I support my son's school in every way I can. I help with fundraisers, but not all of them. There is one thing I will NOT sell: magazines! I hate getting those postcards and I refuse to send them out to my family and friends to feel pressured to buy magazines that are just going to cause clutter in their lives. JMO

So, how do you handle a six year old that hears, "Have your parents fill out all these cards and you will get this cool Sponge Bob T-shirt!" My six year old just does not comprehend that we don't do this fundraiser. Period. So, now I am the bad guy even though dh agrees with me and talked to ds, but I am the bad guy!! He is standing here crying right now about this. I talked to his teacher who TOTALLY understands and is fine with it, but he is in tears thinking he will be the only one who does not participate and I know that is not true.

So, any suggestions?

See, the teacher should never say that. Our schools say up front that they in no way expect us to buy anything from a fund raiser (ok, this is elementary school - didnt see anything about that for middle school with the fund raiser that went home!). Buy if you want but dont if you cant/dont want to. They dont want the kids going door to door either. Me, I throw them away. I spend enough money on things thruout the year, I cant give money to everything.

It isn't the teacher. They talked about it on the TV that goes over the whole school on their morning show. I am not sure if it was the principal or who who talked to them about it.

Ugh! I feel your pain. My dd brought home a fundraiser with all that overpriced stuff. $26.00 for 3 small glass votive candle holders?! $22.00 for a small wooden expanding picture frame?! $8.00 for 2 vintage-style refridgerator magnets?! $8.00 for 32 s.f. of wrapping paper?! Ridiculous!!!! These things are so outrageously priced. I'm surprised anyone buys this stuff. If things were more reasonably priced, then I'd buy something. I think other people would, too.

Of course, my dd is just like your ds ("Oh, I'm the ONLY ONE not selling anything."). Then the company encourages these kids to sell this stuff by offering cheap prizes. It really irks me that schools do this.

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"Everything happens for a reason, but there may not be a point." ~ Kinsey Millhone

Thankfully our school does not do any selling type of fundraiser, but we're a private school. We have an annual school benefit with a silent/live auction, dinner, dancing etc

My sister buys her kids a prize from the dollar store that is about equal to the prize on their prize sheet!! Then, she sends back the fundraiser papers empty. She says she contributes to the school in a million other ways..fundraising is just not for her.
As for me, I agree on the magazines. I don't do them for family and friends. At all. Ever. I DID find last year, though, I could get Family Fun for about 1/2 off the price by ordering through that, so ds got ONE order! LOL He was thrilled. For other fundraisers, my kids are allowed to ask a few people, but that list is dwindling. I know how it feels to be living payday to payday, and I don't want my kids making anyone feel like they have to buy something! Plus, most people we know have kids..and are doing this themselves!!! As many fees as I paid this year ON TOP OF supplies required, I wish they would just add on another $20 and be done with it. JMO

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Shaking in my boots (well, if I was wearing them in the middle of summer!), but glad to be back!

My daughter told me they missed art the other day so they could go to the cafeteria to watch a show about the prizes they could win for selling stuff. That made me so mad! I'm not selling stuff. I'll buy the fundraising card and some cookie dough but that's it. I'll mention it to close family but it makes me uncomfortable to ask them to buy what is obviously unnecessary stuff! Plus it kind of makes me mad that I pay taxes and still have to come up with extra money!

So I told DD that she wasn't going to win the limo ride to lunch. She was OK with it.

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Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you. ~Oscar Wilde

i filled in the postcard for my il's since they're big on magazines, but i won't send them to anyone else

ill buy the cookie dough, yum yum!

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Becka
AP mama to 3
-Mackenzie, Abbey & Dominikolai-

I'm also glad that ds's school does not do any fundraising like that. They have the annual auction and there is the annual fund that you are encouraged to contribute to but that is it. I think they figure they want only one or two things that go over really well rather than a whole bunch of things that might not go over as well. His school is private though too.

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Sigh...well we're the suckers who participate in every fundraiser. We buy quite a few magazines, my kids each get one or two, and I get several, so I DO order those magazines through our fundraiser even though they're probably a little more expensive. My ds's band last year did one of the sales like Starlite was talking about with outrageously priced candy, nuts, candles, etc. But I was the coordinator for the performing arts fundraiser (band, orchestra, and choir) so I felt like I had to sell alot. Boy Scouts sell outrageously priced popcorn (see that thread)...and on & on. We used to get grandparents to buy also, but since they've all 4 died we've narrowed who we can ask. So usually we just buy a few things from each fundraiser ourselves and grumble alot. The one that bugs me the MOST is the one I just turned in yesterday. My ds's middle school does a READ-A-THON where people pay to have the kids read at school?!?!? My kids read so much I have to tell them to stop and go do something else, so I can't believe I'm expected to pay them to read at school instead of studying. Sigh....but I sent in the pledge anyway. Just glad this is the last year I have to do that one. For some reason it bugs me more than the others. I'd rather buy overpriced wrapping paper...at least I have something to show for my money. <grumble, grumble>

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