AIBU to hate school dress up days

[Lonecatwithkitten]

We have had notification that children in need will be a dress up day with the theme superheroes. Why oh why can they not pick an option which enables the wearing of home clothes.

I am a lone parent running my own business that offers 24/7 emergency care to be frank I have enough to do as it is.

Towel or old sheet for cape
Old pair of tights and if she has a leotard (which if she is into MT then i guess she has) then that over tights, she has half term coming up, so she could make a belt using cardboard and wrap foil over it, cut out large paper or card circle, glue or tape foil on and the cut out capital 'W' for wonder women job done and even if she's not into doing craft stuff it wouldnt take her long. And if she has the inclination she can make a mask. It needent be expensive have a look at what you have at home.
But yes i'm not a fan of dressing up either, and like other posters on here its just more time consuming dross when i already suffer from time poverty.

YANBU. Fine for Reception and KS1, but a pain in the neck after that!

We normally get about 2 days notice of ours. The general 'wear any costume or your own clothes' ones are ok but the last few have been a pain. My DS had no clothes with spots or anything pink (he just wore a pair of my pink socks in the end). The last one we had wasn't even for charity, it was just a random one. It was fun convincing a 6 year old with ASD to wear his pyjamas to school!

Complete pain in the arse! don't get me wrong - I've done my share - from noddy costumes, captain underpants, Paddington, just William, shepherds, stars, kings, Harry Potter, 101 dalmations, sheep number 3, narrator, wise man, pretend teacher with tweed jacket etc

My personal bests were being informed casually at 9 pm that they need to be a small woodland creature in assembly that next morning.

And ds2 being suddenly demoted from narrator to sheep number 3 on account of his flat delivery. And the coconut costume.

I've put my fecking time in- am a working lone parent and at times it felt like they were out to spite me - I've sewn red Dots onto a yellow duster for noddies wee scarf at 11 at night when I'm on an early in the morning...

Thank feck they are both at senior school now...

We have to dress up as a fruit or vegetable....

Pack of green or red balloons, blown up and fastened on with safety pins - bunch of grapes.

Why do we do this. We are told that uniforms are good for kids because they won't be teased for not having the latest gear except on a few days when we draw attention to what they are wearing.

OP what about a dressing gown and go as Hong Kong Phooey

I hated all the crap parents were expected to get dragged into at primary school - endless short notice assembles, and 'fayres' and come in and see the projects days, sports days, dress up days, easter services, xmas services, end of term activities, bake sales etc.

There was none of that when I was at school (when, ironically, the majority of families would have a SAHM, although my mum always worked). When & why did it start & could it please stop?

I do not see what value it adds, at all. Involved parent will do non-school stuff with their kids outside school hours, uncaring parents will do nothing & then the children will be made to feel bad at school that they don't have a Boden mummy helicoptering in at every opportunity.

Weirdly, the moment they step foot in High School, the expectation of any parental involvement beyond parents evening & prize giving, which are outside work hours & the dates set months in advance, just stops.

My youngest has just started high school & it is great.

YY to being dragged into the school. DH and I together don't have enough annual leave to cover even the basic school holidays, so the endless come and see the project/come and help with the art project/fayres/plays/concerts and so on are a bloody nightmare. I understand that it's about the school involving the parents, but I wish they would remember that it's usual for both parents to work and that not everyone has another relative who can attend in loco parentis.

My parents didn't have to do any of this, despite (as whatthe rightly says) most Mums being at home in the 70s and 80s, and none of us felt we were missing out. And YY to High School being fantastic - hand them over, get them educated, only minimal parental responsibility required.

Personally I think they have more to do with the pound you have to send in (or us it just our school?) A school dressed up is a fair few pounds.

Usually I keep my youngling off school that day. He's autistic and finds all of that stressful. Last term the school had so many dress up and other stuff that I got slightly paranoid they were doing it on purpose so I would keep him off. Not that that was the case it just felt like it

I loathe dress up days. There are too many parents with too much time on their hands round here who indulge in competitive costumes. YANBU

I am so glad my kids are at secondary school. The freedom of not having them dress up.

The two memories I have- were of my kids having to dress up the next day ( of which I was told about at 8pm the night before) was having to dress as a member of the rock band Kiss, and Mummy "I have to dress up like a giraffe tomorrow"
Great. Just as well I have a huge wardrobe full of wild animal costumes.

Funniest was my ( astute) DS has to dress up as a character beginning with the letter P.

He went as gary Glitter.

