WWYD? The Saga of the Family Tuna

[PomBearAtTheGatesOfDawn]

Bit longwinded but anyone who bears with me can have and
DD has a toy caterpillar named Sydney Tuna, she liberated him from a car boot sale when she was just gone 2 and has adored and worshipped him ever since.
Last Christmas Santa brought his mummy, Mrs. Mabel Tuna, to live with us. She had missed Sydney since he went to seek his fortune, so had written to Santa to ask him to find Sydney, and Santa gave her a lift to our house on his sleigh. Cue rejoicing and carolling and so on....
DD now informs me that this Christmas, Mrs T and Sydney are writing jointly to Santa to find Mr. Tuna, who rejoices in the name Miguel apparently, and is in the army, fighting for the peaceloving resistance caterpillars who want to stop the slaughter between the marmite and the maple syrup factions I kid you not AND I kept a straight face wile DD told me all this
So... and if you're still with me, a thousand thanks... I can lay my hands on a caterpillar identical to Mrs. Tuna, but how can I make him look like he's been liberated from the army/prisoner of war camp/somewhere else suitable to have kept him away for a long time? I thought about him having been kidnapped by Pirates to explain where he's been all these years, and that was when DD came out with the stuff about the army... any suggestions? DD is 9 and I think this could be the last year for Santa for her, we've had some pointed questions that I have so far lied my way out of managed by the skin of my teeth, so I want to do Mr. Tuna's homecoming right...

I will have a definite price on the shirts later in the week - my friend is going to go and price them for me. I think it will be somewhere in the region of £7.50 ish per shirt, not including a charitable donation but including p+p, unless big enough envelopes/mailers turn out to cost a lot more than I think they do... I'll get the actual inches too - last time he did them, they went from weeny kids ones up to either XL or XXL iirc, and they were pretty big
Then I can sort out the donating bit - I am torn because I don't want to force people to donate if they'd really rather not, but it is rather the whole point of the exercise... I shall think of something though!

We will have 4 plus will donate
One 12-18 months
One 6-7 girl
One female medium
One male XL
I can send you money or paypal
I have a suggestion of a voluntary gardening group that is trying to raise funds for military veterans which We as a family all volunteer for if you haven't found anything more appropriate - they aren't a charity yet so don't have a just giving page but I can pm you there details if you want

If the Tshirts themselves cost £7.50 I would suggest a minimum of £12.50 each - a fiver isn't an unreasonable amount to ask, surely?

It's a fundraising exercise, and people will decide to buy based on what the charity is getting (and whether they support that charity, in some cases). I think that if the contribution is voluntary, people will misunderstand and pay the £7.50 assuming that's the total price. Then the charity will end up with less...

I want 2
one 3-4 year
one Male XL

Go with a total price.

#FreeMiquelTunaTiggaxx

Genius thread, am in hysterics only after page 1 and can't wait to read the rest.

Your DD will go far with her creativity, she sounds such a joy to have around :)

Pombear are you going to let DD in on the social media frenzy?

It's the setting it up to have the donation included pidj - I can set up a giving page for any charity I like, and that handles everything, and lets people donate by card or by text, and guarantees the money gets to the charity and I can see that someone has donated, so would know if they were fibbing and could do at them (not that I think anyone would, but it's nice to have everything above board, from donors point of view too, they would also be certain that their donation got to the charity). But doing it and including the donation would mean me having to separate it all out, and donate it, and be able to prove it and tbh it looks a bit complicated. Plus, it's not me who the money for the actual shirts ends up with, that is going to my "printing chap" who will make each shirt and get them out to the people as quick as he can. People won't mind will they? if it can all be done online via a Just Giving page and a paypal address?
Tigga and MrsSnaplegs would you be prepared to do it like that, with a donation and a paypal? -I think it really does have to be a "proper" charity though, we can't have any doubt about where the money has gone from the donations - do your gardening people have a webpage or have they been in the local news or anything MrsS?

Have pmd you pom but you now know that

Right, have untangled my PMs and my FB and my brain and have posted on the FB page about the Ts. Have added the lovely garden people www.shoreleavehaslar.org/
and will just send them the donations all in one fell swoop, meaning people can just pay in one go via paypal. If I paypal to Haslam for the donation, I will have the receipt so can prove it doh,why that didn't occur to me sooner I will never know
MmeL can you put a thingy on twitter about them please?
Once I know which paypal account address it's going to I will pm the people who have ordered already and sort it out.

Awesome!!

I'm stuck at work today, will try and knock up lacy bloomers tomorrow and take pics

Thanks pom

MmeL I have just retweeted Shoreleave haslars twitter page - we have only just started using it so not a lot on there at present and I don't have the password to tweet from it however we are @shoreleavehasla Couldn't fit the r on

PomBear
Have tweeted, and sent you a PM with the twitter account details so that you can tweet when I am not about.

Off on a day trip right now.

Actually, I think that you can set up FB/Twitter so that if you post on FB, it automatically posts on Twitter too. I can help wiht that if you need me to, when I get back

If Miguel needs to rehabilitate after his ordeal then I am sure we would welcome him at the gardens as long as he promises not to eat the cabbages

Sydney was a caterpillar, sydney was my friend. The last time I saw sydney he was this big

Sydney was a caterpillar, sydney was my friend. The last time I saw sydney he was this big

MmeL, you do realise that when I call myself a Twit, I mean I'm a twit and have absolutely no idea what to do with twitter? I daren't learn, I'd never be off the damn thing!

Apologies for my absence yesterday, I was at work (12 hour shifts, no computer access, not supposed to use my phone...) I will get sewing shortly as soon as i've sorted the balls up dp has made of resealing the bath

Thanks to my lovely friend I have obtained a "wedding veil" for Mabel so I can stage the wedding album as soon as I find a suitable setting. I was planning on skulking around the grassy knoll over the road, but it poured down and the whole thing looks more like Glastonbury aftermath than a wedding scene so I will have to think again.

I'm still pondering the shape of the parachute - round, rectangular, or bloomers...

Pssst! I saw Miguel yesterday! He was hiding in a bin full of less hairy caterpillars with only his face peeking out.

I have photos

Well show us then!

You'll have to wait. DH has hidden the cable so I can't upload them yet unless I send them straight to FB - at which point all of my friends will wonder WTF I'm doing :)