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.

Slight diversion but why are Christmas jumpers considered essential these days? We went to a do where everyone wore one of those tacky, tasteless things, I didn't but was 'offered' one, with force!!

I think ALL days that involve parents making or buying costumes should be banned.

I think the vast majority of those sorting this out are women as well. I often say to DH that if men were suddenly the only ones parenting, there would be none of this nonsense. No cake sales, no jumper day, no dress up, no hand-made party favours, none of it. They'd hand 50 quid to the PTA at the beginning of term and never think about it again.

Completely agree with you OP. They are so wasteful, especially for children who will barely wear them before they've grown out of them. Fifteen years ago nobody had a Christmas jumper except in Bridget Jones. It's just a gimmick to get you to spend more, like the ever expanding roster of greetings cards and festivals we now have to buy tat for by law. I'm such a grinch 😁

If jumpers are being sold for peanuts then they are highly unlikely to have been produced in a sustainable or ethical way

Clothes which are sold for considerably more than peanuts aren't necessarily any more ethically produced.

If an adult buys one it will last every year they need one for work, I did this. But for children that’s obviously not an option and it gets expensive especially if you have multiple children.

You do have lots of notice though so I would personally be checking charity shops or eBay out for a cheap one. Some parents stick things on T-shirt’s/plain jumpers too.

Unless you buy a jumper from a charity shop you will inevitably give more to the person selling the jumper than any charity.

I suppose if the jumper gets used for multiple charity days things might even out, but there are much better ways to give to charity.

OP it's not just pointless consumerism, it's also bad maths.

We don't really do Christmas jumpers in our house. I have always just sent them in in a vaguely Christmas coloured top eg red hoodie for ds and a quid. Nobody thinks twice about it as loads of people choose to not participate.

And then there is insulting us Scandinavians by calling jumpers with patterns like this www.crestock.com/image/3461049-Nordic-pattern.aspx "novelty sweaters" and British people looking at you oddly if your wear them outside of December as they are "Chrismassy". Oh, I must buy some pearls so I can clutch them!

But anyway I have plenty of sweaters with that kind of patterns and as my coworkers thought they were "X-mas sweaters", I didn't need to go buy one ... so silver lining. (not in the sweaters, in the situation)

I’d you have a babygro/top or jumper from earlier years with an Xmassy bit on the front, cut it out and put it on some backing fabric (glue, wonderweb or stitch) and then you can just safety pin it onto a normal jumper every year thereafter.

It's the environmental waste. Yanbu op. Charity shops are the way forward with this nonsense.

I've got a Christmas jumper I bought from Tesco 5 years ago which I bring out every year.

Don't do it then, surely it is just a fun way to give to charity and get into the countdown to the season mood. Lots in charity shops and a relaxed atmosphere in school.

I agree with you OP for all the reasons you have stated. It’sa Not ‘fun’ or ‘for charity’ - it’s wasteful and simply adds another item on the to-do list for parents.
Fuck off with that shit.

The thing is if it’s to raise funds for the school through PTA or whatever, if they just said right everyone donate £1 on Friday for no reason, many would just not do it. But PTAs are raising money for the school that is badly needed to spend on resources, particularly in the wealthier areas where parents can afford it, as these schools get much less funding from the government.
Non uniform is easy to do I don’t see the problem with that to raise cash.

I just folded up DS's Christmas jumper with an eye roll after it was worn three times. Better idea - PTA raise money to buy jumpers which the kids then borrow for a quid. My kids school had 60 kids so doable.

Think this is a stupid idea. Clearly banged my head harder than I thought.

Bah humbug! My two love choosing new Christmassy jumpers and wearing them to school. And they can be bought cheaply and donated to charity shops afterwards so I can't see the problem.

so I can't see the problem.

Did you read the thread? Many problems outlined.

I think it would be a bit sad to ban all funraising events...cake sales are great and you can buy cheap cakes in Lidl. They raise loads. Not everyone has enough to donate a lump sum to the pta.
Some of these events add a bit of colour to school like...just not expensive dress up days.

Fundraising even

Yes, a non-uniform day would be much better. It could be (non-compulsory) Christmas themed so that people could wear Xmas jumpers/antlers/tinsel/whatever they wanted!

The Christmas T-shirt’s my children wore last year and the year before (I’m tight as a ducks bum and got bigger sizes so they could wear them more than one year) are still in mint condition and have been donated along with a lot of other stuff in good condition to the local women’s refuge so will hopefully get worn again. I never throw out clothes (give or take a baby/toddler poonami episode) everything gets recycled somehow so I don’t mind things like Christmas jumper day.

Ha, this reminded me of Easter x3 at primary. After Easter hat day for key stage 1 ( bad enough) came ' Decoated eggs'.. The MO was to decorate an egg in a witty way.
By the time we got to DC3 we were cynical.
What we DID was " Resurreggection' an egg like JC emerging from a rock. Went down a treat with the local vicar.
What we WANTED to do was ' Indecent Eggsposure' an egg with a simple bit of brown paper, 'flashing '.
Please forgive this if anyone finds this painful. We were merely being light hearted and a bit fed up with it all.

My Christmas jumper is a nice quality red top with my white Helen Moore faux fur glove cuffs popped on the ends. It comes out when I am obliged to xmas-up... I already owned both items & wear them separately a fair bit. I would not be forking out to buy one! Especially for fast growing DC. Charity shop or 2nd hand if necessary, only exception a nice Scandi winter jumper if I knew it would get a winters worth of wear.

Sympathise with your point OP. This year I have bought decent Christmas jumpers as gifts for all the kids we buy for and will send them out before December. Hoping to save their parents the hassle and actually get some wear out of them. It annoys me buying a jumper just for one day too.