TAFFIE homeschool theater discounts FAQ
TAFFIE has made special arrangements for Texas homeschoolers to get great group sales discounts on live theater productions throughout the state. See quality live productions of award-winning Broadway shows and other live theater productions on tour at special savings for homeschool families. As offers become available, order online in the convenience of your home. No more standing in long lines, long annoying holds, or recordings that go on forever. Offers are open to homeschoolers, their friends and family.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Who can participate in the homeschool offers?What cities do you currently offer homeschool theater discounts?
How can I order?
Do I have to get my own group together in order to take advantage of the homeschool discount?
If I have a group that would like to sit together what is the best way to order?
When do offers become active?
Can I get the homeschool group price once the offer closes?
How are shows selected that will have homeschool offers?
How do the polls work?
Why should I vote in the polls?
How are ticket prices set?
What if I didn't receive my tickets?
What if I didn't receive my email confirmation?
What age is appropriate for these shows?
When should I arrive at the show?
Do you make a commission from the homeschool discounts?
Who can participate in the homeschool offers?
Offers are open to homeschoolers, their friends and family. Feel free to share the offer instructions with friends and family and your local groups and email lists so they can participate in the discount.
What cities do you currently offer homeschool theater discounts?We currently have arrangements for group sales in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin through several companies including Broadway Across America (Houston, San Antonio and Austin), TUTS (Houston) and Dallas Summer Musicals (Dallas). BAA Houston homeschool offers have been available the longest, our first homeschool Houston offer was in 2004. If you know of other cities/venues that have online group sales for live theater productions, contact us and we will consider those venues. We need to have enough support from the local homeschool company in that area to make it worthwhile to go to the effort to coordinate the offers for that city/venue. The venue also needs to have a good selection of shows that would appeal to homeschoolers.
Each theater sets up a special online order site for homeschoolers to order tickets through our Taffie group discount. During a particular show's run, only certain performance dates will be denoted as homeschool group sales shows. As each show becomes available, a block of tickets will be set aside for homeschoolers to order online. Tickets have special pricing that will vary by what the touring companies allow for group sales. Most shows will have multiple dates and multiple pricing levels offered. You will be given instructions and a special access code for each theater to place your online order by credit card. Tickets are only available for each show for a limited time (typically 10 days), so please order early once their availability has been announced. We must have at least 20 sales each time to continue, so please order early and tell your friends to help us make our minimum order. If you try to order for a particular section and tickets show as not being available, this means the inventory for that section has been depleted, in some cases, they can be restocked, but in other cases that section is sold out and you will have to order from a different seating section or for a different date. Please contact us and we can contact our group sales rep to see about restocking tickets while the offer is still active.
Do I have to get my own group together in order to take advantage of the homeschool discount?
No, we have already set up a group discount on behalf of homeschoolers, you can place your individual family order using our links and order information. Each ticket you order gets included in our overall head count, and tickets will sent directly to you, it is not necessary for you to get your own large group together, you can place your individual order using the special password to participate in the homeschool discount.
Do let your friends know about the shows as they become available. Please help us get the word out about these shows. After you place your orders, if you email us with the total number of tickets ordered and for which show, that helps us know if we are making our minimum orders (20 tickets for most shows). When we have good turnouts for our offers that makes it easier to get good discounts in the future.If I have a
group that would like to sit together what is the best way to order?
If
you have friends and family you would like to sit next to, the best
thing would be to place one order rather than multiple orders. For some
venues, you can make notes/comments about your seating. In
general we are seated in the same section for a particular price level,
but the only way to make sure that you are seated together is place one
order. For example if you order six tickets, they will not split up
your seating, they will seat all 6 tickets next to each other on the
same row. If you have a large group of 10 or more, make a note on your
order how you would like that seated (example 5 on each row).
If
you have families in the same homeschool group that would like to sit
in the same area but you don't want to have to place one big order,
have each family place their order on the same day and make a note of
who you would like to be near. Group sales may be able to seat you
close to each other but much of this depends upon how many other group
sales orders from other groups come in a the same time. The sooner you
order once an offer goes active, the easier it will be to handle any
special instructions.
For each show online offers are set up in advance of the actual show date. This can be anywhere from several weeks to several months for more popular shows. When an offer is active, we will send out notices on taffie-announce and update our website with current order information. Offers stay open for a limited time, sometimes as little as 10 days, so it's important to order when the offer goes active and not wait. The best seating is available at the start of the offer.
Can I get the homeschool group price once the offer closes?
In general, no, once an offer expires, you will NOT be able to get the homeschool discount, so it is important that you place your orders when offers are announced and BEFORE the offer expires. In general the online site will be available for sales several weeks before a particular show, but more popular shows may require advance purchase several months in advance. In some cases, offers are just a short time before the show date, this is all decided by the production companies. We will send notices to taffie-announce and update our website as offers are scheduled.
How are shows selected that will have homeschool offers?Each production company decides if a particular show will be available for group sales and then we decide which of those shows we would offers set-up for. Then before an offer is set-up, we first determine if a particular show has enough interest among the homeschool community to make our required minim number of tickets sold. At the start of each season we set up polls to see which shows homeschoolers are likely to buy tickets for. Based on your feedback, only those shows that area likely to make our required minimum orders (usually 20 tickets) have homeschool offers set up. Each show is decided on a case by case basis.
