Parent of 15-year-old daughter questions expensive concert ticket purchase for niece: ‘It just won’t be the kind of experience I wanted us to have’

There are few things that can throw a teen into a tizzy faster than the prospect of getting concert tickets to their favorite bands! 

Do you remember your first concert? I certainly do — it was a good old fashioned Jingle Ball show, hosted by a popular radio station, and featuring a bunch of popular radio artists. I went with a few family members and we had an incredible time. The hype around the concert was simply irresistible! There's a buzz in the air as you wait for the openers to come on, browse merch, talk with other concert-goers, and then finally, after all that waiting, get to see your favorite musicians right there in front of your very eyes. 

This parent is pretty hype, too — they're trying to plan an awesome concert for their kiddo. She's 15, and as a Christmas present, they wanted to get her a ticket to see a band they both really love. This would be an excellent bonding experience for the two… except that this parent had a bit of a social faux pas while describing the event to their sister-in-law. 

No one ever said that concert tickets were cheap — these days, they're comically expensive, costing 3 or 4 figures easily. Even if you find tickets that cost $150, if you're going as a pair, the price balloons to $300, plus tax, plus whatever silly venue fee they're going to tack on, plus the price of gas, tolls, parking, or transit, plus the cost of food and/or merch… it can easily cost you hundreds to attend a show, and not everyone has that kind of money to burn. 

This person brought up potentially buying tickets in front of the SIL, and things quickly turned awkward. The parent explained that they simply had more disposable income since their daughter is an only child, but that's not the kind of thing you can say out loud during a conversation, it's just implied. Life's not fair — sometimes you watch your friends get expensive gifts and pricey tickets when you know your own parents can't afford that. That's why it can be so awkward to talk about these things, because neither the parent nor the SIL are really in the wrong here. Still, this person was kind enough to consider getting their niece a ticket anyway, and you can read down below how that went over. They added an update to the original post — check out the full tale below.