My five year just got home from school and with her was a letter from the teacher, it said:

Hi,
Sophie is in a dress rehearsal for the nativity play on Monday and she needs to be wearing an angel outfit with white tights/socks, silver shoes and she also needs a halo and wings.


So, we have two days to get everything ready for her, we have to make the halo and wings- or rather the OH does because if I tried it, the kid would end up looking like a fly on a car windscreen.

They`ve done this before, sent a letter home at the last minute with orders like that, one day Im expecting them to ask us to send the brat into school in a days time dressed in Elvis wig, sunglasses, white silk jumpsuit and eight inch glittery platform shoes carrying a sub machine gun and driving a WW2 sherman tank thats covered in Christmas tinsel.


What are teachers thinking? Do they think we`re made of money? Do they think we can devote god knows how many hours to this in just a few days?

What about people who cant afford to splash out on suits of armour and stretch limos and Lear jets for their kids play or whatevers going on at the time?


How do you manage when they send letters home for sixty quid for a kids party or orders for you to dress your kid as Ghengis Khan and tell you that you have three days to do it in?

Think I'd better get my sewing practice in ready! I have about 4 1/2 years to perfect it!

I tried to make a halloween costume for Lewis and it went disasterously wrong. My idea was to dye a sleepsuit black and an old baby hat then sew a tail and ears on to them. I couldn't even do that right. The sleepsuit came out brown! I must have needed to dye it twice and I didn't have the time to do it again.

Fairy wings! I'm glad I have got a boy :)

You`ll find that each costume you have to make takes about five attempts before you get it right, and when its finally perfect you`ll go to school all proud of yourself and find that all the other kids managed to get their bits from poundland and their parents didnt go through the same hell as you did!

Then the next time you have to do it, you go to poundland and then later find out the other parents have all worked hard to get their kids costumes ready and they look great while your kid looks like something out of Steptoe and son!


You cant win!

Aggggghhhhh! How annoying! I would pull my hair out!

We had a competition at school where the kids blew an egg and made it into something and they were all on display. My sister's entry was a Spice Girls stage with curtains and lights.......it was so obvious that she didn't make it.

My parents wouldn't let us touch it - it was their 'baby'

My eldest is going on a school trip for 4 days in march and when they sent the consent form home on the tuesday it said the £100 deposit needs to be in by Friday! As it happens it was month end and we got paid but I was disgusted.

The often send letters home about WW2 day and the likes on a friday and say they need X or Y clothes for Monday.

I mean obviously us parents have limitless supply of time, money and patience so this shouldn't be a problem!

Oh this sort of thing drives me soooo mad! After several years of school age kids I now have a supply of costumes at the ready (including a 4 armed brownie, and a christmas pudding made out of a mesh laundry basket:suspect:!!!) but still never seem to have the one I need! We need a Mary this year, never done Mary before and REALLY can't afford to spend money on it. AAAARRRGGGHHH.
I now make all my kids ask if they need christmas play costumes in about July (well almost LOL) as I never rely on the school to give me any notice!The thing is in the past I have said I'm not doing it if I get really short notice or am expected to fork out loads of money, but you do in the end cause it's the kids who suffer otherwise. Soooo annoying!:rant:

I get really angry when I hear about this sort of thing, as a teacher myself I would never have sent any such note home. I've always worked in schools who made this activity part of their role and provided the costumes by hook or by crook. Often they were made my teaching assistants during the rehearsal time, or occasionally Y6 children - a great club group or activity which many would take up over a lunch time in this sort of weather to avoid standing in the freezing cold!

I believe that the costumes should be very basic, and able to be recycled year on year with only minor adjustments according to the theme or similar. Use of simple tunics which can have stuck on embellishments are fantastically easy and efficient use of everyone's time AND money. If I were to get a letter like this I would get involved with the school in some capacity or other and make this suggestion, I would also lodge a complaint with the Head expressing my concern about equality issues and unreasonable demands at an already stressful time for all concerned.

