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.

It’s too much when people will need to spend £500-£1000 on new school stuff the next month.

No actually I’m not just planning what I want, all the parents have thrown in suggestions of what they think would be good ideas.
before doing anything I have asked everyone if they are happy with everything being done and if they are willing and able to contribute, with a clear emphasis that they are under no obligation to pay anything they cannot afford.
The party isn’t for a few months yet and again I have made it clear that if they do want to contribute, they are more than welcome to pay in as and when they have the funds available. I have already paid the deposit for the hall myself as I didn’t expect everyone to just send me the money there and then, so as and when people pay I will use that to cover the other costs.

Had to? Really HAD to?🤔

Our year 6 party has snowballed from a party in the little community hall next to the school (which is too small for the number of children as it is), into a “prom” with black tie. We’ve all done a deposit of £10 to hold a place but we don’t know the rest yet!
while we can afford a party, a new dress and shoes and something pretty for the hair is going to be tight alongside buying high school uniform!
my advice would be - keep it simple. Keep it cheap. Don’t set expectations.

No. 11 year olds don't really do disco very well. For my DD's yr 6 leaver we did the hoodie but separately and everyone bought one and they all still wear them. For the party we used the school field and had a festival theme but it was really just a mum DJing and leading the dancing, so total cheese fest, and then lots of games to play, like 3 legged race and egg and spoon etc. Some of the girls were dancing a lot, doing the tik tok dances, non of the boys danced but they did enjoy some football songs at one point. They paid £10 each and that included food and drinks.

Why can't you use the school hall or field?

Madness.

Who is managing the money? Like through parent pay?

If it's "tight" alongside buying school uniform then you are honestly insane to do this.

11 year old don't need all that. They just need a fun play around. I don't even think any of the girls were wearing dresses. It was shorts and a nice top and trainers.

They don’t have a field and we aren’t allowed to use the hall due to covid.

I disagree with those saying the hoodies will never be worn. They are popular around here, even years after you left school. The trick is to get them big enough so you can keep on growing a bit.
I would definitely separate the cost from the disco though.
You could reduce costs again by asking parents to contribute food, so you don't have to pay for a buffet. We were all asked to bring one item/ dish each, which meant everyone could contribute even if they didn't have loads of cash.
As others said, no need to pay for a DJ - just use Spotify.
What kind of gifts are you getting the kids? I kind of think this might be unnecessary too. Can the hoodie by their gift at the end of the night?
You might want some decorations to brighten up the hall, like balloons. You could decorate a big frame and have a box of fancy dress stuff for a photo booth area.

Telling people they are welcome to pay as and when they have the funds available...a children's disco shouldn't be that kind of expense, that needs planning or saving up for.

As a y6 parent I would hate to be put in this position. Technically we could afford it, but it's a ludicrous waste of money. I wouldn't want DD to miss out but I would hugely resent it.

It’s through PayPal and I have been nominated to manage payments.

I’m not the one organising it, it’s another year 6 parent. Hopefully it’ll be scaled back! But no child to be the only one in shorts and trainers when that expectation has been set. I have reminded them of the vast expense we’re all going to be laying out soon!

There isn’t a dress code, honestly i really do want it to just be a simple fun party and I know that at that age it will be boys one side girls the other, they’re not really that interested in all the party games the same way they were when they were little.

I think you will make it a fun party @HolyGaucamole. But I bet you can do it for eg £15 hoodies and £10-15 party.

And parents are happy to just give you the money, and how are you to know who hasn't paid or who can't pay? How will you know who to chase up?

Who's taking in the burden when not everyone pays? Like say there's £300 shortfall, then what?

Who's supervising the 100+ kids on the night?

I wouldn't touch this with a barge pole if the school wasn't on board tbh

I think people are being a bit harsh to the OP. It is totally normal here to do a disco not on school property. Parents come too and are responsible for their own kids. You know, like a normal party.

Yes which is why I have been nominated to take the payments and also why it is being done through PayPal so they can reference who is paying.

I won’t be chasing anyone and it will be parents supervising the children.

The school are aware of everything and are completely fine, they’re just not allowing us to use their hall.

Dd had nothing due to covid. We parents were sad for them but put the word out to go to an open air cricket club bar and kids ran around the cricket field. They were more than happy! Free.

Christ alive! At least Dick Turpin wore a mask!! £40 a head for a bunch of 10/11 year old?! That'll be a no from me.

All this sounds nuts to me for leaving primary school. But I am 50, and none of this stuff existed when I was a child. Plus it would have been weird, because we all played together during the school holidays and went on to secondary together, so wasn’t a goodbye. Nor was it a graduation! At 11, I wouldn’t have been at all interested in a disco.

I can get a ticket for a play in London in the upper circle for £40.

Seriously the kids aren’t bothered. This is all about the parents.

Too expensive.

I used to help out at a school disco what the kids actually got for £2 or £3 a ticket was a bag of crisps (buy several boxes from cash & carry) and a drink again by in bulk from cash & carry (one of those cheap plastic ones you pop with a straw or a small bottle of water) a teacher or parent did the disco but a lot of kids don’t like the noise and the dark (and disco’s are much less of a thing these days for many kids).
I am sure you could do something special and memorable for £10 including T shirts. Think a big slice of cooked supermarket pizza, games (organised by parents), low key disco organised by parents. Also have the dress code as low key casual no expensive stuffy prom dresses, boys in ties and dickie bow etc.

Actually it’s not about the parents, a lot of children are upset they aren’t having a disco and quite a few are going to different schools.

of course it’s not a graduation I never said that at all 😂I had a leavers disco in year 6 and I’m 40 odd now, it really isn’t unusual.