What do you think of carol singers not raising money for a good cause?

[nappyaddict]

I will happily give money to carol singers singing for charity or raising money for brownies, school, football team etc.

But what about the children that come around that will keep the money or for sweets?

I'm torn as to whether I agree with this or not ... after all their family could perhaps really do with the money?

As long as they do a decent job of it, then I don't mind! But if they sing two lines of a Christmas carol out of tune and then expect some money, then I don't think they deserve it.

Why not? They could be saving up for a present for their mum. Wouldn't occur to me to ask them about it. If they do a good job then they can have some sweets on me.

We never get any at all - TBH I'd be pleased enough someone had bothered to give them a bit of change.

my lot want to go carol singing to raise money to buy presents for family. i am as yet unsure whether i will let them or not

We don't get many either. When I was a teenager, a few of us went out carol-singing in 4 part harmony, using a stripy sock to colect the money! Then repaired to our house for mince pies and cider. I think we donated the money to a charitable cause.....

gosh I havent heard of carol singers for YEARS. do they still go around ?

I wouldn't mind what they were collecting for - charitable causes or for their own pockets. If they make the festive effort I would be pleased with that alone and reward them :)

I hadn't heard of carol singers collecting money. We always did it for (snort) the joy of the season, usually handing out some sort of homemade treat to the houses we visited.

A bit sad to hear about carol singers asking for donations :(

Marenmj So you wouldn't even give donations if it was for charity?

I'm conflicted. Around here kids are starting to Trick or Treat for donations too, which I disagree with. I'm not too keen on people who go door-to-door asking for money, and in this case it feels wrong to me because I did carol as a youngster and would have thought it was horrible to ask for payment for it. For us caroling was about spreading cheer, not getting paid (or getting a charity paid) for it.

Different cultures I guess. I've never had to make the decision as carolers here don't ask for money.

Do you give charitable donations to Trick or Treaters or just sweets?

And do you also not give to things like air ambulance, life boats who often do door to door collections? What about when they stand outside shops instead of doing it door to door?

No trick-or-treaters in our area asked for donations. We had sweets ready, but didn't get any askers full stop.

I don't live in the UK - charities don't ask for money door to door here. I do give to them when they are in the marketplace or shops. We live in a very rural area - it would be a waste to send people door to door around here.

Like I said, different cultures - sure, I can see putting out a donation bowl if the group is singing in the town square, but here door to door caroling done by regular people is something that is done to give to your friends/neighbors in spirit of the season and it feels crass to me to start asking for something in return for it.