Money Spent?

[deadcell]

Hello,

This is going to be my first DEFCON and I see a lot of pages about things about how much essentials(Food,Room,Tickets,drinks) cost but I was wondering how much people spent outside of that. I imagine there are things there that are not possible to get other places but since I have not gone before I am a little lost on it. So how much did you spend on things like vendor's merch, shirts or other random things. Is there anything that you feel that you would kick yourself for not getting it? Thanks, I am trying to figure out as much as I can since I will be headed to DEFCON by myself.

[TheCotMan]

Some people participate in unofficial events like the DEF CON Shoot, and if they brought no firearm, may find someone to pay cash to use their weapon and fire their ammo.
Some go to shooting ranges to rent weapons, a lane and safety equipment and buy ammo.
Some go to Las Vegas shows like Penn & Teller, or BlueMan or others; there is a lot of entertainment outside of DEF CON before DEF CON begins and after DEF CON ends.
Transportation to and from events like the Toxic BBQ, and off-site parties is a consideration.
There are "Workshops" that people can pay for, sometimes in advance, sometimes on-site. These are beyond the cost of admission.
Some contests, villages or demo labs have "kits" people can buy, to use on-site with trainers, or teachers to learn while doing/making. These can range in price depending on the kits. Some require notification in advance so they bring enough kits. (This includes the Crypto and Privacy village, which had a badge you could use to try to solve some riddles and puzzles in their contest, and then I think it was "DC DarkNet" that had a kit that people could buy and then assemble tools to learn and compete in the contest. There are many contests, events, villages, labs, etc that have options like this.
There are contests like the many "Capture the Flag" or wireless contest which require contestants to bring computers and other devices to compete.
And contests with specialized tools required like the Tamper Evident contest.
If you want to use the Data Duplication Village images, you need to bring disks and those cost money.
In the past, the car hacking village had a tool you could buy, which was part of a demo they would lead, and allow you to check various components on some cars.
Then there are parties. Some are private and may have their own cover charge, or a non-open bar.
There are also vendors selling things like: Music, Lockpicking tools, tee shirts with trendy comments or information about being at DEF CON 25, electronics like a "Pineapple" or others like it, and more.

Just because I did not explicitly name a contest, village, event, workshop, demo-lab, etc does not mean there are not others I did not list. Only you know your interests. You can review all that is available and then consider which might offer sales for items (goods) or services, and which you might be willing to pay for.

[deadcell]

Awesome, Thank you for all of the information. I will have to be updating my budget a little more.

[DJ Jackalope]

CotMan's list is AWESOME! +10000000

I do most of my holiday/birthday shopping at DC.

To give you an idea:
Badges generally run around $40-$75ish, but the kits come with a TON of stuff, so you're paying for needed parts, too.
T-shirts are about $20
I think pick sets are around $40-50ish, but all of this of course depends on size, etc.
If you want to join or renew your membership to EFF, they usually have some kind of good deal going on at DC.

Most of the vendors/badges are cash only (you generally want to avoid ATMs) - but some vendors like me (I sell DJ Mixes/Shirts), take Square/Paypal credit cards.

Make a lyft/uber account ahead of DC - preferably a -new- one so you can use any of the ride credit deals that may come along.

[astcell]

I pack the weekend before going, then the night before I prune my luggage to take half the stuff and twice the cash.

1/2 the stuff: You can buy clothing at DEF CON. T-shirts are for sale and you are guaranteed to want a few. Worst case, run to K-Mart and shop. I have forgotten this or that and it is all available in Vegas. No worries unless you forget something like meds or important stuff.

2x the cash: You will want to eat, and hotel food is not cheap. Even if you carpool to Taco Bell, there is the taxi cost. Plus live it up and enjoy! It's an experience!