Harvest festival - what do I give?

[privateprancer]

children have been asked to bring something (tins of food, jams, biscuits, cereal etc) - what is an acceptable amount to give? I bought some jam, honey etc - 4 jars in total and DH said I'd gone overboard and that 2 is enough. I only spent £5 because I got them on deals. WDYT? thanks

Just give the 4 jars in - no problem. Some people won't bring anything, some will bring lots of stuff. I wouldn't worry about it.

I gave 3 tins I think - I didn't spent as much as 5 pounds though -they were in my cupboard

ok thanks

Generous people, they got a tin of soap. Never crossed my mind that harvest would get more than 1 item per child.

no the generous - they were bargin soups I think :)

that's what DH is saying too startail and I suppose if you think about it, if each child brings one thing that's a lot of tins of soup

I got DD a gift box of local handmade biscuits to take in. At the festival, there were some children who had brought a tin, jar or box and some competitive 'yummy mummies' children who took what can only be described as a gift hamper! The problem was, the school specifically asked for gifts that the kids could manage to carry themselves, and the younger children with the 'gift hamper' style gifts were literally dragging them down the church, poor things!

DD seemed insistent it had to be Baked Beans (i guess they had been given as an example). Suspect there may be more than a few tins of Heinz this year. My Mum used to save whatever we had won at the Tombola at the Summer Fair and give that in. Often they still had the tickets on the top.

Depends on school I think. At DD's school 1 item (or none) is the norm. At DNiece's school they go in for competitively decorated whole hampers.

Check where it is going. DD's school asked for food or toitetries/baby care items as it is for the women's refuge. I sent several tins of soup and some bubble bath in an asda carrier bag.

I think people do the fancy baskets if it is going to local pensioners etc as it is nice to receive something giftlike.

Varies lots at DD's school. Parents/children are asked to take in a donation, they have a harvest assembly and then the same parents are asked to buy from the donations - the money raised is then given to charity.

The donations vary from homemade cakes, buns, chutneys and jams to home grown fruit, vegetables or eggs to shop bought hampers.

This year DD is taking in a small vegetable box, bought from the shops. She is off school poorly and I just haven't the time to bake or whatever in time. I will go and buy at the end of Friday - hopefully will get some of the lovely fresh eggs from DD's friend's chckens.

I suggest finding out who the recipients will be and tailer it to that. For example, ours goes to the elderly ladies that live in the adjacent alms houses so I grabbed things from our cupboard that I thought might appeal to pensioners: a tin of salmon, tin of mackrel, small box of tea bags and a tin of Heinz Tomato soup!

We were specifically asked for pasta, rice, baked beans, tea, coffee, soup, tinned tuna, tinned veg or cup a soup/noodle type things. Ours is going to a homeless charity.