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.

Because Rusty, not all children in the school will be buying a ticket to the disco so they wont be contributing either. So, why is it fair to expect parents of more than one child to contribute per child. They would just cover the cost of the disco/snacks.

Lockets, if your event is attracting less than 50% of the student body then you are not meeting your aim of making it enjoyable to everyone.

Really, a typical primary disco is hardly enjoyable for any of the adults involved.

Now, run a joint disco for kids (with a supervision rota) and a cheese & wine for parents, then you are talking.

Cottonmouth, I hate to agree with you, but I do. Events at our school have always attracted a bigger turnout when it has been something that parents can attend aswell.

Charity, I doubt that the Constitution of your PTA allows you to just offer benefits to children who take part in the school disco. The PTA is to provide benefits to the whole school.

Can you imagine a school play where they only illuminate the children that went to the disco?

We put the price of our Film Night recently - from 2.50 to 3.00 (inc hot dog, drink and popcorn) - but we did do a discount for more than one child in the school. It's not just about fundraising - its a social thing for the children.

Cottonmouth, I wasnt suggesting that. The PTA money is there for all children to benefit from, regardless of where its come from.

But, the majority of posts on here seem to focus on saying why is it fair of parents of one child to pay full and then parents of larger families to pay a reduced price for siblings when they would all benefit from money raised. The point I was trying to get across was that children who dont attend the disco still benefit and no one minds about that so why make larger families contribute per child to fundraising.

The children have social all day. They don't need a disco to socialise.

The social side of PTA events is when you involve the parents, with or without children.

Parents can then connect with one another and perhaps become friends, or build productive relationships such as carpooling.

YABU. It is fair that parents of more than one child pay, as they are wanting their children to attend. If you choose to have more than one child you choose to pay for those children. I say this a a Mum of 3. I would never expect a discount for having more kids.

Lockets, agree,my children love the school events. (although I'm usually popping paracetamol and then pouring the wine when I get home ;-)

Eglu, I really cant be bothered saying it again so please read back a couple of pages. No one is saying that they shouldnt pay.. sigh...

I think the disco is more for fun than fundraising at our school, and only costs £2 per child including squash and hot dog.

Children who do not attend the disco most likely do attend the fair, fireworks, buy an ice cream, have mothers that go to the pamper evening,, have parents with an advert in the Parents Services Directory or who attend quiz night...

Maybe you should share your secrets with the OP then, Lockets, who is struggling with 50% attendance.

PTA events should always be tailored to the specific needs of the community they are serving. I know that at my DD's school, the parent events are the money-spinners, and they are good at building long-term connections between families, which is one of the aims of our PTA.

Our parents have the attitude of that if you are going to drop your children off on a Friday night for a disco or film night, you may as well stick around and have an adult activity, such as a curry night or cheese & wine (with raffle). We get amazing uptake in these activities, with both mum and dad choosing to attend.

Ours is £2 per child or £5 for a family which consists of full/half/step/foster siblings. There are probably only about 5 families in the school who save much on the family ticket but loads of people have 3 dcs so they save £1 each.

For the ticket price you only get the entertainment. You can buy drinks/sweets/crisps/hotdogs and glow stick and have face painting. More money is made on the consumables than the tickets so I think its more profitable to have them separate from the tickets.

If you think it is unfair to profit more than once from the same set of parents, do you also do family deals for the stalls at the Christmas fair?

We didn't charge for the school discos. The PTA funded them. But we didn't use the discos as a fund raising event, more as something for the children to enjoy.

I dont see the relevance of those that dont attend, if they dont like the discos then perhaps they prefer the fair or movie night etc.

A set cost is fair to everyone, those with 3 plus children are either likely to be wealthy or getting a lot in child benefit/tax credits so no reason for them to pay less.

When my DC were at primary, it was for KS2 only. Each ticket was around £3.00 with snacks/glowsticks, etc available if the children wanted to buy them. No reduction on ticket price. We had a limited number of places and always sold out. Parents would wait outside in order to drop their DC off so they could have DC-free time. £3.00 for 2 hours of babysitting is a bargain. I would say no reduction, charity. You want to make a profit, don't you. If PTA don't make very much profit, what's the point of holding an event, really, unless you want to call the disco a social event and don't want to make a profit, which makes it an entirely different thing.

Discos are quite hard work ime, but the DC at the school loved them.

I have read the thread Charity, I really don't see the issue. The school can buy extra things for the children to benefit from with funds made. All of the children benefit from that. It is not profit in the sense it is going into somebodys pocket. It is money that will benefit the chilren.

I'm not sure why you can't understand that it is perfectly reasonable that every child pays the same.

And for your comment about children who don't go to the disco and don't contribute. Well that is just a stupid question. People can choose whether they wish/can afford to contribute to the school by way of discos and school fairs. Some will, some won't, some will contribute more than others. That is life. You are way overthinking it.

OP, you are way overthinking this, as no matter what course of action you decide to take regarding pricing, you won't please everyone.

Have you had feedback from the school regarding this - ie larger families who are less well off are not able to afford this so give us an alternative please? If not, don't give yoruself the stress.

Sorry to be harsh, but events are run to turn a profit for the schools benefit. If you reduce the profit by taking this action, it might not be worth doing it at all. From my experience, it is a lot of work and organisation from lots of people to pull these events together. Not generating maximum ££ isn't making the best of everyones effort.

Sorry to be cynical, but after 20 years experience of PTAs, as a parent and as a staff member, I have realised that if you run PTA events, you are going to have to accept that some families will not support them, either by helping or by attending, but you can't exclude their children from the benefits. It isn't 'fair', and it never will be, and if you try to make it fair you will (a) fail and (b) go nuts.