Sometimes, selling just the main event ticket is not enough. You may want to offer attendees the option to purchase extras, such as T-shirts, meals, rental equipment, or VIP upgrades. This article explains the available methods to add extra sales options or add-ons to your events using The Events Calendar and Event Tickets.

Option 1: Create Additional Ticket Types

If the extra item is tied directly to event capacity, you can create a separate ticket type. For example:

  • General Admission – Standard entry.
  • Admission + T-Shirt – Entry with a T-shirt included.
  • VIP Admission – Entry with exclusive perks.

Pros: Keeps everything tracked under the event itself.
Cons: May increase the number of ticket types, especially if you offer many variations.

If you are using Event Tickets Plus with WooCommerce, you can leverage product add-ons or extensions like:

This method allows attendees to select optional extras during checkout without needing to create multiple ticket types. For example:

  • Add a meal option (+ $15)
  • Add a parking pass (+ $10)
  • Add rental equipment (+ $20)

Pros: Cleaner ticket setup, more flexibility for upsells.
Cons: Requires WooCommerce and an add-on plugin.

Please take note that we are unable to guarantee that third-party plugins will work with our products; therefore, we advise testing on a staging site first and getting in touch with the plugin author with any questions.

Option 3: Sell Extras as Separate Products

You can also create standalone WooComm/erce products for extras and link to them from your event description. For example:

  • Add a “Merchandise” product page with T-shirts or hoodies.
  • Add a “Meal Voucher” product page.

Attendees can buy the event ticket and extras in separate transactions or you can bundle them using WooCommerce product bundles.

Pros: Works even if the extras are not tied to event capacity.
Cons: Requires customers to navigate to another product page unless bundled.

Option 4: Custom Development (Advanced)

For advanced needs, you may consider custom code to extend how tickets and add-ons work together. In case you decide to go this route, we have extensive documentation on customization that you can find here.

Which Option Should I Choose?

  • If extras affect ticket capacity → Use additional ticket types.
  • If extras are optional and not capacity-dependent → Use WooCommerce add-ons.
  • If extras are unrelated to attendance → Sell them as separate products.

Summary

Adding extra sales options or add-ons is possible in multiple ways, depending on your setup. The recommended approach for most cases is to use WooCommerce product add-ons, since this provides flexibility and keeps your ticketing clean. If you prefer a simple setup, additional ticket types within the event may also work.

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