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.

YANBU OP and you’ve made me think about things I haven’t really before, so thank you 😊

If it bothers you just stick some tinsel to a jumper

Halloween jumpers are trying to become a thing now

Wont be long before there is a Halloween jumper day too.

YABU OP. Nobody has to buy a jumper. If you do, then the charity shops will be full of them and you will be able to get one for a couple of quid and help another charity while you are at it.

You can cheaply adapt an existing jumper or tshirt as well. One year we stuck cotton wool all over a jumper, another year we put baubles all over it, or tinsel or crackers. Another time I bought a jumper that would last for several years, we give the outgrown jumpers to younger kids so they are reused.

The kids all love it eating their school Christmas Dinner wearing their Christmas jumpers.

You’re being very sensible! Non uniform days completely negate the whole point of uniforms (hiding differences between what clothes different kids can afford). I read an article about this and a teacher in a poor area said that absences went up about 30% any time they had a non uniform day. I agree with all your points about the Christmas jumpers themselves. Plus, you go out and spend day £14 on a jumper in Tesco and then donate £1 to the charity. Why not skip the jumper bit and just donate £15 to the charity??!

I would be really annoyed about this for all the same reasons as you. Both for money and ethical reasons we can't afford waste in our family at the moment. I'd decorate a jumper at home with the kids but grudge the extra faff if there were already so many other non-uniform days. I would write to the school asking if they could make it so it lowers the impact on low income families, and I would also write with your concerns to Save the Children. If they were giving guidance on which brands to avoid for child labour purposes (even if they don't know about the environmental stuff) that would surely help their cause as much or more? In fact I will definitely write myself if they bring this up at my kids school.

YABU. You don’t need to buy a jumper, as many have said, just stick some tinsel on a top.
It’s about being charitable. Teaching our children about giving. It’s £1. However difficult your situation is, a pound doesn’t hurt.
There are also schools who need to raise the money for themselves due to lack of funding.

Give a little!

UANBU. I hate Xmas jumper day! Yes have 2 dc, so that’s £20 at a time of year when I don’t really have money to spare. It’s a waste as I know dc won’t wear them again as they hate jumpers! Last few years they have used their own existing clothes (long sleeve t-shirt) as they had happened to have Olaf from frozen on, or peppa pig playing on the snow. Think I will be sending them with tinsel stuck on this year!

I did this exact same thread last year and got flamed to hell and back!

I’m a low income, single parent family. If I can do it...everyone else can!
You’re be tight and your child will feel left out.

Borrow one from a cousin , or double up on charitable giving by buying one in a charity shop or at a car boot sale.alternatively
just put a 49p bit of tinsel round a plain jumper. There are ways around this. Whilst everything you say has a valid point...your child will be very excited about taking part and wont want to miss out and making him/her miss out on a special christmas day will make you look ' bah humbug' however valid your points are. If you really dont or cant afford one...why not approach the school/pTA and offer to.organise a xmas jumper swop shop the week before after school...everyone will be very grateful to offload too small jumpers and trade up...and as it's your idea you'll come up looking like Mrs Claus.
I have sympathy for ypu I really do...but you need to get creative with this one !!

I have Xmas jumpers as I like to be cheesy on Xmas day and everyone wears one! I have 2 dresses and a jumper which are rotated so my photos dont look the same every year! And I buy larger sizes for my son so he can get a couple of years out them and I keep his old ones as I can't bear to part with them!
I get what you mean though!

A few festive stickers on any jumper will do.

I’m a low income, single parent family. If I can do it...everyone else can!
You’re be tight and your child will feel left out

Yeah fuck the planet and those slaves over in that shit hole country you don't even know about - you don't want your child feeling left out..

As I say every year:

If you look on the StC website, they make it very clear that homemade jumpers are fine/part of the fun: I have a friend who worked at the StC offices and the rule there was that everyone was expected to hand decorate: bought jumpers were very much frowned on. I think it was just as much of a pain for busy parents, but certainly more sustainable! So just ask the school if they are happy to make this very overtly part of their guidance: e.g. wear a Christmas jumper OR a Christmas badge stuck to a jumper OR a festive coloured jumper OR tack some tinsel to a jumper etc.

I tend to buy the dc jumpers second hand, a size too big (so worn for two years) and always pass them down.

As long as you're sensible, I don't think it necessarily has to be an environmental issue, any more than the rest of Christmas does...

(saying this: I've just checked the website and whilst it does say this (there's a FAQ section) the photos are all very much of bog standard primary type offerings, which is a bit of a shame...

Why does this have to be an environmental issue. Not Xmas jumpers are made in sweatshops and not all Xmas jumpers need to be made out of polyester.
Also my daughter insists on wearing hers all year round and I let her.

I say this every year. The only jumpers my DC own are Christmas jumpers, and I buy them a size too big every 2 years. It's not an extra jumper, and it's not only worn once. I won't have to buy DD a Christmas jumper next year, as secondary schools don't do Christmas jumper day, I don't think?

The StC website is full of people very clearly wearing cheaply made new Christmas Jumpers.

It's an issue because not everybody does as you do.

Schools, by their nature, have many pupils, from many families. The fact that one family knows how to deal with this 'right' will not result in every family in the school following their most excellent example (however much you think they could, or should).

The people who run schools make decisions affecting the whole school population. That is the context of the question.

Bah humbug!!

@lottiegarbanzo This is exactly it.

Even if OP decorates a normal jumper/buys second hand/knits her own from the wool of her own small holding, the majority of every other family will buy from Primark or Tesco and bin them in January or next Christmas when they don't fit.

I completely agree with you OP, I'm shoving Christmas jumper day the same place that I've put matching Christmas pyjamas.

The school I work at only has non uniform day about once per year; many of the children cannot afford decent clothes or the £1 to participate.
I did a great, cheap and cheerful Christmas jumper for my son one year at primary. Plain green charity shop jumper (red would have worked too). Poundland Christmas stocking. Sewed the stocking to the jumper and put a small teddy in the top. Looked really cute, cost £3 total.

It's also that it's completely unnecessary consumerism. I've seen special Christmas bedding, Christmas onesies. What next? Halloween and Easter and Mother's Day bedding? meanwhile half the world is gasping for water and choking on industrial dyes.

I came on to say YABU What a Scrooge. But after reading your arguments YADNBU. I did watch the Stacey Dooley doc and you're right to point this out to the school.