children- why do they cost so much?

mintymoneysaver

Our daughter aged 12 came home from school last week telling us about a school trip to the christmas market in Germany.(£180)
As you can see from my sig, we are almost debt free now and certainly will be by December, so after having had a discussion with her about the fact that it was a lot of money, she , and we,were quite happy for us to pay £100 and to ask people for money for her birthday in November to pay the rest.
She has never complained about having to do without things while we were getting rid of our debt, so it was going to be a real treat for her.
Then she drops the bombshell, it's first come first served and the deposit is £90! So basically I need to find £90 by Tuesday!
I was doing so well with my overdraft this month and was hoping to get it below £200, doesn't look like that will be happening now....I have got the money in an ISA but I really didn't want to touch that..what do you reckon would be the best thing to do?

Then she comes out of dancing all excited yesterday telling us the teacher has said she can go en pointe, but will need to be measured for the shoes, which from what I can see won't leave me much change from £50....that one will definitely have to wait till payday.

pandaonmyshoulder

As for the trip to Germany usually the school will let you pay in installments but don't forget the spending money required on top of the cost of going:(

Secondly DH Dancing, get her measured but check out ebay for shoes, or ask if any other parents have any their daughters have grown out of? I know from when my 3 daughters did dancing, the shoes usually got out grown way before they had any signs of wear :money:

Dolly_Smith

exactly the same happened to me this month. Daughter went back to school on the Tuesday, letter home on Thurs about a school adventure holiday costing £200 - deposit of £100 to be in by the Friday!

She's going - I think it's really important for them to do stuff like this - but they could have given us some breathing space!

funky-footprints

they cost so much because we want them to go on school trips, and we want them to go to dancing, rugby, football, athletics etc as the other option is them sitting inside with a playstation and them demanding new games or watching tv !!

not much warning however !!

mintymoneysaver

I know what you mean about the spending money.She gets £15 a month pocket money so I've told her she'll need to save as much of it as possible.
I had a quick look on ebay at the shoes yesterday so once I get her measured we'll have to see what we can find.

cattie1

my school used to have a certain plan "deprived families" could do-when my mum was a single parent and couldn't afford to send us on school trips she explained the situation to the school and they told her they would let me go on the trip-all she had to do was pay part not all of the deposit and then a few lower intalments so that i wasn't missing out on an educational trip-i loved it and am still grateful to the school-my mum is too! they did it for all 4 of her children during the years! it's worth asking as most schools have some kind of scheme.

LJD1_2

Yip, they're expensive alright. I've just had to pay just over £100 for drama for the two of them. I'm loathe to stop them going as my daughter had very little confidence and it's done her the world of good. Luckily my son decided he wanted to go to art club as school which is free as opposed to football which was £75! And don't get me back on the subject of shoes!

Maybe I should start saving now for school trips. Saying that, my daughter will be going on a three night trip in this country with the school next year. It will cost about £150 for that!

rog2

Enjoy it now - it gets even more expensive when they're at Uni!

Rachie_B

my son is only 10 ,yr 6 and last yr he had a 3 night trip in this country which cost over £100 !! i wouldnt have minded but it was only 18 miles up the M4 Lol

im dreading when he starts secondary school next sept !

i want him to go on all the foreign exchanges / trips etc as i never got to go

gilly41

Hi
Yes have to agree with rog2----even more expensive at Uni---I have two there!!
x

sophiesmum_2

My DD has a history fieldtrip coming up in Oct. 3 days at belgium battlefields,£250. They told us about the trip 3 weeks before end of summer term,and said it could be paid in 3 instalments, £50, and 2 x £100 but had to all be paid by end of term:eek: :eek:
Luckily we had savings to use but other families may have been in a worse situation.
This week we have the letter stating what is "needed" for trip, wellies, waterproofs, etc, and no more than £200 per child pocket money. 3 days in muddy fields and museums why the heck would they need £200:eek: :eek:
DD will not be taking this much although she insists most of her friends will.
sophiesmum