We had so much fun in Las Vegas! We were smart about certain things (and not as smart about others) so I thought I'd share... Here are some of our ways that we saved money in Las Vegas:

1. We don't drink - drinks are expensive in Las Vegas.

2. We don't gamble. But I found a dime on the stairs down to the pool!

Now the not so obvious things:

3. We booked our vacation through Southwest Airlines (flights and room) and got a way better deal than booking flights and hotel separately.

4. We stayed at the MGM Signature because we wanted a kitchen, but we also wanted access to the MGM's fun pool! The hotel is non-smoking. We asked for Tower 1 because it's closest to the MGM pools (in fact it's closer than MGM rooms) and we asked for a room on the strip side (no music from the pool bothering us, plus a strip view).

5. We bought water for $2.50 (big water!) just outside the MGM at the ABC Store. A huge savings over buying water in the hotel. We put it in our fridge.

6. We brought a suitcase full of food (bread, cereal, cheese, chips, veggies, ranch dip, butter, cookies, fruit etc.) so we only ate out one meal a day. Our room's kitchenette came with a microwave, toaster, plates, cups, utensils and a little stove. We didn't use the stove, though. Southwest lets you check two bags each for free; this was the only bag we checked since we all just do carry-on.

7. The international coke product sampler at Coke world (or whatever it's called) is more than enough for a family. You just need to buy one! And a really fun activity for $8.65.

8. We brought our own tubes for the Lazy River at the MGM pools; I bought them at the dollar store. No one cared that we were using our own tubes. One waitress by the pool told us if we took them to the little tube kiosk they'd blow them up for us.

9. If you want a snack at the pools, the fries are the criss-cut type with good seasoning and are only $5 (not bad for Las Vegas) at the snack bar. We brought our own water down to the pool each day.

10. If you are willing to walk a little bit, there is an In-n-Out not very far away (about a mile). Our total was $22 for all three of us. We found out how to walk online - you need to be on the Excalibur side of the street and then cross at Tropicana.

11. It was super hot and we did want to see some hotels which were pretty far away, so we got a 24 hour monorail pass for $10 each (D used a link online). We went in the evening to the Venetian and a show at the Mirage, then we used them the next day to go up to Paris and the Bellagio. The great thing about the monorail was that we didn't need to walk through the sometimes smoky casino to get to it from the MGM Signature.

12. The Bellagio is pretty fun to walk around and they have a crazy Conservatory that is worth seeing. The Venetian has separated their casino so no smoke to walk through - and there are free opera shows in the main piazza.

13. We didn't buy anything except a coca cola tiny polar bear at Coke World and a magnet at the M&M Store for F. We're not big shoppers. At M&M world, if you buy something, you get a shopping bag for $1. We didn't need another shopping bag, so we passed, but especially if you're buying a $4 magnet, this is a good deal.

14. The Hershey store is worth seeing; they were handing out Hershey kiss samples when we were there. If I had a younger child, I would consider bringing a few Hershey treats from home just in case they "needed" chocolate, but F was fine with our homemade chocolate chip cookies back at our room.

15. The pool at the MGM was amazing, so we spent every morning at the pool and only ventured out to see things in the afternoons. We brought a huge bottle of sunscreen and used a lot of it!!

It was a fun trip and if we hadn't seen shows, it would have been pretty reasonable. The shows... well, that's why we were there! We don't get these sorts of things where we live! Blue Man Group - amazing. Beatles Love - awesome! Worth the splurge!