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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Paying for costumes for a dance show

38 replies

jenniepanda · 24/04/2010 22:49

DD is 5 and her dance school is putting on a show in July. We had a letter at christmas asking for a £20 deposit for the costumes, which when I didn't pay was followed up by another letter and then a phone call to get me to pay. Then today we have been given a brown envelope with £23 written on it - the cost I am supposed to pay for one costume for the one dance she is in. Several other girls are in tap and modern classes and have been asked to pay about the same for each outfit.
Is this normal? I was involved in numerous dance shows and pantomimes and school porductions when I was younger and my parents never had to pay for any. Has the world moved on since then, or AIBU to be very disgruntled at the cost of these costumes?
I should also add that offered to help with the costumes as I love sewing, I was told I'd have to make a whole set, so am supposed to be making 13 of these dresses, however they will pay me £8 per dress!
I'm seriously considering pulling DD out of the show and finding another dance school as I just don't agree with they way they have gone about doing this.
Please help me put this into perspective!!

OP posts:
mrbundle · 24/04/2010 22:57

I think its normal dd goes to 'preschool ballet' and they aren't in the show and I am going to stop her lessons when she has to move up to the next level when she starts school for this reason. All out local dance schools are like this, even sat morning in the church hall ones.

The shows also involve loads of long rehersals and performances into the night.

My friend has paid over £100 for costumes for her dd who does ballet, tap and jazz. She has jazz shoes (black lace ups) and has been told she needs different black lace up shoes for the finale when everyone is on stage. She is 6yo and will be at the back of the stage for 2min in front of an audience of parents and grandparents. Who cares if her black lace up shos are slightly different to the others?

islandofsodor · 24/04/2010 23:02

£20 is cheap for a costume. The average price is around £30-£40.

Saying that some schools do seem to go for the more glitzy and glam approach which I don't feel is necessary.

totallydifferenttypeofperson · 24/04/2010 23:06

Good Grief. My dd was in a pre-school ballet class and I was a bit about being asked to pay a few quid to "hire" the costume for the show! I'd be apoplectic at being asked to pay £20!

ShinyAndNew · 24/04/2010 23:09

Yes it's normal. But dd1's dance school are ace and always source things from the cheapest possible supplier. Many of her costumes are put together using bits from Primark etc. Anything else is ordered in off the web and in bulk so it's cheap.

islandofsodor · 24/04/2010 23:10

I can get them wholesale and the average for a pre-school type costume would be around £15-£20 wholesale, £20-£40 retail.

I actually paid out £23 for my dd's last ballet show and it turnmed out it was in my catalogue at £15. Too late though I had already ordered it from the shop.

madamehooch · 24/04/2010 23:14

About normal. Would rather pay than have to sew.

Vallhala · 24/04/2010 23:20

Normal AFAIK. A relative's child was a gymnast and their comp and show leotards were provided at the expense of the parents... at between £60 to £100+ each. She's now a dancer and the requirement is the same.

lilolilmanchester · 24/04/2010 23:25

our dance school has leotard/leggins as must haves for disco lessons. Then all show costumes use these as a base (adding tutus from pound shop/ brightly coloured string vests/scarves/hats/wigsetc which may or may not be provided by the school but cost minimal). We're lucky that the disco teacher thinks about things from the parents povs. Maybe have a word with the teacher and ask her to enter the real world??

Unlike ballroom, you're talking about £150 for second hand costumes, some people paying £1000+ ...

Original poster
jenniepanda · 24/04/2010 23:26

Gosh - thanks for all your replies, I guess it's the norm then. The thing that I'm most annoyed about is that lack of information, if they'd been up front about the costs etc when they first asked for the 'deposit' I could have made a judgement call then.
Also, the dresses that I've been asked to make are quite simple and I can't see them taking more than 2 metres of fabric each, so I'm just wondering how they are coming up with the £23!

OP posts:
MaryMotherOfManchego · 24/04/2010 23:30

Absolute bloody nonsense for a five year old.

Dance doesn't need to be expensive.

OP, YANBU.

NonnoMum · 24/04/2010 23:42

From my experience of dance schools, they are a bit full of themselves...

Be careful if your daughter continues on with it and has to take exams and enter festivals...

Have found my own DD a lovely dance teacher who runs a 'pay as you go' class. Now that seems sensible for a load of 2 - 7 year olds. None of this termly fees and uniform lists...

However, if my dd wants to carry on past this age, guess I'll be stuck with the more pretentious reputable dance schools in the town and paying out hundreds in hidden extras...

