Never thought about it all the other times I've seen this episode, but I just watched this one on the dvd set and thought it was curious that Ralph had money to buy all those novelty items but didn't have any money for the convention. He obviously didn't have priorities in order.

Ralph not being able to manage his money wisely was a common theme in many of the episodes. One of the more subtle examples, which I find hilarious, is in a couple episodes with scenes at the Racoon lodge there's a small chalk board in the background that says something like "Members in arrears" and Kramden is always one of the names on the board. I don't remember seeing Norton on there, but on one episode the name on the board was spelled Kramdon.