charging for school disco's, wwyd?

[charity2]

Tickets for the primary school disco are charged at £3 each. Approx £2.00 of that covers the drink, snack and dj costs for each child and the other £1 is profit for the school.

I am thinking that bearing in mind that £1 from each ticket is profit towards the school then the charge for tickets should be £3 for your 1st child and £2 for each additional child. I know it seems petty but there are many parents with more than 1 child and I think its a bit unfair to profit more than once from the same parents.

I am helping to organise this and want to suggest it but not sure how everyone will feel. I know that many people are struggling at the moment and to save £1 might not seem like much but for those with 3-4 children it all adds up.

Yes, but it's an argument of £1. It's absurd. The OP's children don't have to go. Does she think the PTA is profit making and the helpers are creaming off the extra £'s.

watford you've made my day

I am on the second tier of parental effort for my PTA, basically not committee but very, very supportive.

Yes, I do know how much work goes into a fairly straightforward event. I would hate to make less than £500 profit given how much effort it is. Even then, this is still a very low hourly rate for all the voluteers.

Married - READ MY POST - ITS NOT MY CHILDREN!!! I am helping organise it.

Good God, does no one read properly on here anymore

Thanks Lockets. Phew!

If you are putting in the effort to organise it, then surely you want to maximise profits?

If not, then why not sit back and chip in a fiver and not have to take your kids out on a cold night, or do any set-up/clean-up?

Cottonmouth - hourly rate/volunteers. Surely the volunteers dont get paid, thats the whole point. At our school, the volunteers wouldnt expect to get paid, they do it for the good of the school pta.

"they do it for the good of the school pta."

And you are proposing to halve the amount they raise.

charity2 I think you are way overthinking this one
Exactly what great evil or desperate unfairness will happen if you charge £3 per child?

We offer family tickets for fireworks night.

The basic principle of the disco is to make money, parents who choose to allow their kids to go know it is to raise funds for PTA, which benefits the whole school. I am happy to do this as part of my contribution to the school, I don't want to charge those who don't want/can't afford to go. If every attendee of the disco came from a different family the school would make £1 profit per child. I don't understand why it is fair to the school to not make a profit from siblings. The aim of the event is to make a profit, not to give the kids a good time.

EssentialFattyAcid took the words out of my mouth!

You're WAY overthinking this! I'm chair of our PTA and when we run an event with a ticket price, then that's the price (although I'm liking and may pinch the idea of a family ticket for 3 or more!)
When you run an event, you have to take the line that those who want to attend, will and those who don't, won't.
You can't start thinking about children whose parents don't contribute not benefitting from funds raised, that's not what the PTA is for-well certainly not ours. We raise funds for the benefit of the children. We subsidise a panto trip at Christmas, and we provide a gift for the P7s leaving to go to high school amongst other things.
There will ALWAYS be those who are not interested in supporting fundraising efforts, it's a free choice

as a parent with 3 kids at school - I STILL think YABU - I would pay full price without moaning

I think it's a good idea (or family ticket or whatever).

These kind of events are partly fundraisers but not just fundraisers, they should also be open and inclusive.

If you really wanted to raise funds efficiently you would just ask all the well off parents to donate £100 each.

So, the general consensus seems to be - larger families should still stump up the cost per child as it appears to be the general opinion that each child should contribute towards the money that the pta raise because each of their children will be benefiting from the money raised. Fair point.

Except its not totally fair is it, because not all children will be attending.

"If not, then why not sit back and chip in a fiver and not have to take your kids out on a cold night, or do any set-up/clean-up"
I've heard many parents say that. I heard some PTA parents talking at a exhausting event and they were debating that the amount of time and money it personally cost them throughout a year, plus the costs for their children attending they'd rather stick £100 in an envelope at the start of each year and avoid all events like the plague! Trouble is child pester power to go to a disco, film night, Easter egg bingo night, etc. spoilt that plan.
Can't say I blame them; if I, as a teacher, could donate ££ and not stay late on a Friday four times a term and spend a whole Saturday in school for Christmas and Summer Fayres I'd jump at it.

Thanks Lockets, I think I may put this forward as an idea, see what the others think.

I think the PTA at DD's school have done it both ways - single price tickets and also family ones for 2+ kids. I don't really see a problem either way - the main point of the disco is for the kids to have fun and the PTA to make a modest profit to be spent back at the school.

Why is it not fair that a family with 2 children contribute twice as much to the profit as a family with one, when they will benefit twice as much from the funds raised?