School photos: do you buy them?

DigForVictory

No

We had a photographer who came to the baby clinic every three months. I could get one coot weighed, another coot's milk & all three looking at the camera in one session, and the prints were cheap.

The primary school photos are now 'trendy' & overpriced - the secondary ones are nice straightforward shots, but still too expensive, so I have smaller than passport size proofs tucked into the holiday snap collage on my desk at work.

The eldest is getting camera shy so I'll leave photos to Scouts for a while...

skylight

Yes

I buy them but not the individual ones. The school with most of my kids in allows you to come in early and have a family photo so I have all of them in that one including the kids at other schools. Its the best way I can get them all in one picture looking smart and tidy!

fannyadams

Yes

We buy the 10 x 8 and scan it in then blend the two to make a siblings together picture (they are at different schools) and then print them out on nice paper and frame them for Grandparents. HWTHMBO (who works in print industry) also puts them on the website for the rest of the family to see (AFTER Grandparents have their copy obv.)

balletshoes

its not a straightforward yes or no for me - I only ever buy them if I like the photos, so there have been years where I haven't bought any of the individual ones. In primary school I have bought one of my child's class every year.

Tigsteroonie

A's first school photos this year, the photographer wasn't brilliant (zoomed in too much, cropping part of his head in 2/4 photos). I bought the best two in digital form so that we got high quality images to reprint to suit family needs.

flitter

Yes

I put yes, but if the grandparents didn't want a copy I probably wouldn't buy them. I personally think they are a bit of a waste of money, but we get 10 free keyrings since we buy 2 large and 1 medium so the kids wrap the large ones as Christmas presents for their grandparents and the keyrings for their aunts and uncles.

sylphraven

No

I dont buy the professional ones as they are way too much money for something that usually has my kids pulling very unnatural smiles & not looking particularly comfortable.

However, last year one of the teachers took class photos themselves & they were perfect, the photo was clear, all the children & teachers looked comfortable, happy & relaxed. AND it only cost 50p per photo, money well spent.

b0nz0

I buy P1 and will probably buy P7, 1st year and 6th year as they're the "milestone years". My kiddos school sends pictures home of tasks done in class and has a blog full of pics which you can save. I personally prefer these as they're candid and show their personalities rather than a posed pic

apardion

No

I don't buy them and I refuse to feel guilty about it. As far as I'm concerned it's just another extra expense the school tries to get out of us. one thing kids are not short of these days is photographs. We have hundreds on the laptop. I'm not particularly sentimental about these things and think they are a waste of time, money and effort.

I'm really not as grumpy as that makes me sound

*Louise*

Yes

I buy an individual one of each of them every year but only get the class ones for the first and last year's at school.

When they leave primary we are offered a framed picture of 7 photos, one from every year which I absolutely love and will definitely buy again when the time comes for my younger two to leave.