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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder wtf easter bonnet parades are all about?!

100 replies

Theydontknowthatweknowthattheyknow · 31/03/2023 15:21

My child had her first Easter bonnet parade today. I have never seen or taken part in one so I didn't know what to expect. I helped my child with her's but ultimately it was her doing what she loves best cutting and sticking a bunch of junk on a hat. Then out come kids in tonnes of kids in absolutely immaculate bonnets clearly entirely made by their parents. It was quite cute but what exactly is the point in it?! Who actually has time to sit there for hours with a glue gun etc and surely it's much better for the child if they at least play some part in creating it otherwise it's basically just parents showing off. I really am not miserable about school traditions and get as involved as I can and don't even mind putting in some effort if it's for the benefit of the kids but this one I just don't get. My child loves crafts and is very creative so it'd be a much nicer tradition for her to take the lead with it. AIBU to think this? And in most schools do the parents make them or the kids? The worst part was that my child was obviously quite sad and deflated as I think she knew that lots were 'better' than her's which made me feel really rubbish too

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Original poster
Theydontknowthatweknowthattheyknow · 31/03/2023 17:59

FTR I know that Easter Bonnets are nothing new. It's the competitive parenting and the competitive making of elaborate ones I wasn't prepared for. I just think it's quite a shame because it's a chance for kids to really get creative which is taken away if you do it all for them. I didn't let my child near a glue gun either but I let her draw and cut out some of the bits and choose where to stick them that's the difference. Thanks though everyone it's good to know I'm not the only one!

OP posts:
NecklessMumster · 31/03/2023 18:04

My DP did DS2 easter hat 10 years ago. He used pva glue which went in DSs hair and ran down his neck, and stuck eggs on with cocktail sticks which prodded him in his head😁

Whatthechicken · 31/03/2023 18:05

I have been guilty of making something for my kids, but only the once! There was an egg competition to produce a scene from a book, it wasn’t compulsory. We’d had a busy week and just hadn’t had time. The night before, my little girl was very upset that she hadn’t anything to take in, I couldn’t sleep for feeling bad, so I got up at 3am and made them both something. They didn’t win. My little girl said to me ‘someone else’s was a little better than yours, but don’t worry mummy, it’s the taking part that counts!’

StrawberryWater · 31/03/2023 18:09

I love Easter bonnet parades lol.

All the kids at DS’s school get an Easter egg no matter how elaborate the bonnet or who’s actually made it so there’s no actual competition which I think is nice.

mathanxiety · 31/03/2023 18:21

Welcome to the wonderful world of Olympic Level School Craft Competition.

It's a sport for saddos who should get a life.

Isseywith3witchycats · 31/03/2023 18:21

An old tradition is to wear new clothes at Easter, and the Easter bonnet became a part of this in the 19th Century when women - who all wore a kind of hat called a bonnet - would get a fancy new bonnet, or spruce up their old bonnets with ribbon, flowers and lace, all in time for the Easter parade.

SparkyBlue · 31/03/2023 18:33

This is funny because we were just discussing this morning the highly highly competitive Easter bonnet competitions among the old folks clubs around here. There would be a big Easter function and all the various clubs would attend and the highlight was the competition. A relative was known to have won three times which was like having won three grand nationals.

QuertyGirl · 31/03/2023 22:21

@AinmÁlainn

Take it apart afterwards. Honestly!

VestaTilley · 31/03/2023 22:36

YABU, they’re a really old tradition going back centuries- hence the term bonnet. No harm in them, and nice bit of remaining folk culture we have in the U.K. I’m sure the hat you made was lovely. It’s a sweet tradition, embrace it.

Atethehalloweenchocs · 31/03/2023 22:56

When I was at school, anything like this was done in class. Too bad the curriculum is so full now that there is no time for that.

Aposterhasnoname · 31/03/2023 23:02

Lamelie · 31/03/2023 15:56

Apologies if the op is still around. I screenshotted it from Mumsnet 10 years ago- is this bonnet scary?

