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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU - I hate school dress up days

34 replies

Feebeela · 08/09/2017 21:58

The first school dress up day of the year is looming. There is one each term based on topic subject plus World Book Day, red Nose Day, Jeans for Genes Day, Christmas Sweater day etc and I fecking HATE them. I hate them all.
The pressure to create/buy a costume (Asda nylon princess dress for WBD?) Competitive parents (oh this rocket suit my DS is wearing with the led red flames? I threw it together last night -my arse) Disinterested Y6 kids and worst of all, the sobbingkids who don't have a costume because of parents who can't or won't get one together for them.

What is the point of theservice dress up days? Want to raise menu for charity? Ask me for a donation. Educational purposes? Do something fun in class to kick off the topic that all children can participate in and invite parents in to see the results of their special day instead.
I've asked teachers at my DD's school and they told me it's for the kids,they love it - apparently. I don't think the kids care. I think they gain very little out of it compared with some great activity they could do in class, led by the class teacher. Argh!!! AIB an U misanthrope?

OP posts:
BrightOranges · 08/09/2017 22:02

Are you me?!

Completely agree with you. Can't stand it either.

Bluelonerose · 08/09/2017 22:06

I'm glad I'm not the only one. That and my kids never want to wear the dress up clothes afterwards so it's a waste of money.

HidingBehindTheWallpaper · 08/09/2017 22:06

I fucking hate them.
I don't have children.
I am a teacher.
They are a ball ache for all concerned.
I don't know why we have them.

Twofurrycats · 08/09/2017 22:14

I taught y6 for (what seemed) like ever. I hated dress up days. Like fuck did I want to teach in pyjamas!

Original poster
Feebeela · 08/09/2017 22:18

So why why why do schools have them??????

OP posts:
Letstryagainshallwe · 08/09/2017 22:21

Hate them. My kids had pj day! And since my daughter only wears nighties I had to go and and by her a pj (top and trouser)set feels like it's just money money money all the time. We even had a 'French day' which seemed abit random

Twofurrycats · 08/09/2017 22:23

There is always someone in every staff room (in my experience) who thinks it is a great idea. And what a fun day it will be. This person was never me.....

Ginorchoc · 08/09/2017 22:26

Loved world book day Blush sad my daughters high school doesn't do it.

Liadain · 08/09/2017 22:26

I'm a teacher. I don't like any of them. Except maybe for Halloween and PJ day (but then, we have kids wearing nighties in)! The rest are a pain.

Wearing something of a particular colour is ok imo - on Roald Dahl day this week we will let them wear a yellow thing with their uniform, and we'll make something yellow in class. It's the full on, painstaking costumes I don't like.

MaisyPops · 08/09/2017 22:27

Teacher here.
Hate it.

I do wish we would go back to having non uniform days for charity.

Much better to pay £1/2 for charity and wear your own clothes than pay £1/2 to charity and the expense and fuss if sortinf a costume.

Liadain · 08/09/2017 22:27

Oh, and world book day. I like that one.

But it's very doable - give them a bucket and regular clothes, and you've got Harry and His Bucketful of Dinosaurs . Grin

Mittens1969 · 08/09/2017 22:29

I absolutely hate dress up days, I didn't like them growing up and I like them even less now. Sorry, I'm a grumpy cow lol.

minionsrule · 08/09/2017 22:32

I hoped when ds left primary we would have left this behindbut no, last year his high school did world book day for year 7 😑. Ds hating to stand out insisted we had to do it...... hardly anyone bothered 😯.
I would rather give a fiver to school/charity and do away with any dress up days

daisybelle70 · 08/09/2017 22:37

Like most of this small-scale 'charity' blah it's loathed by almost everyone participating, both the organisers and the begrudging doners. It tends to raise a pathetic amount of money for some money-wasting charity which could far more cheaply and honestly been raised just by asking, if only anybody actually had the brass-neck to directly ask for money for their crapulous charity.

I wish that both the charities and the product-promoting corporations would keep their sticky beaks out of the schools, and I wish we had a teaching profession which had the guts to make that happen.