How do the polls work?We set up interest polls with a list of the available shows and have homeschooler rate each show for each city. These are interest polls, the actual offers come at a later time. You will use the online form, select your choices, and then submit your votes including any comments and contact information if you wish to be contacted. We use the results to determine which shows are most likely to have enough orders to make our group minimums (usually 20 tickets). We always do a pre-season poll, but we may also do additional polls if there are changes such as new shows or schedule changes or if we want to repoll closer to the show date. We will post poll results so that homeschoolers can see which shows are likely to be offered.
Why should I vote in the polls?
Polls help us determine how interested the homeschool community is in particular shows. Your vote helps us determine which shows are likely to get a good response once the offer is set up. When you vote, that makes it more likely that a particular show will have a homeschool offer available in the future. If you don't vote, we have no way of knowing that the interest is there. If it seems like there is little or no interest in a show, our group will skip that offer if it doesn't seem likely that it will "make" our group minimum order. Even though a homeschool offer for a particular show may have been set up in one city, does not automatically mean it will be set up in all cities as interest and support among the homeschoolers will vary from city to city. If you are likely to attend shows in more than one city, feel free to vote in more than one poll.How are ticket prices set?
Prices are determined by the traveling production companies for each show. Group sales does not set the prices or the service charges. For some shows, special student pricing on select sections are offered, for other shows the production company may have a flat percent rate discount on multiple seating levels or they may decide not to offer any group discount price break at all. The same show may have different prices in different cities, it's all up to the production company. Regardless of the price, in general, group sales will have a better selection of seating available for their groups than what you have available through single ticket sales.
What if I didn't receive my tickets?
TAFFIE does NOT receive the individual order information and does NOT process the orders, we only receive the grand total of how many tickets were sold once our group offer ends. When you place your orders please be sure to make a note of your confirmation numbers for later reference. If you did not receive your tickets, you can contact us for help, it will be much easier for group sales to track down your order if you saved your confirmation number. You should also recheck your order and verify that you did not specify that your tickets are at "will call" waiting for you at the theater box office.
What if I didn't
receive my email
confirmation?
There
are several reasons this happens including if your order didn't process
completely or the most likely reason is if you had a
typographic
error in your email address. In some cases, orders are not processed
every day and you may not receive your email confirmation on the same
day that you placed the order. If you have not received your email
confirmation within a week of placing your order, contact us. We
suggest you write down/print your confirmation number at the time you
place your order.
These are live theater productions and content will vary by show. Some productions are suitable for all ages, while others are best for middle school or high school and above. Each family will vary on what they feel is appropriate for their children and even within the same family some children are more mature or sensitive than their siblings. We will give some general suggestions on ages, maturity level of the production but each family will use their best judgment. Keep in mind these are full productions that are usually 2 hours plus intermission, so if your child has a hard time sitting still or not talking that long, it may be better to wait until they are older to attend. Attending theater productions are a great way to enhance your children's exposure to the fine arts and to teach them social manners, but it is also best to prepare them for the evening by giving them some guidelines such no talking during the production, no climbing on seats, running, cell phones off, no cameras, no eating or drinking during the show. Dress up a bit, don't wear play clothes. If it's a serious play, also explain about not laughing at inappropriate times. It is disrespectful to both the actors and the audience if your child creates a disruption. If they do cry, quietly take them out to the lobby until they calm down. Do not bring babies or very young children to these productions, they are too young to understand staying quiet for that long, there are children's theater productions better suited for them. Children's theater productions are shorter in length and provide a good introduction to theater. If this is the first time your child has been to the theater, arrive early and take some time to explain what to expect, take them to the restroom before the show. Each child should have their own seat, if they sit in your lap or lean on you, they may be blocking the view of the person behind you. When the play is over, wait for curtain calls, it is rude to rush for the exits. Any negative comments should be discussed on the way home, not at the theater, the actors and production company have worked hard to provide the show to you. Some plays will have educational materials available online that can help you explain the themes for the play and follow up discussion topics.
When should I arrive at the show?
You should arrive at least 30 minutes before showtime. Take into account travel time and parking for the venue you are attending and area traffic and traffic for other nearby venues. If you are unfamiliar with the area, bring a map. Make sure you have your tickets (or your confirmation number if you are picking up tickets at will call) before you leave home. At some venues, the closest parking fills up an hour before the show, so you will have to walk further if you arrive later. Parking fees vary by venue and time of day. Most shows will not allow late seating during the opening act, so you may miss the first act of the play if you do not arrive in a timely manner. In general most venues open their doors 90 minutes before showtime and allow seating 30 minutes before the show starts. Some of the traveling productions will have special shops to sell items such as t-shirts, music and programs related to the show that you can buy while you are waiting to be seated. If you arrive early you can also place your pre-order for snacks during intermission and save time. Turn off your cell phones when you arrive at the theater.
Do you
make a commission from the
homeschool discounts?
No,
we do this as a service to the homeschool community and do not make a
commission on the ticket sales. We also coordinate
the annual Houston Rockets
Homeschool Day and homeschool discounts at
select events at Toyota Center
in Houston. If you would like to help support our site, you can use our
Amazon affiliate links to buy books/music and other products.
Last updated April 16,
2008 
Copyright
1998-2008 Susan Frederick