Special dressing up days at school - number day nightmare

@ Sowhat1976 -
“The problem with ours school is they don't give enough notice”

I’m so thankful my DC are grown up - but I’ll never forget the morning when DD said (on her way out of the door) “Oh by the way, I’m supposed to be going in as a Roman today.” One hastily improvised toga and laurel wreath later, and off she went. Now, even in Roman times, only the rich wore togas because you need someone else to drape it and put it on so I very much doubt DD’s ensemble made it past break. She came home in a filthy sheet….

It's number day at our primary school today as well. My older DS hates any themed day, and the older kids were supposed to dress up like (times table) rock stars, from the school app, which he absolutely hated the idea and. He just wore normal clothes, he always does for any theme day and no one has ever said anything. I've never spent a penny on costumes, and I really don't think the school care.

One of my DC goes to a special class in a very deprived area and the school
is brilliant and only do dress up at Halloween which I think is plenty. My other DC goes to a school where they also do world book day dressing up and lots of other colour days for charity which always seem to involve lots of parents buying items of clothes that will never be worn again. I think it’s awful. The only time I thought dress up was a good thing to do was when a local school was 100 years old in 2015 so they all dressed in 1915 style clothing to celebrate . That actually had a proper purpose to it .

Not all kids love it though. Read the posts above yours. One of mine loved it, one hated it and one didnt care either way. Im not sure where the educational stuff is in it either. Like in victorian days they wanted the kids to dress up in ragged clothes etc. But not all victorians were like that. Plenty were pretty well dressed etc. So the dressing up kind of gave the idea everyone was poor and scruffy which was untrue

And i fully hear you on the lack of notice. The times theyve come home needing and outfit for 2 days time. And thqt was before amazon

In my DDs it’s fancy dress or school uniform, can he just go in uniform if he’s stressed out about dressing up?
Or just go very basic like a football top with a number on the back?
Last world book day my DD found a book with an ordinary girl her age in it and went as that - so basically in her normal clothes!

I did manage to make a tunic out of an old pillow case for DS 1for Aztec day that also worked for DS 2 as a Roman and an Egyptian outfit with the right accessories. 😂. I just channelled the ghost of my very Blue Peter mother, it's a bit bizarre living up to a mother who is no longer here.

What is number day? You are meant to dress as a number? What nonsense is that

Does your DC actually HAVE to wear a costume? Our primary school does these days as well, but says children have the option to come in dressed up or in school uniform. DS loathes school uniform so loves these days, as he can just go in in a tracksuit! (The only effort we make is with world book day costumes. Anything else, he just wears his normal clothes. If they don't have e.g. a number on them for 'number day', so be it.)

my children love a themed day and so do I we are doing number day today DS had joggers with numbers on and DD has last years frugi birthday number tshirt

We have had monster day for phonics, wear yellow for children's cancer, Christmas fancy dress day, Halloween costume day, wear spots for children in need and of course world book day!

It's different strokes for different folks. My children get really excited for the theme days and would be disappointed if they stopped. You don't have to like or enjoy everything but to say they should be cancelled when lots of children enjoy them is just mean spirited.

You don't have to take part you can either send them in their uniform or just standard non uniform.

I’m glad the current head has cut down on the dress up days. I hate the extra faff and dislike generating more landfill by buying needless clothes that no one will want to wear again. I think the Christmas jumpers and the occasional pj day are perfectly sufficient.

I think that people who find it stressful are taking it far too seriously. It's just a bit of fun. Bloody killjoys.

I don’t think it needs to be stressful! My son kid wore his footie kit. They sell cheap t shirts in primark with numbers on etc. Maybe be a bit more relaxed and don’t make a big deal about it?

Tesco 67 T shirts they can wear again for us.

I found number day particularly hard! Costumes I don’t mind as can usually source second hand and my kids will play with them again. But today we used what we had (hoodie with dinosaur facts on, and a t shirt for the eldest). It wasn’t a strong link to numbers. I do worry they’ll feel left out but I desperately didn’t want to buy something they’d never wear again.

If your child has to be dragged into school on these days and you get there late, you'll usually notice quite a few other families in the same boat. It's unsettling for a lot of kids

When I was a kid we had very few of these dress up days. I would not have dared to mention them to my parents because I would have been told to get it together myself. Or given a slap for pestering. I dreaded having to ask for money.

In junior school we did have carnivals and one year I went as a gypsy. My grandmother made me a costume out of old clothes in the wardrobe. Another time I was medaeval mady and she made me a tall pointy had with a veil.

I love this suggestion, it's very 'Motherland' 😂

At least with number day we just send the kids in with a football shirt

Does your child pick up on your stress about it? Are they ND?

For us, it's something we give a few minutes thought to the night before, lay out some sort of clothes, and jobs a good un. It shouldn't be this stressful

Yes forgot to say I also wish these would be reined in

I know the kids enjoy it and it raises money but couldn’t they just do a home clothes day? Why does it have to be themed?? I don’t mind odd socks day or jeans for genes as those are easy but Victorian or Egyptian or bloody WBD is not.

Sounds like a piece of nonsense to me. Some parents think it makes my kids primary boring that they don't do dress up (world book day / Halloween) but that's exactly why it causes stress, costs money and time to make stuff and lots of kids outfits (especially boys) are all in one jumpsuit type things that are a nightmare for kids to get to toilet in.

I'm glad this is over for me, I've done
Roman
Victorian
Egyptian
Evacuees
Pyjamas
Red nose day
And countless WbD...always Harry Potter and Verucca Salt...
Never bloody ending!

After years of avoiding amazon and trying to pull costumes together from what we have at home, I gave in and mostly bought the amazon version (on eBay if I was organised in time). Also did a bit of checking with other parents what their kids were wearing for it.

DC were much happier with this approach as all they want is to look like everyone else and not worry about whether their costume will be too much, too little, seen as weird etc.

It's a complete nightmare I dread it everytime we had numbers day today and luckily after rifling through the kids wardrobe I managed to find clothing with numbers on that the kids were happy to wear. I get that schools want to raise money and involve the children but I think they think parents have endless time & deep pockets I have neither!! We have rockstar day world book day and countless other things I have 4 dc it drives me mad!

I don't know. The kids seem to love it. I don't like it because I'm poor. I'm not poor like some people are poor but poor enough for the cost if 2 outfits/ costumes to be a struggle. I'd prefer to buy a new coat for the kids rather than a Disney costume. The problem with ours school is they don't give enough notice. I know world book day is in march so I'll pick something up from vinted or ebay. However giving 1 weeks notice of yellow day for mental health or red day- no idea what that was about. Is a pain in the arse. Also some years they do children in need and some years they don't.

Ds2 doesnt like these days. Hes gone in trackie bottons abd a top with a number on each sleeve that he already had. He doesnt have to do it, or does he want to?