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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that limos for 11 year olds "Proms" are a bit OTT

64 replies

TartyDoris · 22/07/2011 21:28

I saw some kids in one earlier shouting abuse out of the window at people on the street. Don't understand the need for it really. I think when I left primary school we had a disco with cake and crisps.

OP posts:
picturelibrary · 22/07/2011 21:32

YABU - when you say that limos for year 6 proms are a "BIT" ott!

They are absolutely, totally and definitely OTT - in fact the whole notion of proms is OTT imho.

Fooffy · 22/07/2011 21:34

Proms at 11 years old is OTT.

RhinestoneCowgirl · 22/07/2011 21:34

They are definitely OTT, big stupid cars with crowd of slack-mouthed gawpers hanging round them at teh narrowest point of the pavement right in front of the school gates so you have to fight through with the buggy to get DC home

Ripeberry · 22/07/2011 21:36

Our tiny school PTA had a limo last year for the year 6 pupils (8 of them) and this year the kids had to do with a couple of large cars with streamers on them.
Totally over the top all these proms.

A 16yr old girl down the street had £500! spent on her just for leaving school (hair, make up, dress, shoes, fake tan) and the parent can't really afford it as she does not work, but did not want her to be 'left out'.

Madness!

DoMeDon · 22/07/2011 21:42

yabu - very ott, ott of ott.

shows how pathetically indulgent most parents are

OddBoots · 22/07/2011 21:47

when ds left primary school they had a 'ball' and some of the children had limos, their parents walked alongside the limo taking photos for the whole 100metres from the house to school.

Bohica · 22/07/2011 21:50

I don't like it, It's totally unnecessary imo.
Luckily we don't have proms for 11 years olds it's still school shirt with your mates names written on it & lot's of tears from your mum & her friends at the end of the day.

Miggsie · 22/07/2011 21:55

I'd be terribly tempted to send DD in jeans and T shirt eating chips out of newspaper...

Thankfully DD's school doesn't do crap like this.

Ingles2 · 22/07/2011 21:56

totally ridiculous... what will these children have to look forward to if they do eveything now? My 11 yr old ds left primary today. We had a family bbq with kids v teacher/parents rounders!

Ingles2 · 22/07/2011 21:58

oh yeah.. and sign your shirt with a marker too Grin

squeakytoy · 22/07/2011 21:58

When I left school to go to high school.. I left school... we all did. No disco, no prom... just a summer holiday..

When I left high school, we just left... no disco, no prom....

It was so much easier for parents in the 80's Grin

startail · 22/07/2011 21:59

Limos have become a tradition for our Y6 and a pricy one but UABVU the kids love it. It injects a very much needed touch of fun into what can be a very difficult day both for children leaving for different schools and younger children loosing friends.
However they are off for pizza , a BBQ or laser quest, not a prom, no dresses and no makeup. That is definitely Y13 only in my book.

yearningforthesun · 22/07/2011 22:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

startail · 22/07/2011 22:03

Sh.. When we left six form we all went up the pub all afternoon, head simply said "You lot are not to return until bus time and you are not to let the younger pupils see you behave in a way that sets a bad example"

squeakytoy · 22/07/2011 22:04

It injects a very much needed touch of fun into what can be a very difficult day both for children leaving for different schools and younger children loosing friends.

Please tell me you are not serious??? Grin

RhinestoneCowgirl · 22/07/2011 22:04

I don't really remember leaving my primary school (mind you I had only been there for 18 months as we had moved house). Year 11 I remember doing the shirt-signing thing, but we were mostly staying on for sixth-form anyway.

Leaving 6th form was fairly emotional, had a leaver's dinner etc, but no ball/prom due to drunkeness and sex in the toilets in the previous year group(and that was just the teachers - arf Wink)

feetheart · 22/07/2011 22:06

No prom for leavers here - beach party with barbeque, outdoor games, bit of music and, this year, LOTS of rain. Very wet kids LOVED it - charging around in rain with water-pistols :o

joric · 22/07/2011 22:08

Yearning .. FFS really?? 'mocktails' ??!!! Limo??! 4th birthday?!!!
Trouble is, the parents probably think it's a sign that they are well off!!
Was watching a programme last night and someone said it costs a lot of money to look this cheap love it!!

mumof2biggerones · 22/07/2011 22:12

I think they're awful! Like other posters, we didn't have anything like this back in '89 - we just left school via the main gate lol! At our kids school, we had a BBQ and there were activities for the children to do.

snippywoo2 · 22/07/2011 22:19

I think its wrong that schools hold proms at any age be it year six or eleven. It's totally unreasonable that schools actively promote having parties that end up making parents spend money they haven't got, especially the way things are in the country atm. I have twins that are going into year eleven in September and dread the money I feel I will be forced to spend next year so my kids don't miss out joining their friends. The tickets alone to the prom will cost me £60 plus never mind the cost of a prom dress and a suit.

mumof2biggerones · 22/07/2011 22:19

Did anyone watch the TV programme a while back about OTT parties for kids (channel 4 I think). One boy had a huge soft play centre hired just for him and his friends and heaps of add-on stuff; some of the kids looked so non-plussed about the whole thing, I wondered what was the point on spending thousands of pounds - then I saw the parents........ poor kids, don't stand a chance!

SixtyFootDoll · 22/07/2011 22:21

Yes it is ott.HOWEVER DS 1 has just finished yr 6 and they had a disco at school.
It has become the thing to have a limo ride before, I would never have organised one but one of DS's friends mum did and we all chipped in. There were 3 limos in all, took the kids for an hours drive beforehand, lots of great photos and lots of excitement.
DSs year group will be splitting up to go to several different comps and tbh it was a great lasting memory for them all with fab photos.
So I will say YABU, but I accept it is OTT! But in a good way.

mumof2biggerones · 22/07/2011 22:22

Snippywoo - ask around the other parents to see if anyone else shares the same view as you. Normally find that when one or 2 people start to question things a lot more people come out of the woodwork and agree with you - no one wants to make the first move and be a 'party pooper'.

rocketleaf · 22/07/2011 22:33

YANBU on so many levels.

A/ Limos are tacky and ott for anyone
B/ Proms are a tacky americanism and ott for 16 year olds let alone 11 year olds
C/ what's wrong with a good old school disco, writing on shirts and ducking in the school pond as the leaving rite, like back in my day

maypole1 · 22/07/2011 22:34

My son just had a prom one girl turned up in a horse and carriage, another child came in a helicopter which the head allowed to land on the roof

And their were girls who looked a lot more orange that pink I think its very awful and the girl who's parents hired the helicopter is on dinner tickets I just think if you can't Even afford £2 a day then you need to rethink a helicopter at £500 I was told by the dad Hmm

We too dd in our car and the only money I paid put was £10 for a hair cut and £15 for a suit

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