Good luck with the show, bet your dd will be fab...

laurakate · 24/04/2010 23:44

My DD is 7 and has been in a dance class for a few years now. We are always asked to pay money towards costumes. They have a diff costume for each number (in total about a good 5 or 6 costumes per show) She does tap/modern/disco/majorette and the costume price is 30. They do get to take one costume away with them to keep, and so far it has been her favourite costume each time. I think it is a lot of money, and if DD didn't love her dance classes I wouldn't pay it, but in the long run I think it's probably worth the price. Have you checked if you can pay it in installments? It's an option for her dance class.

paisleyleaf · 24/04/2010 23:47

I agree with NonnoMum - many dance schools are full of themselves.
I'm so glad my DD doesn't want to do ballet. Her friend does and her mum has just hired 2 dresses for a show from the school (it turns out they were just hanging in a cupboard in the school anyway).

Clary · 24/04/2010 23:51

This is pretty normal IME.

Paid about £30 for DD's dance show costumes last summer. Mind you that was 3 costumes so not too bad really.

She was in Oliver! with a local amdram group this year and they hired the costumes, but that's a bit different; they are a non-profit making group and I assume budget for costume hire and cover it and other expenses with ticket sales.

But her dance class is making money so why should they pay for the costumes? It would cost so much as well.

I am paying £2 a week towards DD's show this year. The class is £8 so I just lob in a tenner and I'm good. Have saved £20 so far.

islandofsodor · 25/04/2010 00:04

It is much easier to hire costumes for musical theatre as often they are not "uniform". We pay around £7-£10 per costume to hire in bulk.

Being in the business myself I made sure I asked these questions of dd's ballet teacher when she started and chose a school who wasn't so glitzy. However for the annual or bi-annual in dd's case show most parents and children want to see their child dressed up in a cute costume. Honestly they get so excited backstage (I volunteered to chaperone). You can put together Primark ish style costujes for some dances but it is harder for ballet and also harder if you have a range of sizes in a class especilaly if they cross child/adult sizes.

Our fees are a bit higher than most dance schools becasue they include costumes but we still get ctitised occasionally for them not being showy enough.

cat64 · 25/04/2010 00:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster
jenniepanda · 25/04/2010 00:13

I think we get to keep the costumes!

OP posts:
Clary · 25/04/2010 00:17

we keep all ours.

They are mostly in the dressing up box.

There is a sheep that is one-size-fits-all that has done at least threee Nativites since DD wore it in a show.

Clary · 25/04/2010 00:17

Sorry I can spell - three Nativities

TheFirstLady · 25/04/2010 00:22

Cat64 - my DDs get to keep their costumes - I assumed that would be normal if you had paid for them. Is that not so?
My DDs are in a show in three weeks time so this is a fairly topical issue for us. They are in 8 numbers between the three of them, so the potential costs are astronomical judging by this thread. This is the fourth show (they run them every second year) that we have been involved in, and as far as I can see the teacher has made huge efforts to keep the cost of costumes down. There is no way around the cost of a tutu though - the cheapest you are going to get them for is about £20. Our teacher charges the exact cost of each costume and spends ages sourcing and making stuff to make sure costs are kept low. But I'm still looking at £30 per child. They are in several dances though as they do ballet, tap and modern and they are a good bit older than your DD so the £43 for one costume for a five year old seems very much on the excessive side to me.

cat64 · 25/04/2010 13:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

CarGirl · 25/04/2010 13:31

I think what the school my dds go to is much better. You pay £10 "hire" for the first costume, if your child is in more than one peice it's £5 for each subsequent.

The school owner keeps all the outfits and recycles/adds to them etc over the years.

Local school to us was £40 per outfit, each child in a minimum of 2!!!!!!!!!

PotPourri · 25/04/2010 13:34

Yes, normal. It's a rip off. but you can pull her out of the show if you want, i.e. just do the classes but not the show.

Not sure what you do about agreeing ot make a full set of costumes though.... Maybe need to do that this time as you have committed to it, but not volunteer in future

Portofino · 25/04/2010 13:39

We don't have to pay for any costumes, but have been asked to pay 14 euros per adult to see the end of year performance. So 28 euros for me and dh to see our 6 yo on the stage for 20 mins! Of course we HAVE to go otherwise dd was be very disappointed, but my initial thought was that I would expect to see a PROPER ballet for that sort of cash!

LIZS · 25/04/2010 13:54

We had to pay £15 iirc per costume for dd (8)recently which I thought a lot for 2 mins for each dance for 2 shows but now actually sounds pretty good value in comparison to many here. Not that she'll get any wear out of them again ! Thing with reselling costumes is that they won't use the same ones next time so not much market for them unlike uniform and shoes which can be reused and resold.