I was hoping that sinister easter bonnet would make an appearance on this thread. One of the funniest threads ever!

aliasname · 31/03/2023 23:40

The actual photo doesn't seem to show on that thread, but if you Google mumsnet easter bonnet, it is the very first image that comes up

Lilbunnyfufu · 31/03/2023 23:48

At my son's school the kids made their bonnets in school for the parade. I think this was a great way to do it. No extravagant hats made by parents purely the children's work.

At the school my DD used to go to they had 2 categories in the bonnet parade one for children who did their bonnet independently and one for the children who had help making their bonnets.

Lilbunnyfufu · 31/03/2023 23:49

At both the schools every child is given a egg for their effort

Original poster
Theydontknowthatweknowthattheyknow · 01/04/2023 05:14

VestaTilley · 31/03/2023 22:36

YABU, they’re a really old tradition going back centuries- hence the term bonnet. No harm in them, and nice bit of remaining folk culture we have in the U.K. I’m sure the hat you made was lovely. It’s a sweet tradition, embrace it.

I am fully familiar with the tradition and like I've already said I have no issue with children skipping around the playground in twee hats. This in itself is harmless and adorable. It's the competitiveness and the ones that parents have clearly spent hours on that I don't understand.

OP posts:
Original poster
Theydontknowthatweknowthattheyknow · 01/04/2023 05:19

Lamelie · 31/03/2023 15:56

Apologies if the op is still around. I screenshotted it from Mumsnet 10 years ago- is this bonnet scary?

This and the thread which I just read are actually hilarious. I would want to be this parent's friend 🤣

OP posts:
Maybebabyno2 · 01/04/2023 05:31

I didn't know these were a thing until my son came home with one from the childminders. It's very cute and he is in love with it, prances round the house at all times with his bonnet on. I'm fairly sure the cm 'helped' 🤣.

Edwina83 · 01/04/2023 05:44

I bought a packet of stick on decorations and dug anything suitible out of the craft draw, then let them get on with it with a bowl of PVA( i did actually make a few suggestions but they were rejected). Sent them to school happily. When I saw the photos realised half the bonnets looked like they'd been made by a harrod's window designer. I agree that the point is surely for the child to have fun making the bonnet. There will be some children ( like my nephew) who will have refused to do it so the patent will have no choice but to help.
There was a funny sketch years ago of French and Saunders as childminders doing craft with children but totally taking over and controlling them so the finished product looked amazing. Might look it up.

EsmeSusanOgg · 01/04/2023 07:12

We helped secure some of our son's decorations (with a glue gun) but that was just reinforcement after he had stuck things on/ attacked the craft box.

PolkaDotMankini · 01/04/2023 07:14

My school didn't do Easter bonnets and I really wanted to make one, so did DD's this year. She promptly gave it to her friend and made her own 🙄Her friend cba to make one so she was happy!

SybilWrites · 01/04/2023 07:24

This has made me nostalgic - many years ago when my oldest dc were little and went to a CofE school we used to make them. We always made a papier mache one with newspaper together and then painted it and stuck random things on it. They were fantastic!

My skill has always been that if I make something, it looks like it's made by the kids (because I have a very low level of artistic ability).

I think I was lucky in that school as the parents didn't generally get involved. The school my youngest dc is at now is completely different.

Namechange828492 · 01/04/2023 08:03

Easter bonnets have been a thing for a long time, there's even a 1948 film set in 1910 about it.

I do the cardboard ones and let the kids donit themselves so they do look a bit crap but they love it

SpringIntoChaos · 01/04/2023 08:05

I'm staggered at how many people haven't heard of the Easter Bonnet Parade 😲 I'm nearly 60...and my own granny (who was born in 1904) used to tell us about her Easter Bonnet creations as she helped us to make ours.

In the film 'Holiday Inn', Bing Crosby sings about it :