Aibu to not want to fill a smarties tube with £1 coins

[Invisimamma]

This will be outing if any parents from my child's school are on here...

Both children came home from school and nursery today with a tube of smarties each as a gift from the PTA with instructions to eat them and fill the tube with £1 coins or 20p, letter specifically states not coppers or 5/10ps. Apparently the tube will hold £12 of 20pences.

There will be a prize for the class who brings back the most money.

Now I have a few issues with this:

1. my friends child has a diary allergy was really upset he can't eat his treat (she didn't know this was happening so couldn't provide an alternative)
2. we still have lots of Easter chocolate and don't need more
3. dp and I both work but childcare and other costs are crippling us at the moment and we're skint, an extra £24 is really beyond us just now
4. we've just paid £46 snack money to nursery and £12 for a school trip for one and £8 for a trip for another (amongst lots of other recent school costs)
5. does anyone even has coins lying around the house anymore? I use contactless payment for almost everything and don't draw out cash.

The children have been hyped up about it and both have said they need to raise money for the school. I guess I'm feeling guilty that we're not in a position to participate/it's a pain in the arse idea.

I agree with you OP, more pressure on parents, government should be funding schools properly.

My children’s school does this😀 wonder where you are?

I’ve ignored it, just like last year.

I laughed at the £12, several families have three children!

£12 in 20p is a lot!

I would put coppers in frankly. Or just put in as many 20p as you actually go through. Even if that is only a couple each.

A prize for whoever brings back the most money given how many children are living in poverty in the UK currently, this is a really grim exercise. I know that schools are short on cash, but this just seems cruel!

Omg

Its bad enough when school want a bottle tombola prize donating by each of my 3 primary aged dc!

YANBU

It's a bad idea for fundraising.

It's too much money per child/family and the competition aspect pits too much pressure on people to take part.

The 'not 10p' bit is bloody cheeky!

I think its crappy they've said no pennies. My kids always root around in the sofa and the hall drawers to fill their tubes when they get them. I will empty out my purse so they might get a few pounds and twenties but expecting £12 per child is sheer thoughtlessness.

Just don't do it.

I get that schools are struggling with funding cuts but this is not the right way to go about plugging the shortfall. Sounds as though they know that children will want to do this. I would ignore it and explain to your children that you will help out some other way.

I'm worried that if we ignore it that the DC will feel left out. Ds1 understands sometimes we need to prioritise our money but ds2 is just so excited about raising the money and the competition aspect of it.

I just think it's so badly thought through. We're in a fairly nice area where not many families appear to be struggling ( although nobody would know we are from the outside). I've just been paid and have £8 left in my account until the 28th (food money is set aside so we won't starve and car has been fuelled) but there is no extra atm.

Is the money going to the school?! I think that’s shocking.

Yanbu.
Silly idea. Too much money for a lot of parents. I'd fill it with coppers.

It's a shame that schools are being driven to this. It makes me so annoyed.

You don't have a choice but to ignore it. Or stick a couple of quid on top of pennies if you feel you must.

Twelve quid in 20ps! How many pound coins do they hold??

DS gets bits of change as pocket money for toys, he'd be terribly unimpressed .

It's also a lot of money to request for a donation.

My DC school has done the same!! They’ve done it in previous years too. I very rarely have coins lying around that aren’t already being used for school dinners or breakfast club. I may be a meanie but I make my DC do jobs for each 20p

My children have never gone without but 12pounds could be a couple or ,maybe 3 nights tea for children if you were on the headline how stupid of the pta

Just don’t do it - pta stuff is purely voluntary and nobody in any pta would want anybody to struggle to give money. Tell your dc that you’ve spoken to the pta and they don’t need to do it and explain the chances of them winning are tiny - that always puts mine off, they over estimate their chances of winning!

It’s hard to come up with new fundraising ideas but they’re strictly voluntary

I'm worried that if we ignore it that the DC will feel left out

Sadly, I think that is what the school is banking on. It’s very badly thought through. If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it. Do not feel guilty about it.

Our school does this but is happy to take whatever goes into the tube, be it coppers, silver or £1 coins.

Whilst I know that the tube holds £12 in 20ps, I do think this is a lot for a regular thing - our school is now making it an annual event - especially in a family like mine with multiple children - i would be donating £48 if I did it properly.

Ours do a prize for the best decorated tube.

Yes it's for PTA fund raising.

I also know that the PTA bank balance is currently sitting around £7k so they are not desperate for funds just now. I do support things like the Xmas fair, summer show, buy raffle tickets, contribute tombola prizes etc when we can.

My children’s PTA did this and we ignored it. DD1’s class won the ‘treat’ anyway and she told me it was a biscuit and cup of squash

No you aren’t being unreasonable. My kids primary school does this too, when I had 3 in the same school things like this became extortionate! Like those raffle ticket books that were £5 a book and they all bought home 2 each to sell! No thank you. Sent them back unused.
The prize for the most money raised is pretty grim too, really sad for the kids who raise nothing and puts the guilts on parents who are already feeling the pinch.
As for dairy intolerant children, it’s clear the PTA have not thought this through. I’d be inclined to let the kids enjoy the smarties and then store the tubes “safely” somewhere and forget all about them.

We had to do this Brownies in the early 90s. But with polished 1ps. Brown Owl wpuld tip the Smartie tubes out an inspect them to see if the pennies were polished enough! No one would dare not send a filled tube in and face her wrath!

But back to your post, that is a lot of money and done in a sneaky way. Put what you can in even if it's just a few coppers. You won't be the only parent feeling this way.

I would complain. I used to be on the ptfa and I made a big point of challenging school on affordability, pressure and understanding the impact of lots of (what they thought were little) requests on families.