Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that it's weird to have a bar at a school disco?

38 replies

Fernie3 · 16/12/2010 02:39

Ot was my daughters school disco last night and they had a bar serving quite a respectable range of drinks which some parents were taking perhaps a little too much advantage of!. I have never heard of this before ( first term in this school since we moved). When I was little there was a little sweet counter and parents had tea - what happened?

Aibu to think that a bar is weird at an infant school Christmas disco?

OP posts:
anonymosity · 16/12/2010 02:48

sounds imminently sensible. numbs the pain.

Original poster
Fernie3 · 16/12/2010 02:55

I suppose that is true the head teacher was in the corner of the room hiding i noticed Grin. All i got to buy was a can of coke because then my daughter suddenly decided that having begged me to go, made me queue up outside the office for a limited number of tickets and having walked nearly 2 miles im the freezing rain - she was Ill. We had to come home after 15 minutes of " I wish it could be Christmas" played over and over. She is now in my bed with the most sudden flu i have ever seen and im hanging off the edge mumsnettng.

OP posts:
SuchProspects · 16/12/2010 07:25

It sounds weird to me, though I can see the advantages.

Very bad of them if they were serving parents who were showing the signs of drinking, but not sure if that's what you meant. Otherwise it sounds like a savvy fundraiser. If you have volunteer staff and buy the booze at a cash & carry you can probably make quite a bit selling mind numbing drugs a harmless tipple to parents at school functions.

SuchProspects · 16/12/2010 07:26

PS hope your DD feels better soon.

usualsuspect · 16/12/2010 07:37

Sounds like my kind of school

malovitt · 16/12/2010 07:49

We always sell wine and beer at the infant school disco, it's a good fundraiser. And you get a couple free if you help out.

sparkle12mar08 · 16/12/2010 07:51

Well I certainly wouldn't want to be stone cold sober at a school disco, and most parents I know wouldn't either, so yes it's a great fundraiser and yes YABU - it's not weird at all.

AuntiePickleBottom · 16/12/2010 08:11

as long as the parent are not getting wrecked at the disco i see no problem in have 1 or 2

curlymama · 16/12/2010 08:22

Sounds like a fantastic idea to me.

MsKalo · 16/12/2010 08:43

I really don't get the 'it's ok' attitude about this. There is a time and place to drink and a kid's disco is not it. And people wonder why we have such a binge drink culture in this country... What on earth are we teaching twelve year olds? That they can't have a good time without alcohol? Yes, I know it was not for them. But why have it for the adults? We can drink at other times, we don't need to drink at a kid's party.

How anyone can think this is ok is beyond me - it is totally selfish and irresponsible

LaWeaselMys · 16/12/2010 08:44

How many PPL are going to suggest this now do you reckon?

Although on that note how many schools have a liqour license?

LadyBiscuit · 16/12/2010 08:48

I grew up in another country where there was always a bar at school parties for the parents, wine and beer on sale at school open days etc. There is no binge drinking culture there. I'm not entirely sure what's behind the UK's drinking culture but I suspect it's a lot more complex than the simple causal link you've described MsKalo

LaWeaselMys · 16/12/2010 08:48

Awkward x-post.

Also apologise profusely for my use of PPL, People.

GroovyGretel · 16/12/2010 08:52

Ahem. As someone involved with a pta, I would suggest that they are selling drinks to grown ups as they will probably barely break even on the disco itself. After all the DJ probably costs at least £150.

MsKalo · 16/12/2010 08:53

Of course it is more complex but having a bar at a school disco and parents having a LARGE amount to drink is a factor of the problem we have in this country! I didn't say that was the only thing, but it certainly adds to the problems

MsKalo · 16/12/2010 08:55

Even if it was done to break even, it's not setting a very good example is it!

Ingles2 · 16/12/2010 08:56

Yes, it's weird and there is no way on earth it would be allowed at our school.
It's not appropriate ... but then I'm not sure about discos for infants at all.
Our junior school discos are fun, the kids come without parents, there's squash, sweets and party games.

wannaBe · 16/12/2010 09:13

We had one at our school disco last week - kids were in disco inside, adults were sold drinks/hotdogs/mince pies through the hatch out to the reception area. It was billed as a Christmas social and was a fantastic fundraiser.

The reality is that the parents who would stay for a drink would most likely have gone down the road to the pub anyway so they might as well spend their money at school for the good of the school.

And given each disco lasts for an hour I sincerely doubt that anyone would be worse for wear...

"I really don't get the 'it's ok' attitude about this. There is a time and place to drink and a kid's disco is not it. And people wonder why we have such
a binge drink culture in this country... What on earth are we teaching twelve year olds? That they can't have a good time without alcohol? Yes, I know
it was not for them. But why have it for the adults? We can drink at other times, we don't need to drink at a kid's party.

How anyone can think this is ok is beyond me - it is totally selfish and irresponsible"

Oh do get a grip - I don't somehow imagine that a couple of cans at a school disco are responsible for Britain's binge drinking culture.

NestaFiesta · 16/12/2010 09:14

Ingles- infant discos are great and can be good age appropriate fun. My DS4 had his recently and they had dancing contests and musical statues, as well as a hot dog and some squash. I picked him up an hour later no harm done.

However, going back to the OP, I do think a bar is weird at a school disco. I just think after school activities plus alcohol just doesn't go. I would feel uncomfortbale about loads of parents drinking and picking kids up/driving them home.

Himalaya · 16/12/2010 09:19

Not weird. No different to serving a glasses of wine to adults who come along to a children's party - or mulled wine at the xmas fair surely?

On the other hand not an infant school disco is a great idea.

LaWeasel - it costs about £25 to get a one day liquor license for an event like that.

BeerTricksPotter · 16/12/2010 09:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LadyBiscuit · 16/12/2010 09:38

There's a Pimms stall at my nephew's summer fete every year. I have never once seen a drunk parent. People have a couple of glasses, that's it.

ilovemyfestivehens · 16/12/2010 12:33

I don't think it's appropriate. How many of them would be driving home afterwards?

MsKalo · 16/12/2010 13:26

Thank you wannabe but I don't need to get a grip. If parents had a drink or two not top bad but a kids party is not the place to overindulge in drink

MsKalo · 16/12/2010 13:33

wannabe you said: The reality is that the parents who would stay for a drink would most likely have gone down the road to the pub anyway so they might as well spend their money at school for the good of the school.

Blimey, can't some parents stay OFF the drink at all then? Does drink have to be part of every occasion?! There is a time and place for drinking and I still think that this only highlights the bloody obsession some people have with drinking!