Harvest festival?

[beanandspud]

Just had a letter from school explaining that DS's school is having a harvest festival service and asking for contributions of tins, fruit, veg, coffee, biscuits etc. which is absolutely fine.

However, I have a vague recollection of my mum sending us in for harvest festivals with a decorated shoebox of stuff - a bit like a mini hamper. Is this the done thing or is it acceptable to send in some bits in a carrier bag?! What happens in your schools?

Based on threads and previous years, I think you need to ask a parent with an older year to guage what is the norm in your school.

At DD's old school bringing in a tin was all that was expected, but the norm at other schools seemed to be to bring in loads of stuff possibly decoratively presented.

When we were little we took in shoe boxes (or baskets-I hankered after a proper basket, but dm never would get one for me!) with fruit in which were taken to local old people's home and a local orphanage.

Now the schools round here take "dry goods" (literally walk in with packet of pasta or something) and send them to homeless charities. I get where they're coming from, but I always feel the homeless charities probably have too much to store at this time of year (churches do it too) and then probably run out during the year. If they're doing it like that they could do it at any time of the year really.

But it's probably actually more appropriate. I remember my grandparents, who lived in a very well off village, being somewhat embarrassed to find that they were on the list to receive a basket of fruit. They were probably better off than lots of the children giving-they used to save the money they would have bought fruit from and give it to the WRVS for children who needed it.

In our school the children bring the items and the Year 2 children (Infant School only) are bringen hampers around. So the boxes/baskets are made in school by the children and the school then distribute the donations.

In our school you bring in indvidual items, and a nice man from the Salvation Army takes it all away in his car. They request long lasting stuff, not fresh fruit and veg.

My DD's school asked for tins, or dried goods such as pasta or rice.

I totally understand the reason for long life tins and pasta etc., but am a little sad that there is no longer some immense marrow on the altar. Always wondered which lucky pensioner got to eat marrow every day until Christmas...

Bit of everything at DS2's school. I help divvy it up to distribute among the local pensioners, and the beautifully-packaged boxes tend to get split up so that Mrs G at number 24 gets a fair share of fresh goods rather than just a few tins of weird stuff from the backs of kitchen cupboards.

The pretty boxes do look nice for the harvest festival service, though.