(Pretty) please could we have your thoughts on school fairs for the times?

[JustineMumsnet]

Angela from the Times writes:
"We have noticed that in the more prestigious schools they are becoming ludicrously competitive and pricy (£7 chutney; professional sugar-craft cakes on the cake stall etc) and aim to raise thousands of pounds - sometimes five-figure sums - rather than hundreds."

Is this your experience and if so what do you think?
Many txs in advance. MN Towers.

[Katisha]

Although today I heard of a school fete charging £5 for a glass of Pimms.
Was £1 at ours.
(Sorry must leave thread alone to die now)

[Katisha]

Here we are then. Doesn't look like we were much help!

[JustineMumsnet]

Thanks everyone for the input. We will pass on - enjoy your tombolas one and all!

[Fennel]

geordiminx, that's just how children are at a fete, flightly and overexcited. My dds read lots, have loads of books, like to buy more, but there's something seemingly irresistable about face-painting (urgh, I am so bored by it, and it means you have to remember to actually wash them properly later) - very immediate.

[Katisha]

Spot on, Merrylegs!

[Merrylegs]

Prestigious schools are upping the ante at their school fairs. A tin of value baked beans and a panda pop just won't cut it on the tombola anymore. And forget the cake stall's crispy crackles and squashed cupcakes These days it's all sugar craft and bespoke baking.

"We won't sell any chutney less than £7 on the produce stand," Camilla Made- Up- Name of Pretend PTA declares. "Nothing cocks a snook at the credit crunch more than my hand-churned lemon curd at 12 pounds a pop. "

"We consider it a failure if we don't net at least twenty thousand pounds for school funds,' adds Fiona I-Never-Really-Said-That-Obviously.

The contributers of godsend-to-a-lazy-journalist internet forum Mumsnet may disagree.

"Prizes are plastic tat, much loved by the children.
There is a second hand toy stall where you donate back the stuff your children bought the year before." -SoupDragon

"No, not the experience of a school in the Midlands, we charge 50p entrance fee. Who in th ename of god, goes to a school fair in anticipation of spending £7 on feckin chutney?!! madness." - HuwEdwards

"The fair is just the normal home-made cakes (decorated with smarties etc), tombolas, bouncy castle type affair.
Dancing display and footie tournament.
The usual mix of fun and tat." - GrimmatheNome

etc etc...ByAngelaoftheTimes

(That'll be £150 please...)

[fabhead]

This weekend I went to 2 school fairs - one private, one state. The private one was £10 for a family ticket, the state one 50p per adult. This did make me think . Both were good fun and virtually identical once in.

[PeachyTheRiverParrettHarlot]

Oh there may be £7 chutney at the former school, but in fairness only becuase a local posh garden centre pays for a stall space.

We also had a beekeeper with honey once, boys loved it

[PeachyTheRiverParrettHarlot]

I like the baking aspect.

DS3's fair is a few weeks away- looking forwards to the cake making. However our school (as in the one he attended befor SNU) sold cakes at decent prices so am ssuming new school does- we' ll see.

But I like an excuse to bake anyway LOL.

Juniors don't have a fair, Head is opposed to PTA or any such involvement which always seems a shame, new Head starting in September may feel otherwise however.

[HecatesTwopenceworth]

Just had a rant about this on another thread!

Ours wants cakes bringing in atm. It's going to cost me a fiver and they'll sell it for a pound. Now I'll admit I'm no maths genius but it seems to me that the winner here is the supermarket!

I'd rather just give them the money and be done with it! It is a nuisance.

[FAQinglovely]

ach I posted a rant about our school fairs on the duplicate thread........

only raise in the £100's at the infant and junior school fairs and is all 10/20p a go at things (mostly)

BUT what p*sses me off is that 90-95% of the ways to spend your money are pot-luck things, tombolas, hook-a-boat, find the can/bottle, pick a lolly pop. Very few opportunites to actually buy something.

[PrettyCandles]

I was shaking with nerves when I turned up to help at my very first school fair. I was face-painting and had never done it before (apart from a practice on my dcs the previous evening!). I thought that I would have complaints from parents that my artwork wasn't good enough, or from the other face-painting volunteers that I was taking too long, or even from the children themselves. But, no, everything went swimmingly, the children loved anything we painted on them, the parents were happy that their dcs were happy, and the other volunteers were happy that there was another volunteer!

I now thoroughly enjoy my regular stint on the face-painting stall, but have to put my foot down in order to get a chance to browse the other stalls or see my own dcs performing. That's why we need more volunteers!