My last post should have read parental involvement, not parental responsibility

I am weeping laughing at cruikshanks posts

I detest dress up days. We recently had 'Toga Day' as Yr6 are currently learning about ancient Greece. The kids were required to wear a white Toga to school on that day. So all that was need was said white sheet. I didn't have one but Mum did, job done.

Only problem was dd1 HATED it and got herself so worked up she refused to line up in the playground. All because she didn't want to wear a fucking sheet over her uniform all day. Can't say I blamed her really but there was no way she was just wearing the sodding sheet by itself as it was a particularly cold day and totally impractical to wear at school all day.

Usually they are never that fussed for these pain in the ass days. I don't have the time to go looking for outfits or have the money to buy to them and I lack the imagination and creativity to make anything.

Yadnbu!

Have to say we do get plenty of notice but I still hate it.

When dd2 was in Nursery they did Superhero day. Luckily it was her birthday so she went as birthday girl

I think the super hero theme for girls would be easy enough with leggings and a long sleeved plain top. You can make a cape from a bin liner (or there's plenty of halloween capes at £1 shops, black and put a printed logo stuck on the back) you could invent a super hero. Even make a utility belt. My boys wouldn't wear leggings as they show too much but I could poss get them into joggers. Home made mask and there wouldn't be the same one in the class.
On the first 'Pudsey' day I didn't buy t-shirts but stuck circles of different coloured insulating tape (good old pound shop) on plain polo tops. Very effective.
Book characters are a pain as there are always 20 pirates in a class of 30. I dont want my boys to go as bloody pirates! I might do a biblical theme this year - shepherds?
I never buy fancy dress stuff unless at bootsale.

I've found a pattern for a super hero Cape that looks pretty good. I'm going to make it for DS for his halloween party.

It takes aprox 2 meters of fabric but a double sheet could easily be converted into a fab new cape, then the dc (if old enough) could draw superhero symbols on it. It also looks quite simple to make famous last words

thelongthread.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/superhero-cape.pdf

If you are time poor and money poor there seems to be no solution then. Can't wait for senior school next year.

Senior schools have dress up days as well you know!

Yes, High Schools do have them- but a) there isn't a requirement for parents to make costume, given that teenagers can sort themselves out, b) it's very much a personal choice as to whether they dress up, and c) there are far fewer of them.

"Senior schools have dress up days as well you know!

THankfully not ours.

I was a SAHM and quite crafty and I still hated these days. Dd3 is now at secondary and they are thankfully behind me, though I did get 24 hours notice for international day, where each student had to bring in a traditional dish from their home country (we are in an international school overseas)

But this thread does remind me of a story from several years ago that still makes me laugh/shudder. Do not read any further if you're terribly pc.

We live In a Muslim majority country and when dd was in preschool they had Eid dress up, where all the kids needed to dress in traditional outfits. A new mum (new from the UK and had a six week old baby) saw the words "dress up" through her jetlagged baby haze and bunged her Ds in his buzz light year outfit and sent him on his way. She will still shudder with embarrassment about how she showed true respect to their holiest of days.
Our kids are now 14, but she will always be the buzz light year mum!

Sorry fatowl I completely relate to the baby haze stuff!

Our senior school doesn't have dress up days generally - and if there is one you can opt out and bring £1 in (does a slight dance round as youngest is now in seniors)

If you think dressing up days are a pain for parents. they're not much fun for the staff either! We're expected to join in the "fun" and if you have trouble coming up with a superhero costume for a 8 year old is tricky, try being a middle-aged, short, tubby superhero for a day and see how much fun that is

Wow at saints days... You can get so creative! Superheroes are lame. My DS1 loved the last book day -- he was dressed as a soldier, and brought a book about military vehicles. Still was rather lost among all batmans, spidermans, and princesses.

Dd1 once went as Death from the Sandman graphic novels.

Death

I just gothed her up a bit: no-one could argue with it as you can't get much more chuffing superpower-y than Death, can you...

spanieleyes - a teacher friend of mine is short & tubby. She totally won when her school did supervillains by turning up as the Penguin. Can see superheroes might be harder, though!

In theory I think it's all a nice idea. In practice, I teach ft, dh works away a lot...it's just one more bloody thing neither of us really have time to facilitate.

All superheroes have a secret identity. Go in normal clothes and say she is Diana Prince (wonder woman's alter ego) or Linda Lee Dangers (supergirl). Cheap pair of black rimmed specs if you're going all out!