I've been a little slow, however, in returning the order form for the current fundraiser. The problem isn't that I can't find my checkbook, but rather, that I can't decide what to buy. All of the items in the fundraising brochure are must-have essentials sold at reasonable prices.
I'm trying to decide between a hamburger press for $11.50 and a "You Are Beary Special" Bear for $16.00.
When I told my kindergartner that I was thinking of sitting this fundraiser out, she threw herself off the sofa."Now I'm not going to get that Wii!" she cried.
To thank our elementary school for letting them take 50% of the fundraiser's profits, the fundraising company is raffling off a Nintendo Wii. To be eligible for the drawing, you have to sell 5 or more items.
I feel bad for my daughter, but not bad enough to buy five sets of Children of the Light potholders.
"Can I see if Helen-Marie and Sandy want to buy something?" she wanted to know.
I love my neighbors too much to subject them to a microwavable bacon rack.
Once my daughter stopped hyperventilating, I explained to her the harsh realities of having a mother who doesn't support door-to-door sales.
"So what you're telling me is that I am never ever going to get that Wii?" she wanted to know.
"That is correct," I replied.
If my precious darling did not stomp her feet so hard that a knick knack fell off the mantle, I might have been moved to mercy...and possibly talked into buying a pair of aromatherapy candles or hummingbird fan pull.
(Sigh) It looks like we're just going to have to do without.***
What's the best thing that you bought from your child or someone else's?
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Halfway through my eldest's kindergarten year, I called my mother in a snit to complain about the seemingly endless fundraisers. She calmly explained that schools expect kids to participate in probably one per year, but they host them more often because not everyone can contribute at the same time.
I'm very anti- door-to-door, too, and really get disgusted by the companies that exploit children to sell their, well, crap... even if a portion of it does benefit the school. We stick to the book sales hosted by the school.
I worked for a lawyer one time who, when his kid entered first grade, walked in to the front office and said, "Here's a check for $500. Don't ask my child to sell a darn thing this year."
To stop commandeering your comments section and answer your question: the fundraisers I don't mind are books, magazines, and wrapping paper. You know, things that get used and don't take up much room.
Hummmmm... you could have had us buy something from this fundraiser so we could enter your giveaway. Then she might have just won that Wii. :~)
I am even meaner... I teach school and envariablly each kid comes to me first before they take that crap home. Like I have the money to buy them. I always tell them that it wouldn't be fair, I couldn't pick from whom to buy. I did buy a pizza kit once. for 17.50 I got 3 little ceasars kits. Not too bad I thought.
Over the years, my kids have sold: Candy: great for the teeth and the waistline
Entertainment books: $20 down the drain. Have you read the restrictions on those great coupons?
Christmas decorations: Um, we're Jewish
Like the lawyer in the previous comment, I tend to write the school a check at the beginning of the year and tell them I'm done.
I will say that this is one of the big advantages of homeschooling.
We don't participate in fundraisers at the school. I have been witness to the stomping of feet! It is not a pretty sight. In our school they take all the kids to an assembly for an hour or so and get them all hyped up about selling the "crap" Really isn't there something more important they could be doing???
the best thing i ever bought from my child or someone elses??? HMMM.....that's easy, girl scout cookies!!!!
It gets worse as the kids get older...finally I paid my middleschooler $20.00 if he would NOT bug me about the fundraiser....then I caved on the next one
It is hard because the schools will hold an assembly" touting the value of all the great gifts they can earn...Then there is the fundraiser party that only you can go to if you sell "10 things." That is a tough one because it is a cool party...
Just yesterday we got four tubs of cookie dough and he came home with a HUGE eraser that says "FOR BIG MISTAKES ONLY" and two pens. He is getting older and wiser as he said to me, Well mom, "How long do you think these will last?"
Schools need the money and it is much cheaper than private school who have fundraisers also, so... maybe just suck it up and do one a year????
I guess it is a BIG MISTAKE
I bought popcorn. $40 worth of popcorn. Pre-popped, chemically flavoured, stale popcorn.
i don't believe it either. we went to catholic school 1975-88 and my dad would always just say raise the tuition. Best thing I ever bought a $25 calendar from a catholic school that put in a daily raffle I won $50 thru-out the year. The next year when I wanted to buy 4 they switched to candles - really candles?
OMG, I totally bought one of those hummingbird fan pulls for my mother-in-law. She LOVED it! I hate fundraisers. It's worse when you're a stay at home mom. All those damn things I bought from people I worked with when I didn't have kids...now I can't hit THEM up for payback! Why don't they sell something useful, like vodka or cleaning products? Then I would LOVE to participate!
