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Original poster

WWYD? The Saga of the Family Tuna

361 replies

PomBearAtTheGatesOfDawn · 27/09/2011 19:43

Bit longwinded but anyone who bears with me can have Wine and Thanks
DD has a toy caterpillar named Sydney Tuna, she liberated him from a car boot sale when she was just gone 2 and has adored and worshipped him ever since.
Last Christmas Santa brought his mummy, Mrs. Mabel Tuna, to live with us. She had missed Sydney since he went to seek his fortune, so had written to Santa to ask him to find Sydney, and Santa gave her a lift to our house on his sleigh. Cue rejoicing and carolling and so on....
DD now informs me that this Christmas, Mrs T and Sydney are writing jointly to Santa to find Mr. Tuna, who rejoices in the name Miguel apparently, and is in the army, fighting for the peaceloving resistance caterpillars who want to stop the slaughter between the marmite and the maple syrup factions I kid you not AND I kept a straight face wile DD told me all this
So... and if you're still with me, a thousand thanks... I can lay my hands on a caterpillar identical to Mrs. Tuna, but how can I make him look like he's been liberated from the army/prisoner of war camp/somewhere else suitable to have kept him away for a long time? I thought about him having been kidnapped by Pirates to explain where he's been all these years, and that was when DD came out with the stuff about the army... any suggestions? DD is 9 and I think this could be the last year for Santa for her, we've had some pointed questions that I have so far lied my way out of managed by the skin of my teeth, so I want to do Mr. Tuna's homecoming right...

OP posts:
MrsSnaplegs · 02/10/2011 11:23

Thanks pomGrin

purplepidjinawoollytangle · 02/10/2011 11:05

Awesome!! Grin

I'm stuck at work today, will try and knock up lacy bloomers tomorrow and take pics

Original poster
PomBearAtTheGatesOfDawn · 02/10/2011 10:52

Right, have untangled my PMs and my FB and my brain Grin and have posted on the FB page about the Ts. Have added the lovely garden people www.shoreleavehaslar.org/
and will just send them the donations all in one fell swoop, meaning people can just pay in one go via paypal. If I paypal to Haslam for the donation, I will have the receipt so can prove it doh,why that didn't occur to me sooner I will never know
MmeL can you put a thingy on twitter about them please?
Once I know which paypal account address it's going to I will pm the people who have ordered already and sort it out. Grin

OP posts:
MrsSnaplegs · 02/10/2011 10:52

Have pmd you pomGrin but you now know thatGrin

Original poster
PomBearAtTheGatesOfDawn · 02/10/2011 10:39

It's the setting it up to have the donation included pidj - I can set up a giving page for any charity I like, and that handles everything, and lets people donate by card or by text, and guarantees the money gets to the charity and I can see that someone has donated, so would know if they were fibbing and could do Hmm at them (not that I think anyone would, but it's nice to have everything above board, from donors point of view too, they would also be certain that their donation got to the charity). But doing it and including the donation would mean me having to separate it all out, and donate it, and be able to prove it and tbh it looks a bit complicated. Plus, it's not me who the money for the actual shirts ends up with, that is going to my "printing chap" who will make each shirt and get them out to the people as quick as he can. People won't mind will they? if it can all be done online via a Just Giving page and a paypal address?
Tigga and MrsSnaplegs would you be prepared to do it like that, with a donation and a paypal? -I think it really does have to be a "proper" charity though, we can't have any doubt about where the money has gone from the donations - do your gardening people have a webpage or have they been in the local news or anything MrsS?

OP posts:
purplepidjinawoollytangle · 02/10/2011 09:30

Pombear are you going to let DD in on the social media frenzy? Grin

PontyMython · 02/10/2011 08:39

Genius thread, am in hysterics only after page 1 and can't wait to read the rest.

Your DD will go far with her creativity, she sounds such a joy to have around :)

dawntigga · 02/10/2011 08:32

I want 2
one 3-4 year
one Male XL

Go with a total price.

#FreeMiquelTunaTiggaxx

purplepidjinawoollytangle · 02/10/2011 07:30

If the Tshirts themselves cost £7.50 I would suggest a minimum of £12.50 each - a fiver isn't an unreasonable amount to ask, surely?

It's a fundraising exercise, and people will decide to buy based on what the charity is getting (and whether they support that charity, in some cases). I think that if the contribution is voluntary, people will misunderstand and pay the £7.50 assuming that's the total price. Then the charity will end up with less...

MrsSnaplegs · 02/10/2011 07:14

We will have 4 Grin plus will donate
One 12-18 months
One 6-7 girl
One female medium
One male XL
I can send you money or paypal
I have a suggestion of a voluntary gardening group that is trying to raise funds for military veterans which We as a family all volunteer for if you haven't found anything more appropriate - they aren't a charity yet so don't have a just giving page but I can pm you there details if you want Grin

Original poster
PomBearAtTheGatesOfDawn · 02/10/2011 00:52

I will have a definite price on the shirts later in the week - my friend is going to go and price them for me. I think it will be somewhere in the region of £7.50 ish per shirt, not including a charitable donation but including p+p, unless big enough envelopes/mailers turn out to cost a lot more than I think they do... I'll get the actual inches too - last time he did them, they went from weeny kids ones up to either XL or XXL iirc, and they were pretty big Grin
Then I can sort out the donating bit - I am torn because I don't want to force people to donate if they'd really rather not, but it is rather the whole point of the exercise... I shall think of something though!

OP posts:
Jux · 02/10/2011 00:45

I'd have a t- shirt or two, xl is great for sleeping in.

