To object to Christmas jumper day?

[Drummingisfun]

DS school have already put on the calendar that they are doing Christmas jumper day, for a £1 donation to save the children.

AIBU to feel uncomfortable about it?
I am not just being a scrooge, I don't object to most festive activities but:
1)parents on a very low income are out under pressure to buy and jumper and also contribute £1. Note that there are THREE OTHER non uniform days scheduled before this also with a £1 donation.

2. It means people buying jumpers which will barely be worn, which is terrible for the environment. Bad if they are made of nylon/acrylic/polyester as all plastics, bad if made from cheap unsustainable cotton due to massive water consumption and pollution by factories. Anyone who watched the recent Stacey Dooley documentary will know what I'm talking about.

3. the irony of donating the money to save the children when most people will have bought their child the cheapest jumper they can find for a couple of quid, meaning that children are likely to have been harmed at some stage in the production either by sweatshop labour, massive unsustainable farming, factories polluting their living environment and water source...

AIBU? I love Christmas but I just feel that school shouldn't be promoting pointless consumerism like this.

3seconds WOW day is when eg class are studying space. Whole day at school for that class is totally space themed with special super engaging and memorable stuff planned for the day. All kids are asked to come to school dressed as astronauts.

I don't object to this at all, as it does help their learning, although frankly I hate the inevitable last minute scrabbling around for things to use as an astronaut helmet!

Now that Christmas jumper day is very much a 'thing' there needs to be a lot more effort put into reusing jumpers for more than one year.

Adults could buy a nice one that they rewear and schools could do Christmas jumper bring and buy events so they can be used multiple times.

There might be some in charity shops now/soon - I've seen whole rails of them in previous years.

Christmas jumper day is a huge bugbear of mine, for all the reasons you mentioned.

Shops like Tesco, Primark etc. must be rubbing their hands together at this new "tradition". You pay £12 to Tesco (for jumper) just so you can donate £1 to STC? Dear lord, why? Why not just give £6 to STC... they and us will be better off.

I've sent my DD, in the last 4 years of this in an Olaf sweatshirt that we already had, and a penguin jumper. Both were pink.

I usually buy my kids a long sleeved Christmas t shirt from Tesco, it's around £5, and they can wear it when ever throughout December, you can also buy Christmas jumpers in charity shops for hardly anything so that's a couple of options if the kids want to take part, without spending a fortune on jumpers you don't want (thete ie some shops that donate with every kept sale,which I guess is why some people buy new every year)

I've got a couple of great Christmas jumpers for a couple of quid from charity shops in the past. I think they must be given them in January following post-Christmas clear outs, and then keep them until December. There are usually loads around here.

the irony of donating the money to save the children when most people will have bought their child the cheapest jumper they can find for a couple of quid, meaning that children are likely to have been harmed at some stage in the production either by sweatshop labour, massive unsustainable farming, factories polluting their living environment and water source

Can't argue with that.

I used to love the School Dress Up days, I am not in the least bit arty but I made the DC costumes (white sheet can be used in a whole myriad of outfits) .

My DC have Christmas jumpers anyway, years old. It makes sense for them to get dragged out and worn an extra day .

DD refused to wear a CJ in Yr 11 but consented to wear tinsel on a sweatshirt.

I don't have dc at school now but I work in one. Dd and me can't wear wool or jumper type material. We have sensitive skin and sensory issues so glad she didn't have to do it.
Yanbu these charity days cost a bit and if you have 4dc you would be spending a lot.
Keep it as non uniform but donate to charity. Maybe a bit of tinsel on their clothes? I wear it in my hair.

I have Christmas jumpers and have bought them for husband and son. Son has never worn his, took it back to store after Christmas for refund. I didn't mind. Husband has worn his a couple of times.

I wore my Christmas jumpers (3) before and after Christmas for short while, quite like them, especially one of them which is quite thin and elegant. The other two are thick and only suitable for outdoors so they don't get much use. The advantage is they will not wear out :-).

It's not fair to expect parents to buy a special jumper but if they can jazz up an ordinary jumper for Christmas, that should suffice.

I totally agree op. It irks me to buy jumpers that DS can wear a couple of weeks of the year and then donate to the school for the privilege i hadn't thought about your
last point before but so true. I'm happy to donate for some other Christmas themed fun but jumpers I find a PITA and so wasteful

Agree that it is wasteful. It is only worn a few times during one month in a year. My dds hate jumpers anyway as they find them hot and itchy.

You just buy it big. I have a jumper that has done four years worth of days for my daughter and is now on its third for my son. They have worn them a lot over the Xmas holidays and on Xmas day.

Like pp I buy big and get a couple of years wear out of it before taking to charity shop. Other parents went down the tinsel or felt stars route it really doesn't need to be a big thing.

I am tempted to write an email to school asking if they have considered the points I made above but I don't want to be "that moany parent who whinges about everything"

Fuck it. Why not? This is an important thing to 'whinge' about.

And YANBU, at all.

Had to help my tearful friend out with this a few years ago. Absolutely on the bones of their arses after a shit year and job losses and in a complete state over not even being able to.afford Christmas presents. Never mind jumpers.......me and a couple of others clubbed in and bought the dc one each. Those poor kids had missed outbon enough that year, without making them.the odd ones out.

To top it all, the money raised was for 'charity' !!

I usually raid the charity shops near me for Christmas jumpers.

In fact as we don't have a huge amount of money for clothes its where i do most of our shopping nowadays as I won't buy from primark h&m et al for the reasons mentioned in the op. I don't mind if i do pick up something from a shop with dodgy ethics second hand as they aren't getting the money iyswim?

V. Wasteful, but if decorated regular jumpers are acceptable (from the kids perspective, not just the school’s) it’s probably less inaccessible for low income parents than WoW days. Perhaps just ask the school to emphasise that donations are not required along with the “Don’t buy a new sweater” message.

DH had to wear a Christmas jumper at work one year, we don't even celebrate Christmas so it was quite annoying to buy something special.

I went into a charity shop and found a Christmas cushion cover and sewed it to a jumper he already had.

It was fine.

I have actually set up a Facebook page for parents within my DC's schools where parents can swap or cheaply sell any outgrown uniform/costumes etc, which is useful for things like this. Each of my DC has a Christmas jumper that fits & most of these have been obtained from there, passed down between them or in one case part of a bundle of 40 items of clothes I bought for £20.

I love second-hand!

They are giving plenty of notice.
Lots of people at DD2's school just put some tinsel on an old jumper or wear any old non-uniform jumper. It's not a three-line whip where the teacher will be asking for jumpers to be removed if they are not Christmassy enough, and it's much easier than Viking Day, Greek Day, Roman Day, Egyptian Day and Victorian Day and all the other dress up occasions schools come up with.

Honestly, pick your battles. But not this one.

Participation should be optional, not mandatory.

It would be better if people who have the spare money just donated the £1 plus whatever money they would have wasted on a jumper.

Wait - Astronaut day is ok but Christmas Jumper day is too difficult?

Which do you think is trickier for low-income parents?

Participation should be optional, not mandatory

It always is.

Yanbu.