And as for the cakes, I think our schools undercharge for them.

[HuwEdwards]

No, not the experience of a school in the Midlands, we charge 50p entrance fee. Who in th ename of god, goes to a school fair in anticipation of spending £7 on feckin chutney?!! madness.

Our school isn't huge and nothing (except some sports coaching costs more than £1, and we regularly raise £1700.

[Cowwomanmoo]

The horror, the horror?

[LupusinaLlamasuit]

I love attending but have to have stern looks at the PTA when they try to pressgang me into volunteering. I'm more than happy to open my wallet rather than give my time, although I do have some reservations about charity for schools.

But I would miss my annual opportunity to knock out one of my children with a poorly thrown welly, or smash plates, or drink warm squash, or win back the awful perfume my mother gave me for Xmas, or have a cryptic conversation with one of the teachers about some event they have failed to notify me of. And the little kids love it because they get to see that school is fun and exciting.

[geordieminx]

Went to our local school fair last week(reasonably affluent area) - ds is only 2 so its a while before we have to go, but it was a nice day and all that..

So there is a book stall - 4 books for £1. Great I think, I'll get a few from the mounds that were on the table. So I picked 4, the guy says oh thats 40p . So I pointed to the sign on the front of the table, and he replied with "no one would buy them at that price so we have had to reduce them to 10p each or we'll never get rid of them" .

Meanwhile, the next table was face painting at £1.50 a shot, with a queue of at least a dozen people.

Made me really sad.

[GossipMonger]

We made 4.5k a couple of weeks ago.

DH was in charge of food and we had a BBQ, pasta and tomato sauce with garlic bread and chilli and jacket potatoes.

We had

coconut shys
soak a bloke
tombolas
soft toy stall
mystery rainbow gift
ring a jar
lucky dip
lucky ducks
elephant hoopla
spin to win
penalty shoot
2 x bouncy castles
cakes and tea and coffee
ice creams
fire engine
mini train
kooza kids with go karts and space hoppers
and a LIVE band (Deputy's husband is a singer)

Twas free to get in and we made twice the amount from last year from charging £1!!

It was such a fun day and we all got involved together as a family and made money for the school.

[ThingOne]

State primary in an affluent area and we focus on making it a fun day for the children but hope to raise lots of money too. Lots of traditional activities as already mentioned plus some of our own specials. I doubt there will be £7 chutney but I'm sure there will be professionally iced cakes as some of the mums do it for a living. Some of the others have got very good at groovy cupcakes too, and I'm sure these will sell well to the parents. Likewise the ones decorated by the children with too many sweets and bright coloured icing will sell very well to the children.

I've always liked events like this. I think they're great for building the community. However much or little you want or can do, you can still do your bit. Some people come with cash and rellies, some people spend months planning every bit.

[MollieO]

I feel short changed. My ds is at private school and I went to his fete on Saturday. No £7 jars of chutney or sugar craft cakes. Makes me wonder what I'm paying for .

[GrimmaTheNome]

My DD goes to a good private school.

The fair is just the normal home-made cakes (decorated with smarties etc), tombolas, bouncy castle type affair.

Dancing display and footie tournament.

The usual mix of fun and tat.

Though apparently this year there will also be a climbing wall.

School fayres competitive? Don't be daft. Who would you compete with? No-one ever goes to any except their own kids, do they?

[EachPeachPearMum]

Can I let you know Saturday evening?
I have a feeling it will be more Sugarcraft cupcakes than chocolate krispie cakes....

[Katisha]

It's not the price of the chutney or quality of the stalls that depresses me about school fairs - like several others I think the Times is just trying to serve up the eternal yummy mummy bashing in another format.

Its the annual grudge-fest between those who like doing all the organising and who think everyone else should feel duty-bound to volunteer as well and those who haven't got time or the temperament but who will turn up on the day and spend the readies.

Can you guess which camp I am in?

But I do rather resent the implication that by turning up at the stalls and spending money on tat I must be having a whale of a time and that merely supporting the event is Not Good Enough.

[squilly]

Ours is on Saturday and I can't wait for it. It's always great fun for the kids and the hard work from our HSA team means it makes serious money as well.

There are no £7 jars of chutney, just 30p fairy cakes and bacon sarnies for a pound, sweet stalls, tombolas and soak the teacher type games.

I don't know who gets the most out of ours actually...the parents or the kids.

[southeastastra]

have no idea what you're going on about cardigan