To be frustrated with the school about the Easter egg situation?

[FrustratedMum2025]

So, the school sent home a note last week about the “Easter egg raffle” they’re doing, asking for donations of Easter eggs for the kids to win as prizes. Fair enough, I thought, seems like a nice thing to do.

But here’s the issue: they want each child to donate an Easter egg by tomorrow. Fine, except… my children have been having Easter eggs since early March because, well, they’re kids. The idea of giving yet another egg just seems so unnecessary to me. I’m already drowning in chocolate from my own absolutely brilliant planning of Easter, and I’m not sure I want to add to the pile just for the school raffle. Plus, when I mentioned it to a few other parents, it turns out they all feel the same!

It feels like they just don’t get it. I already pay for everything (I’m talking school trips, PTA fundraisers, fancy dress days, the whole shebang) and now it’s Easter eggs as well? I’m all for supporting the school, but they never ask for things in a way that’s actually affordable or considerate of family budgets. AIBU to feel like this is just another example of unnecessary school demands?

Also, they’ve made it clear that if you don’t donate, your child might not get to participate in the raffle. I get the whole “voluntary contribution” thing, but when it’s linked to something like this, it just feels a bit much. Honestly, I can’t be the only one who thinks this is all a bit tone-deaf.

Am I being unreasonable or is it just another case of the school not understanding how much we’re all juggling at the moment?

TL;DR: AIBU to be frustrated that the school expects us to donate an Easter egg on top of everything else, and if we don’t, our kids miss out on the raffle?

Have to agree with others - it is very strange to me eating Easter eggs before Easter Sunday - as strange as opening Christmas presents all through December but your house your rules I guess. If they win an egg in the raffle and you are concerned about too much chocolate just put it away and give it to them later - be that at Easter or not.

Why are you giving your DC Easter eggs before Easter? It rather misses the point of Easter eggs - spring, the return of fertility to the soil, the return of the sun, the Christian festival itself and the older pagan festival honouring Eostre. It's like eating hot cross buns at Christmas, a bit pointless.
If you want to feed DC chocolate, bars are better value anyway and why is donating an egg adding to your pile (which, anyway, your DC have eaten)?

The school's idea is incredibly tone deaf and YANBU to complain.

Just don't contribute. Your kids won't go without chocolate.

I'd raise the issue though. It's not a good thing from a healthy diet pov or an inclusion pov (what about kids who are not celebrating Easter or don't celebrate with secular tat?) or the pov of parents trying to make ends meet.

^ This.

Also, I knew this thread was going to be a hard YABU before I even opened it. Just by reading the title of the thread. Such predictable nonsense. Fretting over a complete non-problem that doesn’t even make sense.

Well I’ve now eaten one of my dcs’ eggs. This thread got too much and they were screaming at me from their hiding place in my wardrobe. It was lovely 😊 it’s a good idea and I’ll do it next year!

I have the same problem as the OP, only at Christmas. The kids open dozens of presents during November/December then some interfering old fucker in a red suit comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve and expects us to open more.

Any thread complaining about some random nice end of term event is usually unreasonable. Schools can't win!

@IrisApril DH and I are teachers so we rarely attended DC’s events. You’re not required to go. Don’t feel guilty, our DC’s aren’t scarred by it - even DS who is autistic. They understand that is life in our family and it was their norm. I still believe these events are enriching as I see the positive effects on the children I teach. DS is in Yr 6 now - it’ll be his last Easter egg hunt and he’s looking forward to it (despite a slight allergy to dairy so he needs his chocolate rationed into bite size pieces over a number of days. Now THAT’S a problem!)

The difficult thing is that schools are so poorly funded that there is more pressure on PTA events but I think a lot of things are pretty high effort for low profit and generally involve parents paying over the odds for stuff (think t towels, book fairs, cake sales etc). That is fine when it is for the kids and they are actively getting something out of it like a summer fair but there are definitely times I think it would be a much better use of everyone’s time to just ask for a cash donation. When more people are working it is also hard to find the headspace.

I have got a bit pissed off with it now as some people also treat volunteers like absolute shite. I’ve generally always done a bar stint or something at big events and it can be quite stressful especially if people are arses to you and treating you like an employee rather than
a volunteer.

Op it's fine, you've acknowledged you were maybe a bit ott now but most of MN can't seem to work out how to use the "see all" post so will keep sticking the boot in.

If its more that the Easter eggs are the tip of an iceberg of requests from the school maybe think about how you can word that constructively and perhaps email them asking if they can plan events up front and tell parents a term in advance, or just minimise requests to one per half term?

I hate the last minute requests for things too.

Especially costumes …

Costumes are easy, you need
Pack of 10 cheap white tshirts sized to fit up to Y6
Sharpies
Wooden spoons
Big sheets of cardboard
Glue
crepe paper of assorted sizes
Couple of 1 metre fabric pieces is brown and red
Not free I appreciate but I got through many many costume days over 10 years of Primary with that lot

I think your children are more accommodating than mine. We even had a fox tail rejected because it was the “wrong fluffiness” for Fantastic Mr Fox!

The amount of pearl clutching in here about the OP giving their kids Easter eggs before Easter is hilarious. I've already had 3 and my kids have had one each so far.

Well when you’re going to moan at them possibly winning an egg in school because it would be too much chocolate, and also imply you don’t have money to buy an egg to donate it does become relevant and ridiculous that they’ve been eating Easter eggs for literally weeks.

I think the difference is you can have all your Christmas presents on the same day without vomiting.

Far better a small egg every few days - and if you are going to save them to eat after Easter as well, I don’t really see the difference in beforehand vs after. What is your position on hot cross buns?

i am all for eating hot cross buns before during and after Easter so I fully accept I am hardly consistent in my views! I also would happily eat mince pies all year round but luckily for my waistline our local bakery (best ever mince pies) only sells them in December.

I do the same- though I actually think it’s a bit sad you can get hot cross buns all year round now ( even though I’ve been known to buy them out of season!) When I was young I vividly remember when they emerged in bakeries and supermarkets a few weeks before Easter and it was a lovely seasonal treat, like summer strawberries once were. I think they should just take the cross off during the rest of the year! Then we could sort of have the best of both worlds.

So bizarrely my kids school have posted that they will all be coming home with an egg (or a dairy free alternative) donated by the PTA. This has never happened before and I have no idea what funds they have used to buy them. Either way I am sure my kids will be happy at more chocolate!

I actually bought a fox tail for DD for World Book Day one year for 10 year old DD
It was a butt plug!!
I adapted it using pipecleaners and it was fine

That is hilarious!!

Why are kids having Easter eggs from early March, when Easter is 20th April??
Easter Eggs are for .... EASTER!

Yep! Im a teacher and bought 25 of these for my class for the schools breaking up last week as a wee end of term gift.

Your kids are drowning in chocolate??? How about you feed them properly before you complain about coughing up a quid for a school egg.