School fundraisers are evil....

[debilorrah]

I just say no and thank God every day that my kids are out of that age. You have no idea how thankful I am!

 

[mangled]

We're in the "mag-nut" program in my little girl's Daisy pack.

$5.00 tins of nuts, and a catalog of magazine subscriptions.

"Mag-nut" ... they're so clever.

You know, they don't have any chicken magazines in their catalog? What's up with that?

She's a kindergartener, and has all ready been sent home with a PTO form for some walk, and we were supposed to get sponsors...I think I used it to line the cockatiel's cage.

January we get to sell Girl Scout cookies. I'll second the mmmmmm...Samoas comment.

BYC should have a fundraiser. We'll sell silkies!! Procedes go to having a yearly Chickenstock in ... uh ... Hawaii - all expenses paid. Woo hoo!

Better start hatching, kids.

Em

 

[flakey chick]

Service fundraiser are way better than selling junk. Our band worked gift wrap booth every year and I can tell you we had a lot of customers who really appreciated it- never mind that it was a charity.

I think the car washes can be a good thing too. The last one I went to was to support sports teams at a local middle school. The coach organized and coached the children washing the cars and they did a good job.

We don't have kids but are happy to support the neighborhood schools. Always buy stuff from the neighbor's kids. One year we gave their youngest child $20 cash for a coupon book. Immediately regretted it and they never sent any of their kids back here. I like our neighborhood and believe it is safe, but it's just not a good idea for young children to be out by themselves with lots of cash.

 

[steffpeck]

My kids came home with the cookie dough one yesterday. After last year, where my DH & I bought $100 worth of cookie dough, $50 for each kid, so that they could get their "prize" that was broken before they even got home from school, I told them this year they could each have $10 to go buy something that they really want from the store.

On the positive side of fund raisers though, a mom of a girl in my daughters dance studio sells Scentsy Candles, and set up a fund raiser for the girls, to help pay for competition expenses and such, and the girls get to keep 25% of pre-tax sale totals. McKinley has just about made enough to cover her traveling uniform she has to have, and she still has several people to talk to, which is a relief that I don't have to figure out where to come up with $85 for it.

 

[chickenma]

I'm not a big fan of school fundraisers but the sad thing is that the school needs all the help that they can get from the school community.
As long as my kids and I are happy with the school , we support them.
Last year our school had a fundraiser for a shadow structure for the playground. It can be pretty hot in NC.
We have a good schoolspirit, this helps a lot with fundrasing.

 

[tabsmonsters]

We have been hit with the fundraisers already here too. For school it was those discount cards for local restaurants and businesses. We only sold a few of those partly cuz the selections stunk and the cheesy "prizes".

This year the kids joined Cub Scouts and I signed up to be a volunteer and the leader at the recruiting event (he isn't even part of our Pack) gave me the popcorn order forms. After selling several items for those, our Pack leader tells me our Pack doesn't sell them because they get such a small amount in return. Our pack sells flower bulbs and honey and 50% of the sales goes to the child that does the selling to use towards Cub Scout uniform supplies, dues and stuff like that. Now that is something I can stand behind.

I am glad that I am not the only one that dreads seeing fundraisers come home. I am all for fundraisers, if I can stand behind the product and the kids get something in return. When its all you can do to put food on the table, clothes on your back, and gas in your car, the stuff they try to sell is non-essential to me. I remember selling fruit when I was in FFA. I hated going door to door but I was proud of the FFA and the product I was trying to sell. My reward was getting to go to the FFA National Convention the last year it was hosted in Kansas City. Something like that I can stand behind.

Tabby

 

[BFeathered]

EEeekk! I've done cookie dough, GS cookies, wrapping paper and just about everything else. I just pick which one I might actually need that year (wrapping paper this year) and wait for the appropriate child to show up. (of course, GS cookies are a given- maybe they're made with Silkies?) Henrietta, you are by no means the only "weird" mom in the box-top world. I was appalled when the principal actually sent home recipes that used that nasty processed junk! Fortunately, DDs school didn't post tallies. That's just plain mean-spirited at that age. Hey Mangled, your tag line is my motto- what does that say?

 

[fowltemptress]

I remember bringing home those booklets of wrapping paper samples, with promises of limo rides to Chuckie Cheese if we could sell, oh, a billion dollars worth of it. I loved those . . . actually selling the stuff never crossed my mind, but I used the samples out of the booklet to wrap the tiny presents I made for my family. That was fun

 

[HuestisFarm]

OMG - ain't that the truth!! Thankfully, my step-son is only 7y/o, so nothing major yet. He is in Boy Scouts, though... so we just got our first fundraiser for them... popcorn galore... and SO darn expensive - I almost fainted when I saw their prices!!

 

[newchickenfamily]

I'm with everyone else on the fundraisers.

Wrapping paper, Sees candy, Girl Scout nuts & cookies, etc...

I only ask the grandparents and close friends.