Convincing your parents to let you go to a Con

[Euphoria Kisses]

I live in texas so its dosent snow anough for me to shovel snow its only snowed twice in the 13 years ive been living here. But cutting grass it a really good one! It gettes REALLY hot down here so im sure someone would pay me to mow the grass my friend used to charge like 50$ per lawn. How much is it normal to charge? And I was planing on selling a couple of games too :3 The dogs on my neiborhood run wild I guess to just feed them every day? but I dont really know the pepole in my neiborhood well anough for them to tell me when their going on a trip... I need about 2000$ if im going to bring my whole family (wich I kind of have to heheh...)  

[Wielder of Mighty Pencil!]

My mom never had issues with cons, but here're some things that might help:

Cosplay. Find some really impressive photos online and show them to your mom. THEN find someone who does commissions and point out the large sums of money this person gets paid to make these awesome costumes. Finally, express an interest in getting paid large sums of money to be creative.

There's a documentary called "Cosplayers: The Movie" that actually deals with the entire con community. You can watch it on Crunchyroll. Basically, lots of people talk about how awesome cons are and how nice everyone is. An artist points out that con kids are some of the nicest kids she's ever met, "and they don't need to get drunk or be stupid to have fun." Yeah. Skip the section explaining what hentai is, though... I dunno how she'd feel about the crossplaying either...

There may be more later. XD  

[ninja-Lx]

Well for me I basically said to my mom, "Hey mom I just found out about this Anime Convention in Rosemont. Can I go to it?", and my mom said, "Show me the information about it.", so I did and then she paid for my ticket to go to the convention. But that was three years back. Last year I had to give her the moneys for the convention, and this year I have a connection through a friend of my friend. We're getting my whole Anime club into the con at a price that I'm not going talk about on here.  

[BLUEthefishDRAGON]

I'm not sure if you still need help, but when I wanted to go I actually was lucky enough to go to a con where I knew some of the staff and had them call my mom xd . But I know you may not be as lucky, however, that doesn't mean she can't contact the head. Have her go to the site of the convention, find the email for the con-chair, there should be one there. Have her email him/her and get their take on cons, let them tell her they have security there that you'll be safe, reassure her that maybe you'll call every once in awhile to let her know you're alive, safe and happy.
Another thing is, I went with a friend and her mom. So maybe see if she will go to, or if a friends parent is going have them call and re-assure her they're ok.  

[Wee Little]

I was a very persuasive person when I was younger and wanted to go to conventions. I usually gave a version of the truth, but I didn't straight up lie.

I never mentioned the boys... I only named the girls. That's an example. I never told my parents that many of my friends had long graduated, I just told them I knew them from the anime club I was in at my school (it was true). I told them this because my parents were excessively strict. I wasn't even allowed to talk to boys. I never had anything planned with any of them at a con ._.

They assume that since its anime, its a children's thing, and thus there are no, again, older boys there.

I explained how anime is in Japan (anyone of any age likes it).

When they saw the adult cosplayers... they no longer looked harmless, at all. They knew none of them were going to get into my pants, and they assumed none had the guts to attempt either.

Let them know that con staff members are usually very strict and can easily kick someone from a convention, so if anyone is giving you trouble, they will most likely be kicked from the convention.

"So and so's mom is okay with it" and getting other parents talking with each other helped. First I used one friend's parents as an example, then my parents were okay with it, and since I was a notoriously good girl, the other parents fell on board. When I was a senior in high school, I had the challenge of getting a sophmore friend's parents okay with going with a bunch of older kids. But what we did was have my mom tell her mom how long I had been going to them, and how I had never gotten in any trouble (which was true), and after that, she was okay with my friend coming with me.

Granted this convention was only one city over. If you are a minor and traveling a decent distance to go to a convention, I do not blame them for not being okay with it. I only managed to go to a convention a distance away once and I think it was because I had been going to cons for years and had proven that I can come home from a con in one piece.  

[Hypocritical Persecution]

As far as income goes, I found out recently I'll be babysitting somewhat, possibly for the next few years. My mom told my neighbor I'd babysit her kid, before she asked me.

My mom is still opposed to the idea of going to a con, at least that's what it seems like. She called manga crap today, so its a fair guess.

A couple of you made good points, about how making cosplays and stuff lets you learn about culture, and it could even be something that could earn you money in the future, because you never know. I learned to sew so I could make my cosplays, as well as my sisters and brothers.

My mom thinks some of my cosplays are cute, but whenever we go buy materials, she always wants to cheap out. I can't always say no either, considering she's paying sweatdrop  

[7dancer10]

see i pretty much have the same issue in the terms of parents...it's actually kinda strange. My folks will let my lazy-bum-of-a-brother go to LA by himself with his friends....but they won't let ME, the one who is resposible, smart, AND applying for AP and Honors classes go to AX which is in the same CITY evil it took 3 days of begging, and telling the (sort of ) truth about anime to get them to say yes. But that was with me not telling them about Cosplaying......But I think this year, ~with the proper amount of begging and casual mentioning, they will let me go for more than just one day xd  

[ll dell Orso ll]

My first convention was actually a birthday outing. My friend's parents brought us all, seven of us, in two cars on a two hour drive to the convention. It was a free convention so we didn't have to pay for a pass. My mum let me go because the two parents were going.

The first/and last convention I had to have my mother's permission was about two hours away as well. I just told her that I would pay for the room and my own food... and stuff. I showed her what the con offered, showed her about cosplay (( and prizes )), and that a few of my friends from school were going... and I told her about yaoi<--- funny story.

She agreed to go with me as long as I paid.
It was like a mini-vacation for her and her boyfriend as they got to go around the city while I stayed in the hotel.

I also played up stuff that she might have interest in as well...
She was interested in the +18 Video Room they had there... she wanted to know what yaoi anime looked like at two in the morning.

Conventions also have their own security plus the con site security.

I was kind of disappointed with Cosplay: The Movie. After the first 25 minutes its focus changes to industry and anti-downloading. I wanted to see more cosplay and convention sights crying .  

[PandaTeddy]

I just waited until I could drive myself there.  

[superdum2]

the only way i got to go to naka was the anime clubs in lees summit were going so i used that excusse to get in with my friends at ls and lsn  

[BULLSHITTERY]

If yer not allowed to go to a con, sneak out. That's what I do :B

 

[pitamin]

First, try to find a convention closest to you. Local cons are the best ideas.
So here's what I do:
I birng the subject up from time to time.
But not too much or my parents get irritated. Maybe a week or two apart.
I make sure my grades are up and that I have enough money to pay for myslef. (But my dad paid last/first time)

But since my dad is supportive of my hobbies ('cuz his co-workers are otaku too biggrin ) he allowed me and my friend to go no problem.
So I guess it depends on what your parents are like and if they are okay with your hobbies.

I'm only about to go to my second con so I'm not sure if this might work or not. But it did on my parents sweatdrop  

[Lady Cecilie]

My mom thinks I am going to get kidnapped  

[Teriyaki Tsubaki]

My parents think that I am too old to be going to the cons. They also think that it is a total waste of money