Original poster
PomBearAtTheGatesOfDawn · 01/10/2011 23:27

OOOO I am waiting for my friend getting back to me about cost and if he's willing to set up to do them for me he does still have the gear and can do pink, blue and grey shirts apparently. Looks like one way or another we can get the shirts. I wonder if it would be easier from my pov anyway to get people to make an online donation and just trust them for it/do one of those giving page things so we can see they did it, and do the actual shirt at cost to me/tony the tshirt man/whoever makes them, separately? Then people could decide the amount they donate for themselves, and would know it was going where it should be. Or would people be put off doing two things do you think?

OP posts:
MrsSnaplegs · 01/10/2011 21:40

DH has said he'd have a t shirtGrin

MrsSnaplegs · 01/10/2011 20:56

We have a chap who will do t shirts and all other types of merchandise - gostickit.co.uk - his name is Tony and if you mention it's a referral from mrs Snaplegs of the landrover Snaplegs family he will sort you out with a fair price. He will also be able to print on demand and mail direct for individual orders. You will probably be able to ask if he would put a small mark up on price and donate it for you - not sure about that but worth askingGrin

stealthsquiggle · 01/10/2011 19:30

As you were - I found and followed some ancient links (blimey I have been on MN for longer than I realised Blush) and it would appear that they have gone out of business.

stealthsquiggle · 01/10/2011 19:23

There is/was a print-on-demand service which MN (MNHQ, I think) used for mugs, T-shirts, etc - basically you upload the logo and people can order it on whatever they want - not sure how the revenue-sharing worked, but it was definitely raising money. There were Lissie's Tea Shop mugs, amongst others (and MN logo ones) but nothing gets printed until someone orders it, and all the ordering is direct with them.

All of which would be more useful if I could find/remember the name of the place - I never ordered anything but recall thinking how neat an idea it was.

purplepidjinawoollytangle · 01/10/2011 19:16

Folksy?

Local or a mate is probably best! Supermarket/Primarni tshirts at £2 a pop then free/discount printing. Sell for £8/£10 = nice donation to charity! Grin

Original poster
PomBearAtTheGatesOfDawn · 01/10/2011 19:12

I was thinking of looking at etsy and oh ffs I forgot the name as I started to type but I know where I mean thingy but I think there is actually a place here in town that does tshirts to order and they are pretty reasonably priced iirc. I shall see if I can find them, they had a little advert in the paper fairly recently. I also have a friend who used to run a little business printing shirts at home so shall ask him if he still has whatever it was he used to use to do them with. The advantage of him doing them is that he can make them to order so I don't end up with a large pile of Tshirts left over none of which would fit me
The tattooist got back to me and pronounced me insane but amusing and is perfectly willing to be photographed tattooing Miguel, as long as Miguel has ID to prove he is over 18 of course!

OP posts:
purplepidjinawoollytangle · 01/10/2011 18:30

www.clothes2order.com £69 for 10 each three sizes...

purplepidjinawoollytangle · 01/10/2011 18:23

www.vistaprint.co.uk 10 XL, 10 L, 10 M tshirts, 10 cotton bags, 40 stickers comes to £142.98...

purplepidjinawoollytangle · 01/10/2011 18:15

Ok, $1000 for 50 tshirts is ridiculous! Ditch that idea...

purplepidjinawoollytangle · 01/10/2011 18:11

First decide on a charity.

Then contact them to let them know what's going on.

If they have and online shop, sell through that.

If not, donations to JustGiving/your paypal, and donors need to email you their address.

Then, work out how much it'll cost to print up say 10 t shirts each in S M L and XL. Decide how much to charge. Either you write off the money and donations go straight to charity (JustGiving) or you charge more than the printing price and the profit goes to the charity (paypal). We'll need to know beforehand because it'll affect the marketing...

I'm just pissing about on www.cafepress.co.uk who do custom designs but are both American and quite expensive! There may be an MNer with access to the correct printing facilities, in which case get a job lot from Primark and send them on!

Original poster
PomBearAtTheGatesOfDawn · 01/10/2011 15:10

That's lovely pidj and is just what I would have done had I been able to work even the most basic software drawing package! Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
PomBearAtTheGatesOfDawn · 01/10/2011 15:08

I am not that dedicated MmeL! (Though it wouldn't surprise me if DD got a Sydney one one day when she's older Grin )
I am thinking and straining my brain in the heat!
Monday and/or Tuesday, I shall do the basic "portrait" shots and the Wedding Pictures with Miguel and Mabel while the LOs are all safely at school. Then if saycheese can make use of the "portrait" ones and photoshop titivate them up so the exotic backgrounds are clear Grin we can put the Wedding Album and Travelogue on to FB and in the Family Album.
Then I shall do some proper research to see about merch Miguel sounds like a rock star now and a charity for any proceeds are people REALLY going to want this stuff? if anyone does want any. Does anyone know about stuff like that and can advise me?
There's no point trying to rush and do everything at once, since he can't actually be liberated until Santa comes - although he could perhaps make his daring escape and be en route for here on feet and desperate when Santa picks him up in the High Pyrenees or somewhere on the way maybe.
When I go to the tattooist I shall smuggle Miguel with me and beg persuade them to pose for those pics, and after that I can do the embroidery.
And at some point in between all this thankfully it is a few weeks until it all HAS to be done! I shall do the uniform and kitbag and assemble/distress all the kit ready.
Then on Christmas morning I can take loads of pics of the Happy Reunion and can post those to FB and finish off the Saga in style and they can all live happily ever after!
Is it sad that I just went upstairs to "potter" while they're all out, and as I passed the wardrobe I said "Don't worry Miguel, it's not for much longer, your ordeal is almost at an end"? Blush

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