The following story is the reason the candle/wrapping paper/candy/cookie dough/needless junk fundraising forms my kids bring home from school end up in the circular file.
My son brought home a Christmas boutique preview sign up form home from school last week. I see the strategy. I must admit it's pretty sneaky. See, you get the kids to "preview" the useless junk then go home and tell mom and dad that they just HAVE to buy the $12.00 picture frame or $6.00 cookie tin for you for Christmas. Sure....wait until Christmas then you can hit 'ol mom and dad up for the money under the guise of "it makes a great stocking stuffer".
.
Clever.
So, my son comes home with his checklist of things he wants to buy. Most are about $4.00. Some were $8.00. I told him he needed to narrow his list of twenty items down to two. So, he thought it would be nice to get me some kind of useless something or other. I honestly can't even remember what it was. All I know is that it was going to set me back four bucks. Then he wanted to get Grandma Hagen some kind of fiber optic Angel, because, who WOULDN'T want a fiber optic Angel? Another four bucks.
Fine.
I stuck my $8.00 in the....get this......pre printed envelope that has spaces for the loved ones on any five year old child's list of people they need to buy gifts for.
sisters/brothers/mom/dad/grandma/grandpa/pets.
I swear. I'm telling you........it was marketing at its finest.
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So I filled out the places where it said "gift for mom" and "gift for grandma". I specifically stated WHAT overpriced items it was I wanted my son to buy then put my exact change in the sealed envelope.
A couple of days later, I get a couple of quarters back and this:
Sorry to spoil the surprise Grandma Hagen, but you aren't getting a fiber optic Angel. Nor am I getting whatever it was that he wanted me to have that I can't even remember either. He came home with, as he calls it, a "moon" ring. I suppose it's really a "mood" ring but in reality, it is a $7.50, could have bought it at a flee market for a buck, would rather have had a fiber optic Angel, hunk of a piece of metal.
.
And this is why I don't do school fundraisers. I would have much rather written a check for eight bucks made out to his school.
3 comments:
AMEN, Sister! I couldn't agree more! We also throw the silly wastes of time right into the circular file. My kids know better than to even show them to me.
This is why I don't do fundraisers. My kids know it, so they don't complain when their catalogues go straight in the trash. Seriously, I buy the pizza on Wednesdays and contribute to the clasrooms when they need something or need me to come in. I don't need a "moon" ring because it would always be black from the stress of the "fun"-raiser!
No one on the PTSO reads this, right? Delete, Delete if they do!
LOL Glad I'm not the only school fundraiser grinch. I refuse to sell raffle tickets, wrapping paper - I don't even like paying for my kid to jump rope or shoot hoops for heart. Ok - I pay but I'm not going to hunt down my friends to do the same.
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