Year 6 leaving party/prom

[HolyGaucamole]

I all of a sudden feel like one of “those parents” 🙈 a group of mums at dcs school, including myself thought it would be nice to do an end of year disco as the school aren’t doing one for them, we have hired a hall and asked for all parents who want to be involved with the planning to contribute £40 towards a £1500 budget or whatever they can afford.
for context there are 4 year 6 classes so we are at least expecting to have around 60-70 children, but will not exclude any who’s parents cannot afford to pay.
There will be no limos and all that jazz, just a bit of music, food, games goody bag etc.
but do you think that is too much to ask for?
all the of the money will go towards the hall hire, decorations and jumpers which a lot of the dc have requested.

£40 is too much.
Find a cheaper hall. I’m in a London borough too and there are ones around for £25 an hour. Acknowledging you’d need a big one, there must be cheaper alternatives.
I’d expect to pay between £10 and £20 if food was included.

Sorry just to clear it up the £1500 is for the whole of year 6, with the thinking that at least 40 parents most of whom have agreed to that amount to cover the costs for everyone.

Do the hoodies separately, not everyone wants both

I actually think £40 is ok, if I remember rightly last year I paid £30 or £35 just for DS year 6 prom which was a two hour disco and food at school then £15 for a hoodie and £15 for a yearbook. They got their hoodies at Easter though and were allowed to wear them for school, he didn’t wear it after the last day but wore it every day for a term so we got value for money!

Separate the hoodie from the disco.

Venue and DJ .. £220 x 2 ÷80 would be £6. Sounds reasonable. Maybe add pizza and drinks. £10.

This all sounds very odd. Why would 40 parents have pre-agreed to an amount to ‘cover it for everyone’; the dynamic is all kinds of wrong and can you see how this could play out instead of making it reasonable for everyone? If a set of parents are willing to do a good deed,
the party should be scaled down as is appropriate for Y6’s and they give that to the school as a charitable donation for some books, towards the next trip or playground equipment etc. All of which are better use of funds IMO.

Are you sure the school isn't planning something? That's very unusual.

Its such a busy time of year that teachers won't be thinking of parties yet. They possibly mean that nothing has been organised... yet.

I guess it depends on how affluent an area you live in and whether you think people will pay it.

My DD's Year 11 prom is £25. It's in a hotel with a buffet and disco. £40 in year 6 for a party in a church hall looks ridiculously expensive by comparison.

At very least I'd take hoodies/T shirts out the price as not everyone will want one.

I think Year 6s would probably prefer a picnic/BBQ in a park with games like frisbie or rounders.
We used to call these things 'discos' in my primary school days. The boys would get bored and disappear into the playground to kick a football around, half the girls would sit on the side and play with each others hair. There was only interest in dancing when it was a novelty song like the Birdie Song or Agadoo.

I’ll leave the thread after this as it’s not my intention to hijack but I really think hoodies that might get 1 terms wear (max) and year books etc. are so over the top and bad for the environment they’re really not necessary for Y6. I’m no eco-warrior chaining myself to a lorry, just an average environmentally minded person but despair at some of the trends that creep in. It’s just more and more consumerism cluttering people’s houses.

A party of sorts by all means the kids will enjoy but can that not be done without superfluous waste.

Anyway, I hope it all works out for you.

I’d personally organise the hoodies separate to the party. Maximin £10 ticket for party.

At my DD school the hoodies are bought at the start of Y6 and they wear them to school all year. This sounds like such a waste.

I agree with the majority who say it's too much. I'm only paying £10 for my year 11 son's end of year celebration.

It doesn't need to be ott, just a get together with food and maybe music.

We are paying £10 for a leavers party with disco, inflatables, tattoos, keepsakes but the hoodies are £16 on top of that & are optional. £40 seems quite pricey tbh.

I think that seems v steep. I’d expect to pay up to £10 absolute max for a primary school disco. £40 is a lot for a lot of families right now. If people can’t afford it, they won’t send their dc, although one or two might.
You need to revise your budget.

We funded ours by fund raising. A few cake sales etc and we had nearly a grand. Paid for the hall hire, buffet, drinks etc.

We’ve had to pay £80 for party, hoodies, yearbook and another £40 for a day trip. All on top of their residential.

I think £40 is expensive, but in the other hand I can't believe all the 'tenner, tops' contributors. I'd expect a party like that in central London - even for kids - to be £20-30.

£40?! For a primary school disco?! No. That's completely insane, would expect a 3 course meal at the disco for that price.

our school is rubbish at these sorts of things, obviously I am very much aware that not all families will be able to afford it nor will they attend.
my ideas
Bbq
Dj (could scale back on this)
hall (hired already)
decorations
drinks
gifts for all children
school are providing them with a leavers book.

The main costs were the hall hire, Dj and food/drink

A big part of that is probably the hoodies

My son's is £20 each which includes venue, DJ, food, decorations and a goodie bag

Then they can have a hoodie for £13.50

I don't understand where all the money is going? Hall and decs and food will.not be that amount of money. A parent can sort the music plus some lights.

if I have to pay for most of the things myself I will do that none of them miss out and no I’m not rich by any means.

That’s just mental and I don’t think most parents would feel comfortable with that. You seem to be going about it backwards planning what you want to do and then considering asking for the cost of it split by the number of children. Can’t you work out what you could get for a tenner per head (with an assumed proportion of non-contributors) and put that on instead? It is ridiculous that the school say you can’t use their hall for Covid reasons though.

You don't need a DJ. You need a phone and an internet connection. One of the y6 parents is bound to have some disco lights and some speakers

DS1's SENIOR prom is costing £35 in a big city hotel with 3 course meal and a disco...