ended up doing was buy the "City Pass". It got us into Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Hancock Observatory, Museum of Science, OmniMax plus I don't know what else. It was worth every penny we spent. The biggest thing was NO LINES!! If you had the city pass, you didn't have to wait in line to enter. Easter is a very busy time due to schools being out for Spring break in a lot of areas so the lines were atrocious at some of the places.

We also did the free things too... Navy Pier, walked the Magnificent Mile, rode the trolleys, etc.

Actually, it was a fairly inexpensive vacation for us. Before we left, I scoured the internet for dining coupons, got special rates on a hotel (stayed in a four star suite on the magnificent mile for $99 a night with FULL breakfast!) and planned what we were going to do ahead of time! We got special rates on Amtrak so we rode that ($200 for 6 of us from western Iowa) Couldn't have drove and paid the parking for twice that amount!!

Chicago is a beautiful city with lots to do. My kids can't wait to go back again!

Here is a link that might be useful: Chicago City Pass

marge727, you didn't say when you're going to be in Mpls or what types of things interest you, but here's a good place to start.

Explore Minnesota

A few ideas: Mall of America, Minnesota Zoo, Guthrie Theater, Grand Rios Water Park, golf courses, various sports activities, snowmobiling, fishing year round, Science Museum, state and local parks, comedy clubs, restaurants, Aquatennial, Winter Carnival, State Fair, County Fairs, Holidazzle, etc, etc.

A few links to give you some ideas:

City of Minneapolis

St. Paul stuff

And of course, our old pal Google has some ideas...
Things to do in Minneapolis

Things to do in St. Paul

If you're looking for Minneapolis proper, there's still a lot to do, depending on tastes. If you want to go metro-wide, there's more, since a lot of the suburbs have attractions. Want to travel a bit, there's that much more, from the Spam Museum (not to be comfused with forum spammers! LOL) to the ships on Lake Superior.

I'd suggest that if you have time and transportation, to check out some of the local community events. Most every town has a community celebration that can be a lot of fun and you can get a little more "personal" than the bigger ones. Not all are spectacular, but there's stuff to do. Just have to decide what interests you, amount of time, budget and go have fun!