I bought a travel mug that leaked coffee all over my brand new pants on my way to work. No more fundraisers for me.
I don't mind buying, er, I mean selling the candy bars. They're usually worth the $1 each. And the nice thing about my Oldest Boy's Catholic school is that the principal REFUSED to allow the company sponsoring the fund-raiser to allow prizes for who sold the most crap. I was pretty impressed with that. She told them they could take the 5 cents for the "prizes" and add it to the bottom line...and they listened!
My husband would also like to just write a check at the beginning of the years and be done with it. Part of me hopes that it makes the young 'uns realize that their education costs money...hence the fundraisers.
We sold Girl Scout cookies this year. That's it! It seems like every time I turn around someone wants my kids to sell something or collect money for some cause. If I didn't limit it I think my neighbors would hide every time they saw my kids approaching their front door. Oh, and at my daughter's school, they have a Mega Party. All the kids who sell enough stuff get pulled out of class for pizza, soda and bounce houses while the rest of the class just sits there. They try to guilt us parents into participating.
The best thing we bought was wrapping paper, it was great quality and the roll kept on giving. Plus, their grandma loved it too, so I didn't feel bad sending them to get her to buy. Of course all good thing come to an end. Now the school sells cookie dough. I'm with you. I support the fall fundraiser, but skip the spring one. One year I just took my kids to the dollar store and let them pick something out, since I wasn't buying enough stuff to get a prize. They were pretty happy with that! Now, I just say tough luck! I'm a mean mom too!
Our Kindergartner attends a Christian school and they sell flowers/hanging baskets in the spring. Our church youth also sell flowers and mulch. Our church youth/parents even deliver and SPREAD the mulch. They make money for their accounts they use for mission trips. I look forward to that fundraiser every year...a half hour of work for several people for a good cause or me out there for 2 straight days and dirty fingernails... Hmmm, not a hard choice.
I LOVE the days I get a whole packet of crap topped with the prize booklet!!!
I can't wait for the hounding by my third grader.
My husband set up a donate online website for the Jump Rope For Heart that just happened and, since we haven't hit up anyone all year, a lot of people donated. We were pretty successful.
The best part is they just gave cash and didn't have to select a piece of crap to get back.
The bad part is my kid doesn't see the major difference between the level he earned to and the $5000 Wii earning level.
I have to admit I love fund raising. A lot. I wish some kid would show up with candybars. Even if it wasn't for school. That selection is pretty bad though.
In high school we had a fundraiser for drama class. I stink at being a salesperson, so my one and only sale was a box of Thin Mint style cookies - purchased by me.
I used to sort of love my hamburger press (I bought it at a tupperware party, not a fundraiser, which is probably worse). Now I buy the pre-pressed hamburgers. Kids do that to you.
This drives me crazy! My daughter has brought home 3 different fundraisers this year, and we're barely half way through- and that doesn't count the BoxTops/ Campbells soup labels/ newspapers/ plastic grocery bags they want us to collect for the school. My daughter was also crushed when I told her I wasn't going to spend $30 on a box of churros so she could win a toy from the dollar store! What she really wanted, though, was to sell stuff to grandmas, grandpas, aunts, and uncles so she could win and iPod. She's 6!!! Good grief!
I'll give the school all of my time and talents, and even a cash donation, but stop with the fundraisers already!
Can I just tell you that we used to have a microwavable bacon rack and we LOVED it! I even asked my mom, just a few days ago, where that thing went and if you could still buy them! :D
Oh wow, my mom bought those hummingbird fan pulls when I was in elementary school.
Do they all do this at this time of year? My son is in PRE-school and this is my third this year. He could care less, but I'm feeling the stress...are you saying we can NOT do it? Oh thank God!
(well, except there are some good things in this one - it's a "green" fundraiser...dammit -just talked myself back into it)
Blah- so many of these fundraisers are selling the silliest stuff, which makes it hard to buy. Because who really wants to buy something expensive that you are just going to stick in the garage sale this spring? Really.
I will say, though, that I hear those burger presses are quite nice. My MIL offered me one from her family, an heirloom you might say, but it was made of wood. Ewww, gross. 40 years of burger juices? No thanks.
Uughh. I HATE school fundraisers. I'd much rather just donate $20, $30, $50, or whatever, and have the school be able to keep ALL the money. Our school sells Entertainment Books, which is actually a pretty good and useful fundraiser in my opinion. Still, the school only gets to keep a portion of the money. It seems like a bit of a scam to me.
Oh! You hit on my pet peeve!
