Our Trip to Las Vegas

We are going on a relatively budget friendly trip in Las Vegas next week! Even though we had just been to Hawaii a couple months ago, Kyler was in the mood to go someplace warm for his birthday. That also might have something to do with the bad Montana June Weather – it snows almost every year on his birthday! So he picked Vegas! There are zero affiliate links in this post- I am simply sharing the Las Vegas Trip that I planned in 1 month and how we are going to reasonably enjoy a splurged adventure in Vegas. This post shares my pre-trip plans, budget, packing list for 1 carryon and tentative itinerary. When we get back, I’ll share our FREE activities, the other things you can do in Vegas and the final cost of the trip.

Flying to Las Vegas

Kyler found tickets for $60 pp each way on Allegiant. We couldn’t manage to pack 5 days in Vegas in 2 personal items (as you will see below), so we needed to check for 1 carry-on and shared that. That cost us $40 because we did it in advance.

Our Hotel During Our Trip

Because we booked with Allegiant, their flight schedule determined how many nights we needed to/could stay. From Kalispell to Vegas, they only fly on Thursdays and Sundays. We didn’t want to miss too much work/school so we felt like this was a fine balance anyways. We booked 4 nights at a resort on The Strip and booked it through Costco Travel $388 (excluding tax) at the Mandala Bay Resort. Later it will have a $39/night resort tax. We stayed in the Wellness Suite. I look forward to posting pictures later! He picked the flights and the hotel- and he wanted to stay someplace nice and not break the bank. So he picked Mandala Bay.

Making Our Trip to Vegas Budget Friendly

First things is first: I made a budget and will stick to it! I have done a lot of careful planning PRE-trip to Vegas. We saved up money after booking tickets, flights and our pool day reservations for the other things we needed like food and tickets to the aquarium.

Food/Drinks

So we need 4 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 4 dinners. And I have decided to do these 4 things to keep our trip to Las Vegas a little more budget friendly.

1. I did some research on Pinterest and came up with a small list of restaurants that 2 picky eaters might enjoy PLUS weren’t that far from our hotel. Using my Google Maps app, I compared distances to those places and how long we would be walking for that omelet or burger, the range in price for their menu and if we might end up taking a Lyft either or both ways. In the original budget, I added $20 per meal because Lyft rides would be roughly $10 each direction if we chose to not walk both ways.
2. I am packing food in our carryon! Because of my special diet, I needed to pack things that could go in a carry-on and not need a fridge- because the mini-fridge would cost us $30/night just to use… I packed:
   1. Hot cereal Wild Zola (grain free and really filling) (got them on Thrive Market). I will be going to WholeFoods and buying a couple bananas to add to the cereal and using the Keurig in the room for hot water.
   2. Lara bars
   3. K-pods
   4. My own coffee sweetener
   5. Yeti Cup (for coffee), tiny bowl and plastic spoons, water bottle
   6. Some utensils
3. Shopping at Whole Foods- I am getting some items that did not need to go into a fridge like bananas and apples and granola bars for Kyler.
4. Using OpenTable as a Reference– Since this is a place you’re not going to be making your own meals very often, I recommend using OpenTable to pick your dining options! A great feature to the app is that you can check out their menu and if you’re lucky you can see menu prices and figure out how much you’ll be spending. Plus you never have to wait for a table if you have already reserved it! So for the budgeting aspect, I look through the options, compare distance and Lyft rides and determine our possible bill!

Transportation

1. We are walking! There is a lot to see (and for free!) so we might as well enjoy it.
2. Sometimes we will use Lyft- but not often. Everywhere we plan to go will approx. cost $8-10 each way

Activities

We are limiting ourselves to what we were going to spend for activities. I really think this is what will bolster our budget. Since this was a birthday trip, we will spend an entire day at the pool, one day we will visit the Mandala Bay Aquarium, and other days will be random exploration of the The Strip and all the FREE fun things you can do on The Strip.

Possible Itinerary for Our Trip to Las Vegas

Day #1- Aquarium $21 per person for tickets + lunch + Enjoying Free Activities later

Day #2- We will 1 entire day at the pool with reserved daybeds. They are the most expensive thing activity, but this was a birthday trip and we are reasonably “splurging” this week. 3-4 weeks prior to our trip, I had seen the daybeds for $75 pp and Kyler said we shouldn’t book our reservation until closer to that week. ….Wrong way to go. Because 2 weeks later it was $100 per person! Before the prices went up again, I booked us for June 8 at $100 pp…. On one hand, it does include quite the luxurious day and is similar to purchasing Waterpark tickets…. 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️ $200 + umbrella + food/drinks

Day #3- Exploring The Strip + Enjoying the Free Things + food/drinks (I will update you later on this!)

What I am Packing for Our Trip to Las Vegas

Clothes for 2 Airport Days and 3 Adventure Days in Las Vegas – It will be 100 degrees during most of the days. Our lazy pool day is set to be one of the lower temp days (97 degrees) so that isn’t too bad. We have 2 days of adventures- those are almost 100 degrees or more! We can spend some time indoors, some times walking- totally with water bottles! Our other 2 days are at the chilly airport.

Clothes

• Black romper
• 2 tops
• Yoga pants
• PJs
• 1 dress
• Denim shorts
• Bikini
• 1 swimsuit coverup
• Clarks sandals (not pictured)
• TOMS Tennis shoes (not pictured)
• 2 pairs of socks (not pictured)
• Nude bra and sports bra (not pictured)
• 5 pairs of undies (I always overpack this item, and I will never break that habit!)
• Long sleeve/light sweater (just in case/for the airport)

Toiletries/MISC

• Skincare products
• Shampoo/Conditioner/Body Wash (for me and Kyler)
• Mascara/BB Cream/Blush & Lip stick/Eyeliner/Eyeshadow and brushes
• Makeup wipes
• Sunscreen!
• Aloe Vera (in a travel sized bottle)
• Bubble Bath (in a travel sized bottle)
• Toothbrushes and pastes
• A bag for our Pool Day
• Reusable grocery bag that folds and zips back into itself!
• Sun hat!
• Sunglasses
• Glasses cleaner spray and cloths
• Food listed above!
• Chargers for phones, Fitbit, iPad and Kyler has to bring his laptop for school

Final Thoughts on Our Trip to Las Vegas

Okay so my original budget is $1378 for the entire trip. 5 day trip, 4 nights, 3 recreation days, 1 of which is an expensive day.

• Hotel + Resort Tax: $388 + $156 = $544
• Flight: $234
• Recreation/Transportation: $300 (original budget) Huge Factor: we will not be gambling. We sometimes try to want to gamble but can get bring ourselves to actually be interested…
• Food: $300 (original budget)

And there is a great way to do it for way cheaper! Check out this other blogger’s article about how she spent 3 days in Vegas for only $300. The key differences between our posts is that we opted to splurge on a hotel and pool day this time around, there are 2 of us, and we are staying 1 day longer than she did, and she magically was able to book a cheaper flight than us because we’re out in Montana. But still! Kuddos to her!

Follow Up Articles for this Trip

• The Actual Cost of a Resort in Las Vegas
• FREE Things to do in Las Vegas

Related Lifestyle Articles on The Tiny Twenty-Something

• What to Wear in Hawaii
• What I’m Packing for Hawaii!

Image of our Stay Well room was found on Google I will update this later with my own pictures!!