But we don't, so just be glad that Asda have found a sufficient pool of cheap Far-Eastern labour to keep us all in affordable Spiderperson costumes or whatever it is people are wearing this year.

Apocalyptichorsewoman · 08/09/2017 22:39

Oh God. There's nowt quite like the feeling when at 9pm a small child announces that at assembly tomorrow they have to be dressed as a small woodland squirrel.

It only happened once mind.

I have knitted hats for noddy, made Shepherd costumes with sheep on them, converted a bright red onesie into 'thing one ' aka the cat in the hat. Sent them in with a pair of 'Y' fronts over their uniforms with a cape and a sink plunger (Captain Underpants) Done 'Just William ' costumes, many variations on Harry Potter, snowflakes, superheroes etc...

I should have a fucking degree in textiles now...

It was great when they both went to seniors.

littlebird7 · 08/09/2017 22:39

Oh the pressure is awful. The kids really stress about it as they get older. The non uniform days are even worse, arms race for most cool/expensive clothes.
Would be better to do something/anything else. It is not fun for anyone and esp not for the parents.
I would suggest a charity children's run instead, a cake sale ( can always pound a Tesco cake into a handmade version) a family funday - but no more dress up days! We have had enough and the only thing that benefits is Amazon prime!

HidingBehindTheWallpaper · 08/09/2017 22:41

So why why why do schools have them??????

Because someone always thinks it's a good idea. That someone is usually SMT or someone who doesn't work that day and doesn't have to dress up.

Also, if we don't have them, parents complain.

Apocalyptichorsewoman · 08/09/2017 22:44

Also, if we don't have them, parents complain.

Bless you - really?

We would have given you a standing ovation! Grin

Kittenswithattitudeandchickens · 08/09/2017 22:44

My son is now 15 but when he was 7 I spent 3 nights making a rather fantastic gruffalo outfit complete with clawed feet and purple prickles for world book day. The top 3 judged outfits by the school were generic bought outfits, Spider-Man, Superman and something else! (Can't remember now) Not at all saying he should have been judged in the top three but at least we made our own.

Abitoflight · 08/09/2017 22:49

YANBU
I hated them! So happy now dressing up days virtually over
Last one DD2 put on grey trousers pale pink top and eeyore ears from Claire's 😊 -
Sooo much time and money wasted on crappy outfits

NC4now · 08/09/2017 22:50

I love making costumes but DS (ASD) hates wearing them. He gets quite anxious about it.
I dread the judging when I drop him off in his school uniform, or on a good day, his own (not costume) clothes. The other parents must think I can't be arsed, but it's more important that I actually get him to school.

WinkyisbackontheButterBeer · 08/09/2017 22:53

Teacher here too and believe me I hate them the same amount, if not more than you. Five year olds look cute in fancy dress. I look a tit!

The one year that we cut down on the number of these days (trying to limit how much money we were asking for in a deprived inner city area) we had absolute outrage from parents!
Facebook was full of parents slagging off the school and in the end we caved and reintroduced them.
Sometimes you just can't do right for doing wrong!

Apocalyptichorsewoman · 08/09/2017 22:54

And and and...!

The time smaller boy came home with a letter saying he was narrator number 2 at the christmas thingy, and could he please wear all black.

He's 8 years old, not an ageing Goth, but I duly got him sorted.

3 days before performance he came home with another letter anouncing that he had been demoted to sheep number three, and could I please sort his sheep costume.

ShockHmmConfused

daisybelle70 · 08/09/2017 22:58

Facebook was full of parents slagging off the school and in the end we caved and reintroduced them.

This is a pretty depressing insight into how schools are run...

Do parents really count up all the dressing-up days, compare it with the previous year and moan if it's less? They sound like the kind of dangerous people who should be ignored.

BikeRunSki · 08/09/2017 22:58

To be honest, at the start of the school year, I'd rather give £10 for all upcoming charity days and say £100 to the PTFA and be done with all the dressing up, raffles, cake sales, fayres, book stalls etc.