Primary schools and dressing up days: WHEN DOES IT END?

[NearlyEverything]

OK, please talk to me about the benefits of endless farking dressing up days before I buy a tomato costume and hurl myself at the headteacher.

DS1 (Y5) has to go in as a piece of fruit or veg on Friday. Because it's UNICEF day

DS2 (Y3) has to do some World Book Day nonsense, also on Friday.

Neither of them own any dressing-up clothes. They have jeans, tracksuits, and various dun-coloured tops.

Whywhywhy do schools do this so often? Does it have any actual educational/pastoral benefits at all?

All it seems to involve is me shelling out stupid sums for nonsense nylon rubbish from Amazon twice a term. The boys are just not bothered about the whole thing.

And no I'm not going to make something. I'm a single parent, I work f/t and I can no more sew an outfit than I can split an atom

Is this stuff easier if you have girls?

matildathemusical.com/mobile/images-and-video/

this is what charity shops are for - they are full of everyone's stuff from the previous years.

My dts are now in yr 6. I believe it stops when they go to secondary school as ds1 (now yr11) has never been expected to dress up. But yes, all told I've had years of this and I won't be sorry to see an end to it because it's driven me half barmy.

I honestly can see no reason for the constant default for every topic, (no matter how abstract: ie maths fgs) that they've ever covered to encompass dressing up. It's complete madness.

Victorian day: I thought I at least had that covered when dd announced at 8.15 as I was zipping up their packed lunch bags that 'we have to have a Victorian lunch mummy. A hot potato wrapped in straw and paper the teacher said'.

I nearly provided said hot potato with instructions on where they could stick it.

Viking
Villager
Vest
Verruca Salt
Victory

And it's all very well coming up with easier ideas sensibly using what you've already got for things like World Book Day, but dc have much more ambitious and greater expectations as to what they'll go as.

So then you either have to crush all that and send them off with a long face dressed only in their uniform as Just William, or you're trawling Ebay, hitting the shops and up till 2am trying to make a Giant Peach outfit.

I must admit dd made a wonderful Slinky Malinky one year. She skipped in looking happy at least, but came out in tears. 'I couldn't get my costume off to go to the toilet'. Aaagh!

Best suggestion I heard of was to go as Where's Wally and stay at home

I think a lot of it is to do with conning you out of a couple of quid each week although I can see the benefit of dressing accordingly for the ragged school vistit etc.

Get an x-large t-shirt. Colour a paper plate green and cut the rim so it looks like a leaf or stalk. Wear plate on head. Run elastic through the hem of the t-shirt and wear it hip length. You could be a peach/orange/apple/kiwi etc.
If you have a brown t-shirt make eyes from round white stickers with pupils drawn on.

I always buy polo shirts when they are in the sainsburys sale in the largest size possible. They do yellow, bottle green, red and navy here along with white and pale blue. The bottle green ones are great for robin hood and peter pan if it covers their bum. Pulled in with a belt and a tin foil sword works well. They can go down to about £1 each at the end of the sale. I also find that the larger ones are generally available as big kid noramlly wear shirts not polos.

You wait. Comic relief soon.......

You think you've got it bad? Not only do I have to find creative and inspired costumes for DS, I have to flipping dress MYSELF up too (reception teacher). But not as a fruit or vegetable (yet)....

Oh dear lord dd has just told there's ANOTHER one coming up. We've only just had one

Please stop with the feckin dressing up I've had 10 years of it.

I hate them too. I am sure the teachers just do it to get there own back for all those whingey parents moaning how Godfrey is not a genius. They probably all sit in the staff room coming up with ever more ridiculous themes just to piss us off. Either that or they all have shares in Amazon.

All of the kids' fancy dress outfits. Are made from tesco value pillowcases. Three quid for two
I cat armholes and a headhole and draw on thevfront with Sharpie marker
They have been Romans and Vikings and kings and knights and pirates and trolls and candles. I hate fancy dress and soon the eldest will be too night to wear a pillowcase. I may have to buy sheets

Thanks for all the genius suggestions and cathartic sympathising. DS1's Annoying Orange shirt arrived today so that's us sorted.

TomArchersSausage - the DS's infant school used to demand home-made hats for everything. The most vexing was the annual Maths Hat for maths day. maths hat