..."as part of the day it is asked that your child dresses in Victorian clothes" ...

[Smithagain]

... thus reads the request, so casually inserted in an otherwise innocuous letter about a school trip next week.

... oh, and by the way, DD1 also requires white shoes for her play on Tuesday ... and a warm shawl which will look elegant with her fairy godmother costume, without interfering with her wings.

BUT WE DON'T HAVE ANY OF THOSE THINGS!

I thought I was doing so well, having produced a chinese costume from thin air. And the other day DD2's teacher asked if I was OK, because "everyone says you're looking very tired".

I wonder why that might be?

(Ignore me, just a light-hearted, end of term, straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back rant so that I don't take it out on any of the hard-working and dedicated staff that normally have my utmost respect, but are just pushing their luck a teeny, weeny bit with the latest costume requests)

Merry Christmas!

i have a friend who calls at this time of year with very specific requirements for her DS's outfit that he needs for his school play. the school send home a diagram with exactly what they want the child to look like... including 'wide waist band to match shoes', 'shoes must be sprayed gold' etc etc
fortunately i'm a dab hand on the sewing machine, friend is not! seriously, the school are so specific, there's no way an outfit could be bought that would match their requirements. i suspect all of the local dressmakers are very busy at the moment!

And to think I was getting cross about DS needing a plain red top with no logos and blue jeans. He doesn't have either, I will have to go and buy them especially for the play, but I shall be thankful I don't have to find a Tudor costume!

The worst one we've been given so far was having to dress him as a Christmas cracker

Eurgh how I'm glad my children have left primary school!!
The summer play when DD was in year 6 was the lion king, DD and one of her friends (thankfully not some child I'd never heard of!!!) were scar and an 'african choir member' and a costume for each was needed between them - friend was a short fat child, dd taller and averagey - god that was fun
Add to this other mum had severe arthritis in her hands, and all 4 parents worked full time and the teaching assistant ended up making the scar costume I cant sow for toffee!! DH ended made a dress thing for them for the choir that looked like a huge pillow case with a gap for arms and head and it was too wide for my DD and too long for the other!!

On a funny note though I do remember a parent approaching me in the playground when they were munchkins and needed brightly coloured oversized tshirts with elastic hemmed into the bottom to hold a pillow in and asking me where I'd found a shop selling elasticated t-shirts as she'd tried everywhere!!!! erm.....i dont think you can buy them pre made dear ;)

I'm with you on this one. I can't believe I was actually quite looking forward to this aspect of DD starting school (she's in reception) but with 4 different mufti days so far this term that each required some different theme or a particular colour of clothing (and a charity donation), and a different costume for various Christmas events required EVERY day next week it is starting to wear very thin on the excitement front!

I think we should all be warned when our children are born that a priority for the next four years should be cultivating a varied dressing up collection and t-shirts of every hue so that we are all set for when school starts.

Fortunately ds was a snowman this year, I pity the parents of the camels! Am afraid whilst I can paper-mache a hat creation with enough notice, I resort to buying ds' costumes having zero clothes-making skills.

Was a bit at the year 1 & 2 girls who had been to the hairdressers prior to appearing on stage as angels.

This is minor in comparison to some of the requests, but we were asked to send in some party clothes for ds to wear in the Christmas play. Was bemused as round here at birthday parties the boys don't wear anything special - just (nice) tops and trousers. There's no equivalent of girls' party frocks. And ds has never been a page boy (even if he had, he'd probably kill me if I made him wear knickerbockers or something.)

I have no idea whether the outfit we sent in for ds will pass muster or not. Most irritating thing is apparently there is nowhere to hang them other than the coat pegs so his top and trousers are going to get horribly crumped and probably dirty from knocked down and trampled on the floor!

I noticed a while back in the school diary that there was a concert on Thursday but was not aware that any of my children were in it. Last week in the book-bag I was informed by a tiny slip of paper that my son needs to turn up in white trousers and top to be an angel with the rest of his year group.

An eight year old boy. In white trousers. Where in the &^%& do I get white trousers like that in just a week? I object also to the total waste of money in this climate; what 8 year old is going to want to wear those again?

And to make things even worse for the creatively challenged parent - on dress-up days like world book day & childen in need, children are rewarded for the best costume - so not only do we feel stressed by our inability to produce something of an expected standard - we are being marked and judged on it too.

Tip for Victorian costume. Buy a very cheap white shirt (but where from now Woolies is gone??? they used to sell them for £1), unpick the collar and take the pointy bits off. Re-sew if you require Victorian Gentleman, leave frayed if you want Victorian Urchin. If you want the latter you can soak it in a solution of weak tea to turn it Workhouse Brown.

