Cross Stitch Cafe - stitching out of 2012 and into 2013...

maria_and_the_imps

My kids are £2 each and I begrudge paying that, my mum never used to have to pay to watch us, so far this month I have spent on tickets
Ds1 £2 to watch his concert
Ds2 £2 To march his concert
Dd £2 concert
£2 Xmas fair entrance
£4 raffle tickets
£6 school trip
4 raffle prizes for ds2 nursery raffle.
9 teacher presents
£2 for ds2 Xmas party

And I'm sure tonight the bigger kids are going to come home with book fair letters as I saw it advertised at school this morning, and asking for raffle/ tombola prizes. And school parties I just think its a bit to much at this time of year. After spending £45 on school photos last month, that they insist on doing just before Xmas !

Ok rant over

mrs-moneypenny

glad its not just me then Maria,
luckily all ive had to 'donate to is the two schools appeals for hampers for the elderly and i dont mind that but DS1 is one of only two kids in his form who borther to taek stuff in so i end up buying a carrier of basics type staple products to send a few in each day so they dont end up with a skinny hamper
hes taken a letter back today wanting to go on a trip (weekend in london £180 BUT he knows he doesnt get to go on the paris or ski trip so i can just about scrape that together for him and its not needed till after christmas.
only had DS2 bring photos home this year so that worked out cheap when all 5 were in school it was scarey money luckily i used to cluster them and have one group photo when i had multiples in the same school

christmas isnt cheap especally when schools are involved is it,

maria_and_the_imps

Don't get me wrong I wouldn't mind doing it if I though the money was being put to good use,they have 2 playgrounds on which big climbing frames have been put up, but they are not allowed on them because there is to many children and it's dangerous, the money would have been better spent on new books !

*Louise*

mrs-moneypenny wrote: »

but DS1 didnt know how much his tickets were so rang school reception to be told there are NO concessions tickets are the same price for everyone tiered seats are £6 each balcony (where the lights and music are done from are £5 or four for £16 but in her words view is not good and you cant guarantee not to have view blocked by a pillar! or if you want the floor level seats in front of the stage with the best view possible its £20 each
dont think ill be asking for those seats, its a school Christmas concert for goodness sake not a guns and roses concert! (which incidently we saw free this year thank to seefilmfirst)
talk about milking it what are other schools charging out of interest if anyone elses kids are doing one?

I would have dropped with shock :eek:

Our primary school is charging £1 a had, kids free. High school concert is £3 for aduts and £2 for cons/child, which is more than reasonable.




I have a challenge for myself this week - I want to take my Christmas things to be framed on Friday, so I have started the Meerkat for my MIL from the recent WOCS magazine and HAVE to have it done by then. (And I still need to restitch the swirl on my mums piece lol):o

The_Dragon

oooh loving all the cards! I wish I could still stitch as I would have joined in

chickywiggle

mrs-moneypenny where are they having the concert......the royal opera house??????? That's ludicrous!!!!! I would be very tempted to draft a stongly worded letter to someone - the only one I can think of is OFSTED but not sure they'd be interested.

eeek Maria - sorry but DS1's teachers aren't getting pressies, not starting that tradition (and I don't feel bad about it as when I was teaching 35 children in a Y1 class I think I got 1 pressie and 2 cards!)

Now the climbing frame issue would make me complain to OFSTED!!!!!

my school are charging £0 as DS1s play as it is in his classroom
all their 'donations' are going on a book bus (read a very expensive bookshelf) which they'll never afford until after DS1 has left anyway!

They annoyed me in the 1st week of term when they sent an A4 printout of a teddy bear and for "homework" the children had to cover it with money and return it. To me that is downright dirty and unethical.

maria_and_the_imps

Chicky I forgot to mention the giant raised nature garden and pond, and that the pond remained empty for 9 months at the begining of this year, oh and the piece of astro turf ( not laid propally ) that is for sitting on, not playibg football on, theres no benches on it though! I feel like getting the head teacher and explaining that astro turf is designed to play football on. Nicely of course lol :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

*Louise*

Ohhh - I checked the emails I had missed while I was away over the weeked and found a reply from Cross Stitch Crazy, saying the pic of my quickie fairies was fantastic and could I send my address as every published letter gets sent a prize. Fingers crossed!!!

maria_and_the_imps

Fingers crossed Louise x

blue_eyed_girl

Well done Louise - looking forward to the next instalment. :T

Would it be worth contacting the School Governors regarding issues you have re extortionate amounts being charged for things and play area issues. It would probably be a waste of time but ............. Some of the amounts being charged seem to me to be down right extortion. I think it was so wrong of them to send the bears home chicky to be sent back covered with money. When I told DH he said he would have photocopied some, stuck that on and sent it in.

fos - it's a good idea to use the £shop ones for xmas cushions when they are only used for a few weeks of the year but we have to use ours all the time as we have limited storage space so just change the covers. Thanks for the comments though. Still went into £shop to top up the de-icer and picked up a feltish type santa sack to put my friends xmas pressies .

Tomorrow is 12.12.12 - :eek::D

Off out to exercise class shortly and quite honestly I just cannot be bothered.

b_e_g