I truly do not support these! I think the presenters who come to the schools and get the kids all riled up should be locked in a room with 36 caffeine and sugar hyped kindergartners.
BUT, I do support our schools and kids. If a neighbor child comes, I give them a donation. When my children come home with those fundraisers, I give the PTO a donation. I would rather that the school (or child going to band camp/volleyball camp - our high school is state champs after all - Europe on a choir trip, etc. gets 100% of my money.
Also, I hate knick-knacky things. Candles will burn down the house. I know because my son has tried twice. The candle warmers collect dust and I have two kids who are drawn to the wax. I am not going to buy overpriced kitchenware.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
With 4 kids in school I've seen many fundraisers in my time. I had been one of those "PTA moms" so I know the good that comes from the money. However, I still cringe when the kids bring the packets home.
I have made one purchase that we still use and I LOVE. It was the flexible cutting board that come in red and green. I use them every day.
One other worthwhile purchase was a discount card for $20. It has a save $10 on an oil change coupon. We've used it 3 times already so that paid for itself.
All in all though I think it's better to simply donate money to the school. They keep 100% of the money and I have less "stuff" to clutter up our already tiny house.
lol, my kids are too young for fund raisers, but when I was in middle school, we were to sell chocolate bars for $2 ... I brought home 25 to sell ... well, within 3 days my brother and me ate ALL the chocolate without my parents knowing. They ended up having to pay $50. lol. Feel bad about it now ... my ass does too.
We have a hummingbird fan pull. It has changed my life forever. :D
My kids are not in elem school yet but the neighbors have already started on us. We have tons of kids in this 'hood, just 15 in my cul de sac alone! Our brilliant and devious school district built a brand new school (million$) but-oops!-just didn't have enough for a playground! So little elementary students bat their lashes and say "It's for a playground :(" So far I've rejected about 95% by just envisioning my huge property tax bill. I'm with the lawyer- some sort of opt out program with cash being given directly to the school. Or how about a vote at the end of the school year-vote no and put in a check for the next year-with a little suggestion like "please use the extra time to teach history and math."
wth? you mean i'm not brilliantly unique in my rant about school fundraisers...? my kids might get a little embarrassed that i send the forms back with a copy of my quarterly township tax payment, (for which we get no public services other than schools - no police, fire, sanitation, sewers...)but it's very satisfying to me.
I went to private school and our big one was a magazine drive. The enticement? Sell 7 subscriptions and get 2 weeks of free dress. THAT was way too sweet to pass up, and of course you didn't want to look like a loser in your uniform. They had these stuffed "weeple" things you got based on how many you sold. You had to wear them and they and did random spottings where you would get money based on how many you had- $2 per weeple, plus more if you had a certain one. It was a HUGE deal. But all I wanted was 2 weeks of no uniforms!
Haven't reached the point of buying anything for a fundraiser yet, but if I had to pick something, I'd probably go for the $8 food net cover thing. :P
Oh my favorite was the last one where the first two levels of prizes for the kids were out of uniform days. Hello, my daughter is in preschool and doesn't wear a uniform. I bought one thing and then sent a check in as a donation for the rest. I refuse to let my kids ask anyone other than their grandparents or aunts and uncles to buy, and then then I save it for only once or twice a year.
If you can send me a copy of the pamphlet, I will consider buying something from your daughter, if they can send it to me in Alabama. (joshsgrl0225@yahoo.com) Is the fundraiser still going on? Just let me know. I would be glad to help
LeeLou linked you on her blog ... congrats on the blog nomination!! How exciting!! Now I'll be hooked on your blog, too!! :o)
I wanna know why your kiddos have such great fundraisers? Around here, it is just cookie dough - bleh! I love supporting the kids (my 2 boys aren't quite in school yet) ... I would get a thing or two from your daughter's fundraiser. Let me know if she needs some extra orders :o).
Our school gives the parents the option of "opt-out $80/kid" or fund raisers. We voted to opt out! BUT there's still the recycling donations each week, the BoxTop$, the carnival, book fairs (oh yeah, we buy there!), the teacher donations (crayons, paper towels, cleaning wipes, Purell, etc.), the class party donations and teacher gift donations, and the FIELD TRIP BILLS! I could have a heart attack just thinking about it all!
But the BEST thing I bought for a fund raiser was not for school. It was a girl's camp/scout camp fundraiser for Church. For $12/person, I got dinner from Outback. I got a coupon and on the appointed night(s), I called in my order (LOTS of choices) and then went to curbside pickup. WOW! DELICIOUS! They made a mistake, and brought me what I didn't get--AND dessert! I'll be doing that one again! Oh, and I'm a sucker for the Girl Scout Cookies--who isn't?