Braces can be faked with brown ribbon safety-pinned to trousers.

If you have a too-small brown fleece you can spare then you can cut this down to make a waistcoat. Otherwise you can go for the Freezing to Death Victorian Urchin look. This means you can include bare feet as "part of the costume"

Or here if desperate and loaded.

i am in the process of making a toga for DSs Roman Day - DD just needed a plain blouse.......phew....

Wgat has pissed me off hugely is the fact that having 2 DDs 2 years apart you would think costumes lovingly sewn could be used again? Wrong! they keep changing the bloody curriculum so I have an assortment of Roman, Victorian and Tudor costumes in waiting and they bloody ask for 1950s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If they ever have to make a papier mache volcano though I suggest you keep it. The teachers never notice the same ones coming round again

For me it's the combination of the non stop requests for cash/donations and the extremely short notice given to source/make costumes that is so stressful. I had to do a donkey costume and had literally no idea, poor dd ended up in brown top and tights and a pair of rabbit ears

(QOD I also had to get a plain long sleeved black T shirt, with 2 days notice, found them in H&M, £2.99)

I'm not sure that schools should be encouraging people to basically buy and then destroy cheap clothes though, should they? Given that all of these cheap white shirts adorned with glitter & boot polish etc for our primary school children will probably have been made by a child of a similar age in china or wherever...

On our costume list is 'Long cloak with hood' Yeah we all go round looking like a bloody Scottish Widows advert don't we!

I cannot sew for toffee, and dread these days. Ds in yr 6 just had Victorian day, and it was a real PITA.
We had a list of what WAS acceptable, and what wasn't- even had to take lunch as a chicken leg,hunk of bread in a basket- no plastic lunchboxes etc.
Bollocks to that.

I LOVE victorian day - bough an amazon costume for £12 this year and has been worn on 3 different days by friends kids as well as DD - in profit from bottle of wine thank yous

OK, explain why the children can't be TAUGHT TO SEW this bloody stuff themselves? now THAT would be a learning outcome I could support. And a lot closer to the Victorian Workhouse experience than ripping up a perfectly good shirt to be 'rags'.

Maybe we need a specific Costume Exchange topic on MN. Isn't the curriculum a 3-year cycle or something?

I did actually tentatively ask DS' teacher about costumes for the nativity play ( to avoid suddenly having to come up with something with about 12 hours notice) and was told that they have school costumes...
How I love DS' school...

I imagine you were a bit disappointed SGB. I know how you love to sit of an evening knitting, crocheting and practicing your hemming and cross-stitch.

I received a letter about ds school performance and the required clothing on Monday, to have it ready on Thursday. I have had a grumble at the teachers, as they know well in advance what they want kids to wear, and they should give us notice which includes at least one weekend to buy if necessary. I only managed to cobble something together with the help of a friend passing on some clothes.

I work during the day, and don't have time to shop after school during the week as I look after friend's children as a favour, so no time to hit shops.

Luckily, dd is doing a carol concert at local church, so clean smart uniform all that is required.

Good tip on the volcano Balloonslayer. And PMSL at the Dickens World site - there's someone who's lurked on a few parenting sites and seen an opportunity!

So, on the subject of advance notice ... anyone care to tell me what period of history DD1 will be moving on to next. Currently in Year 3, did Great Fire of London in Yr2, now on Victorians ... is there a pattern? When can I look forward to going all Egyptian/Roman/Polynesian/Whatever?

Have spent this evening sewing tinsel onto a hastily bought white t-shirtfor 6yr old son's concert. Our school provides anything specific for the carol concerts and those that aren't "angels" "Mendi Patterns" or whatever are just asked to decorate a plain white t-shirt in tinsel of their class colour ( classes are named by colour like red, blue etc) Most of the other stuff is represented by hats that the children make at school e.g. the "stars" have a simple paper star shaped hat etc, the angels have outfits the school already have and make halos etc

I think they ask too much then ladle on the guilt when whatever offering you send in is eclipsed by the commisioned hand sewn, West End stage worthy offering of somebody either incredibly creative, paid or simply has nothing else to do.
I make all my charges costumes from scratch and my boss takes all the credit. She doesn't know how to thread a needle. I don't mind especially but I was horrified for some of the other mums when my offering was brandished in front of them by the teacher and told this was what a 'proper' costume should look like if a 'little' time was spent. I was mortified. It was completely unintentional; I just love making things. Nobody will talk to me at the school gates anymore.