Las Vegas on a Budget

As you might be aware you can spend a lot of money in Las Vegas (as we revealed here). Night can blur into day, day can blur into night and before you know it, you’ve woken from a gamble-drunk haze to realise you’re broke, lost and bizarrely married to a one-eyed Bengal tiger named Ralph. It’s a jungle out there, and not the sort Ralph’s from. Vegas can be done on the cheap though, and if you’re really smart about it you might still able to enjoy yourself too.

So, if you don’t have a spare half a million lying around, read on to find out how to do Vegas without spending a small child’s ransom in the process. If you do have money to spare, read on to find out how to keep it.

Las Vegas Bite Card

OK, one of the first things you need to get if you’re going to do Vegas on the cheap is a Las Vegas Bite Card.  Get one of these penny savers and you will get discounts on all sorts of Vegas-based attractions. Essentially, you’re taking a bite out of Vegas spending. Or something like that, they probably thought of a better slogan themselves. Chow down in Vegas with your Bite Card? Maybe? Probably not. Anyway, it entitles you to discounts at Las Vegas Shows, restaurants, nightclubs and – here’s the best bit – discounts on Las Vegas weddings. You get to save a whole $50 dollars on your Vegas nuptials. If anyone’s in two minds about partaking in a wholly romantic shotgun wedding, that’s bound to seal the deal, surely?

Fashion Outlets

Vegas is full of incredibly priced goods and services. For instance, if you’re really rich – or just poor and stupid – you can buy a cocktail for $3,000 or shop in the many designer stores which wouldn’t be caught dead with a price tag on their clothes, there are, though, some cheap outlet stores. One of the best places to go if you’re after an American bargain is Fashion Outlets – which is confusingly the name of a giant store rather than a description of one – but don’t let that put you off,  it’s 371,000 square feet of fashionable glory. You still can spend a fortune here and if you’re an ardent spender then you should probably stay clear, or at the very least give your money to a parsimonious fellow traveller, if one’s handy.

Eating

Las Vegas has celeb chefs, first class restaurants and an awful lot of places to eat cooked cow but that doesn’t mean you have to spend your own weight in gold. For starters, get coupons. There’s a positive plethora of them about so save them up before you go out to eat.  Secondly, go to the many food courts around instead of just throwing your lot in with the high price restaurants.  On the North Strip you’ve got the Fashion Show Mall, in the Mid Strip there’s the Venetian and Caesar’s, and on the South Strip there’s always Monte Carlo or the Showcase Mall, that you keep you stomach and bank balance full.

Las Vegas Weddings

If there’s one city in the world that knows how to do weddings right, it’s Vegas. Flashy, trashy and just that little bit pointless, Vegas really sums up contemporary feelings about marriage, all in one leather-suited Elvis’ impersonating minister. Who needs romance, all that silly expense and your friends around? Do you really need to know the name of the bride? Anyway, if you are in Vegas and feel like tying the knot but are looking for change from $100 Vegas will see you through. The Little White Chapel combines both the sacrament of marriage and the act of driving, all in one unbelievable package. It’s a drive-through service and will cost you around $55. Who could ask for more than that?

Oh, you want Elvis to be there too? Good point. Well, you can book Elvis in the suitably titled Graceland Wedding Chapel, although prices do start at around $200. Considering Elvis is almost certainly dead (or at the very least eating Kit-Kat’s on his couch) then that’s probably not too much to ask. If you’re not an Elvis fan you can always call on the host of other stars that are conveniently to hand or go for a theme based service like Star Wars (see below), James Bond or, for the true romantics out there, Dracula.