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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think this is too much money for a Bingo Night organized by the PTA?

57 replies

emkana · 16/11/2007 21:12

Went to Bingo at dd1's primary school tonight.

Family ticket £2
Pizza slices (pre-ordered) 75 p each
Bingo tickets - 20 p each
Cups of tea/coffee 30p#
Cans of beer - £2 each
Fruit shoot (not that I'd buy one £1

plus Raffle tickets £1 per strip

we ended up paying £16 altogether for this one and a half of "fun"

is it me or is that a bit outrageous?

OP posts:
moondog · 16/11/2007 21:13

How can it be outrageous when th e money goes to the school? You are a real tightarse Emkana.

Original poster
emkana · 16/11/2007 21:16

Yes I know that's what dh said...

all for a good cause etc pp

but still I think it's rather a lot, considering I am completely broke at the moment

[grumble]

OP posts:
Original poster
emkana · 16/11/2007 21:18

The thing is they did these evenings last year and the £2 family ticket included tea, coffee, squash and the bingo tickets

and I'm thinking for £16 I could have gone to the cinema, large bucket of popcorn, and had a drink afterwards...

instead of sitting in a draughty hall ticking off numbers

OP posts:
somersetmum · 16/11/2007 21:18

We are doing a similar night and we're going to charge £20 for a team of up to six, to include pizza. We're holding it in the local pub, so pizzas will come straight from their kitchens. All other "refreshments" will have to be bought by participants from the bar. Its adult only, btw

somersetmum · 16/11/2007 21:19

Oops, ours is quiz night - not bingo

meemar · 16/11/2007 21:20

I think the refreshments are actually quite reasonably priced TBH!

llareggub · 16/11/2007 21:22

You must have eaten a lot of pizza...

LyraSilvertongue · 16/11/2007 21:30

Sounds quite cheap to me...

Alambil · 16/11/2007 22:06

our PTA recently did a night at the local curry house - £15 per person for a 2 course meal.

I think it sounds quite a lot for a "home-made" type PTA event (as opposed to going somewhere) although when ours did the Race Night, they were charging about £30 a team.

QuintessentialShadow · 16/11/2007 22:09

PTA is not a charity working to better the lives of parents, nor to line the purses of parents, but to FUNDRAISE for the school. This means that events will not necessarily be cheap, they are meant to raise money.

Original poster
emkana · 16/11/2007 22:38

all right then folks I officially class myself as unreasonable then

OP posts:
Original poster
emkana · 17/11/2007 10:11

I feel the need to add, because I did sound rather mean last night:

It's not so much that I have a problem to pay this, it's more that I worry for the PTA because I know that there are people who are struggling financially (like my friend for example) and who at these prices will think twice before attending such an event, which is a shame and in the end means less money for the PTA. The pizza was £6 for us btw, and the bingo tickets, at 20 p for a small panel, added up to £4.80 for four games, which I do think is a lot.

I think they could have gone everything as they have, but not charge for the bingo tickets or charge less.

OP posts:
Minum · 17/11/2007 10:23

Perenial (sp?) problem when fund raising is done largely among the people who will benefit from it; to make decent money, you have to charge more than a lot of people can afford. I always agonise over prices for fund raising nights for church and scouts - if you charge too little theres no point in doing all that hard work, and you wont make the money you need, charge too much, and you cut out half your potential attendees.

QuintessentialShadow · 17/11/2007 12:16

Actually, not really unreasonable Emkana, sometimes I think the PTA (at least at my sons school) is taking a piss.

Like the newest idea, there is a Christmas fair, there will be a raffle at the fair, and I have just had an envelope with £20 worth of raffle tickets, asking to sell them before the event. Well, HELLO! Sell to whom? My neighbours? Shall they make their way down to the school on the day, pay the entrance fee, wait around for the raffle to take place? I cant sell to the classmates of course, as they have their own tickets to sell....

Eddas · 17/11/2007 12:33

well i think if you want them to make money then you have to pay. If people don't go because they can't afford it then they don't have to go. Infact lots of people just don't bother to go anyway which is why they end up charging alot.

QuintessentialShadow, we're going to do that for our raffle. Just ask people you know, grandparents/aunts/uncles/friends/neighbours. Put c/o you on the ticket so they don't have to attend and you can collectthe prize if they win. Not hard really. TBH it's not on to ask parents to donate prizes and buy all the tickets. And you make more when asking others. If you can't sell them just send them back in. No one will expect all the tickets given out to be sold. Just do what you can.

You should also remember that these committees are made up of VOLUNTEERS. They are not professional organizers so may well make errors organising events. They rely on parents to help. You have to rememebr they are doing this for YOUR children. They are not trying to piss people off and bug them. They are helping.

QuintessentialShadow · 17/11/2007 12:47

Eddas, I am usually very keen to oblige by what the PTA is asking, I bake mountains of cakes, bring in lots of what is asked for Mufti days, but this time, I am left feeling a bit annoyed. Perhaps because we have no family, perhaps because most my friends send their kids to private school, and any event I ask them sponsorship for they say "sure put me down for £10, or £5", followed by "I dont actually have cash on me, can I pay you later" which is never as they dont realize how hard up we really are. I dont really have any neighbours I can sell to either. It is just assuming a lot about other peoples situation, and it is not as if people have volunteered to pick up these envelopes with tickets to sell. It does say, bring back envelope with stubbs and money, and unsold tickets. So it is going to be embarassing to return it too. Either I feel I have to fork out £20 in tickets, or feel humiliated when returning it".

I am typing out all this so maybe you can think about a way of doing this for your Fair that does not make people feel really upset about their inabilities to take part/contribute.

idlingabout · 17/11/2007 13:03

I don't know if this helps Quintessential but we do a similar thing with the raffle tickets but we only send out 5 books at £1 a book. People are told they can get extra tickets from the office if they want them. We ask for the stubs, money and any unused tickets back and people do this in sealed envelopes. All this gets passed on by the school to the PTA treasurer. She simply totals the money, folds the stubs and puts any unused books back into circulation. At no point is it ever noted that someone hasn't bought any tickets and she doesn't have the time to even think about things like that. So I don't think you would need to worry about any shame of returning tickets as they won't have recorded your name or anything. Hope that helps.

Doodledootoo · 17/11/2007 13:13

Message withdrawn

Elphaba · 17/11/2007 13:19

I think that's really cheap!

We'd charge more for a family ticket I think - at least £5.

They are trying to raise money for school so I wouldn't be that bothered about the cost of things personally.

You could go to the cinema and have refreshments for £16?! WHere?!

bubblagirl · 17/11/2007 13:20

me personally that looks really cheap

belgo · 17/11/2007 13:24

I also think it's cheap. You didn't have to have pizza and drinks.

Troutpout · 17/11/2007 13:35

i think that's fairly cheap tbh

CaptainUnderpants · 17/11/2007 13:48

a cheap night out for the family I think !

A night at the pictures for family of four plus pizza and drinks somewhere in excess of £50 ??

If you are broke at the moment why did you go ??

inthegutter · 17/11/2007 13:53

Just couldn't resist posting that at the private school where a friend of mine teaches, their PTA Christmas fundraiser dance is £35 per head !!!!! So your bingo night seems pretty good value in comparison lol

MerryAnnSinglemas · 17/11/2007 13:54

Seems reasonable enough to me