The other frustration is teachers who seem to think all parents only have one child and tell you things like no children under 3 allowed at big sisters play. So what do you do with your younger children? Or parents evenings which gives you 2 days to arrange baby sitter etc so you can get there.

I hate this too. I am absolutely hopeless at anything arty so I always let the kids do there own. I thought the costumes they made for a recent event were fab until I saw some of the other creations. The parents had obviously spent hours on them. I think something like that could have been worked on in school. Our Easter diplays are also very obviously done by them

I haven't been asked for a play costume so I think they must be done in school (thank goodness).

I ended up buying a costume for a recent victorian day as I had nothing at all I could use. She did wear it 3 times though & it will do for the younger one next year.

M daughter is in nreception and in her first nativity play this yaer and when i asked about costumes they said school were providing them! Can't wait to see her will be so proud just hope i don't cry too much!

It irritates the hell out of me! When I was in school and we were in a play the costumes were provided. Mind you, they were pretty wrank :gag:

Ah yes - we have similar problems with school giving half an hours notice for most things - it is very annoying! They also make no allowances for working parents, despite the teachers being working parents themselves!! Grrrrr.

For an angel costume, I would get a white sheet and cut a hole in it. Put her head through so it hangs like a tabard and then just gather it in with a belt or some ribbon/gold cording. As for wings all I can think is either buying them from Claire's Accessories or using wire coat hangers with white tights stretched over them and add a sprinkling of glitter. Halo is easy - just put a bit of silver or gold tinsel round her head! :D

For an angel costume, I would get a white sheet and cut a hole in it. Put her head through so it hangs like a tabard and then just gather it in with a belt or some ribbon/gold cording. As for wings all I can think is either buying them from Claire's Accessories or using wire coat hangers with white tights stretched over them and add a sprinkling of glitter. Halo is easy - just put a bit of silver or gold tinsel round her head! :D

The costume is made and it was easy! All I did was yell "MUM"! and the OH was there with her needle and cotton, saw and vice or whatever it is mums use to make these things and in no time it was done! :D

Well they did it again!

My five year old started a new class a few days ago and we just recieved a letter informing us that they have swimming lessons on Monday and my kid needs a full costume, not a bikini, and a swimming hat.

We went to town today too and if they had sent that letter yesterday there wouldnt have been a problem, now we have to go to town again and hope someone still stocks kids swimming gear in the middle of winter!

NIghtmare Jabbers. I'd send a letter to the school telling them you need more notice in future.

We were duly informed in mid December that our girls would need a drawstring bag each ( must be drawstring as the pegs are too close together), a book bag (specifically!), a full PE kit (despite only being 3), a sports style bottle (which is a bit dubious), a pair of wellies (not an ideal - a full on advisory) and a full change of clothing (which is the only one which makes sense to me). That's for 2.5 hours a day at nursery. Pillocks.
Still, at least we got notice (never mind the remortgage required :) )

my 8 year old has just told me her class are swimming next week! Shes got no idea which day, and I've got no idea if her costume still fits! Jabbers - if you find anywhere that stocks it, let me know!

my 8 year old has just told me her class are swimming next week! Shes got no idea which day, and I've got no idea if her costume still fits! Jabbers - if you find anywhere that stocks it, let me know!

The OH scoured town today and came up with nothing! Then a shop assistant said that Lorus just MIGHT have some swimming costumes for kids in stock.

Lorus is a local charity shop here and they sell second hand clothes as well as new and fortunately my OH managed to persuade the assistant there to go to their stock room and hunt out a costume. She managed to get a new one but we would have had second hand at a pinch.

Then she asked if they have any swimming hats,,,, No chance!

Luckily one of my neices is around my daughters age so she`s going to lend her one.

Its the worst time of the year for stuff like this.

Are there any new costumes for sale on ebay? Just a thought as I know you can get stuff on ebay thats brand new and still has tags on.