For our next door neighbors, who do everything in the world to help us out, we get their daughter's girl scout cookies in the spring and their son's boy scout wreath in the fall/winter. And that's it.
i think the nuttiest thing was when my son's daycare had him (me) do the fundraiser....HE WAS 5 MONTHS OLD!!!!!
My daughter just recently came home with the most amazing fundraiser. It had everything a food junkie, like myself, could possibly want. Pizza kits, strombolis, cookie dough, soft pretzels, cakes, etc.... I was ready to order about $100 worth of food, but then my husband reeled me in. It wasn't even for my daughter...she's in kindergarten and it was for the 6th grade class.
Definitely hold out on the hamburger press. I bought what looks like exactly the same thing at Target last spring (seasonal picnic isle) for $3.99!
Oh, I forgot to mention the same youth/parents from our church do a "Parents Night Out" once a month November thru May. The first Friday night of every month from 6-10pm, you drop your little lovelies at the church for $15/first kid, $5 each subsequent kid (so $30 for us). So parents/youth volunteer their babysitting time and earn money for same said mission trips. And my kids LOVE it, not to mention we do too!!
Fortunately, we don't have that problem yet! (But I so dread when we do!! My mother never bought anything, nor did she allow me to sell to ANYONE else. But, back then we didn't get prizes either, just our name read at a school assembly.)
I did buy toilet paper once, with a rival schools name on it. That was back in high school... put it to good use too, T.P.'d someones house I believe.
Luckily my kid goes to in-home daycare, so I haven't had to deal with this yet. But my coworkers seem to have some new catalog each week for their kids. One of the kids is only 3 and had a fundraiser going for Awanis. Three!
The only thing I consistently buy is girl scout cookies. I used to buy popcorn from the boyscouts, but the price on that has gotten so ridiculous the past few years that I stopped.
Not only am I willing to purchase girl scout cookies from neighborhood children, I will actually go out of my way to seek them out and purchase several boxes. This golden opportunity only comes around once a year - gotta take advantage!
Growing up, my parents were only willing to purchase wrapping paper and maybe a discounted magazine subscription. In high school, the school cleverly set us up with boxes of $1 chocolate and fifty cent deluxe lollipops that we'd be forced to carry around school all day. By the end of the day, we'd usually bought a good chunk of it from ourselves, or had sold it to non-participating friends.
I always keep a bag of dollar store "prizes" on hand just for this purpose. Here, pick a prize for not selling! After the first couple of years, they get over it.
Josh and Tiff--You are so nice! Will you buy 2 hamburger presses, a bunny keychain ring, a 6oz box of frog gummy bears (for $11) and a kitty bookmark? That should give me enough sales to be eligible for the Wii drawing, which I have a 1 in 600 chance of winning!!! BTW: Your total is $356.78! Love ya!
You guys crack me up! So funny collectively you are!
Also...if you missed it...you've got to check this one out from flavoredmom. Holy cow! I LOVE YOU:
wth? you mean i'm not brilliantly unique in my rant about school fundraisers...? my kids might get a little embarrassed that i send the forms back with a copy of my quarterly township tax payment, (for which we get no public services other than schools - no police, fire, sanitation, sewers...)but it's very satisfying to me.
My children are habitual "paper misplacers" so I usually find that kind of stuff after the fact! And I don't tend to lose much sleep over it! :) I DO however, LOVE bookfairs and it's usually the kids pulling on my sleeve saying, "can we go now?" By the time we leave, they're bored with the whole ordeal and I walk out the door with an armful of delightful books that may or may not be read if I ever find the time. It's my laundry.....it's still there preventing me from reading and other important things....
twice a year i buy cheesecakes from the local bandgeeks that hoof it around the neighborhood. i don't even like cheesecake.
I have 2 young kids in school and the year is almost over yet there is one great advantage in living in a small town. For fundraisers we do it all together. There are 3 major fundraisers held in the year. One worthy fundraiser is held every February, a Family Dance. You heard me, a family dance! It is the most fun, the elementary students participate by learning a dance each grade. They have about 2 weeks to learn a fun dance and on the appointed day, the whole town comes to the big gym and the kids show them all the new moves one grade at a time. Funky chicken, Hokey Pokey, Mexican hat dance, Macarena and all the classics. After the show and tell part the families are all invited to dance together and do what they were just shown. The fundraising part is $2 admission per family and the cookies and milk sold at the end for 25 cents each. Who isn't willing to fork over that much!! And it is a lot of fun too and the kids get their excersize and learn a fun dance too.
(the other fundraisers are a winter carnival in Nov and Beef on a Bun dinner in July.)
I've bought magazines, drop and bake cookie dough (yes I am too lazy to even scoop it out of a tub!) and books from the book fair. I will buy cookies from Girl Scouts but other than that I hate these things!
I hate that they get the kids so hyped up and then I have to be the bad guy again and say "No we are not bugging our neighbors into buying stupid, over priced junk!"
We are doing one right now I don't mind though. The Math-a-thon just asks kids to get pledges or set donations for how many math problems they will do out of 100 possible. All the money goes to the school and I don't have to have expensive junk in my house. Still he's only allowed to hit up Grandparents and no one else.
You are hilarious. And this was totally me as a youth...but more along the lines of "Now I'll never get that Nintendo!"
I generally ignore those things, but a few years ago the twins' preschool sold awesome pizzas and pizza kits for great prices. That was the only time I ever took a fundraiser to work.
This year our PTA decided we could forego the fundraisers and just have every willing parent donate $5. People gave much more out of gratitude. They made 10x more money that way.
My parents used to just give the kids at the door $5 check to the school instead of buying anything. That was until one of those checks came back with the school's name crossed out and replaced with "cash" and squeezed a 7 in the number box and "sevendy" on the side by the writing line. Can you believe the cashing bank actually tried to say it was legit? Now all fund raisers get a "sorry, we've been stolen from so we don't do that anymore."
They sell Smart Cards at our schools here. It's for discounts to area merchants. I like those the best because they are reusable unlike a coupon book and actually worth the money.
Love your blog by the way!
God bless,
Amanda
Our son is still on preschool but the daycare he attended when he was a baby had fundraisers, about felt of my feet!!!
The preschool he goes now only does a big dinner once a year, you can either sale tickets, get sponsors or help that night --- of course "cheapo" me volunteered serving tables and washing dishes. Sorry I don't have the heart to go ask people for a donation or beg them to buy a $25 ticket, times are tough.
Okay, I am a lurker--never left a comment before. But, when I saw that awful hummingbird fan pull, I just had to comment! My kids sold the same fundraiser, and my mom, bless her heart, bought THREE of those horrid hummingbirds! Well, I thought, "She must really think they are great to be buying THREE of them!", so I kept my negative comments to myself. When the fundraiser order came in and we delivered them to grandma, guess what was wrapped up under the Christmas tree for me and my two sisters? Yep, you guessed it! I am now the proud owner of an ugly, gawdawful hummingbird pull! (it is still in the box--I am thinking of re-gifting...)
P.S. love the blog!
I guess I am bad because we supported a Chick-fil-a night but when it came time to do it again we had already eaten out that week (a day mommy needed a break)and so we didn't do it. We won't be doing the one coming up at the other restruant in town either. That one is expensive. I love book ones as well.
Also being on the PTA board I know exactly hom much money we had and how much we carried over from last year. NO way would I give extra money.
We did a basket raffel and I was made to feel bad because I let each kid buy one ticket for the basket they liked. The PTA parents said "that's all your buying?" "YUP" My daughter won anyway.
You have to draw the lines somewhere.
Fundraisers suck. If they had stuff actually worth buying it might be better. My mom said that she'd like them to sell light bulbs and toilet paper LOL
i'm so glad i found your blog. the blogging world is full of perfect moms. i am not perfect. i am slightly mean. thanks for making me feel more normal.
my most recent rejection: $17 for a loaf of bread.
when kids come to my door i just offer them money (if it is a good cause). i'd rather pay half of what they are asking and get nothing.
I thought I was the only person in the world who abhors these school fundraisers! We trust teachers with our children's minds, only to have them be tricked into asking everyone under the sun for a donation so that they can earn a silly prize. The worst happened last fall when the "prize" was class recognition. Each morning the class would clap and cheer for the students who had a particular level of donations. My first grader was crying because he wanted the kids to make a big deal about him. He was having a rough couple weeks at school and I really felt for him, but stuck to my no fundraising policy. I seem to be the odd mom out, though. Everyone I know is really happy with how much money our school (kids) raised and apparently don't care that their children were used in the process. I see that I'm sounding awfully grumpy, guess we struck a nerve...
Hey Jana, this is a great article, I must say. It's time to pack away the decorations and say goodbye to the Christmas tree. St. Louis has three locations in the city where you can recycle your Christmas tree. A cut tree should last as long as 5 weeks when watered properly. Remember to recycle your Christmas tree after you have enjoyed it.
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