Primark shopping was not even considered, idea of re-using any of already existing jumpers failed as none would look nice as a background for the reindeer, so Saturday afternoon we went yarn shopping and then I curled in bed knitting.
The only positive thing - jumper design is precisely as young lady wanted. So here he is - poor exploited Rudolph.
To be honest, the whole jumper thing baffles me. You wear a jumper thus you "break" the uniform rules so you must donate a pound to the charity Save the children.
I have nothing against charities. Absolutely nothing. I also have nothing against jumpers - they are fun if you like such kind of fun. But both things together...
I spent 9.90 on yarns plus my time knitting. OK, let's say it cost 10 pounds overall. The cheapest supermarket versions here are 5 pounds.
So - one way or another, parents must spent at least fiver to donate 1 pound to charity, so the minimum of the expenses is 6 pounds out of which only one goes to charity.
According to Save the Children, out of every pound donated, only 85 p goes directly to the charity work, the rest is service costs.
So, if I follow the route and buy a cheapest jumper for a fiver to donate one pound, only 14 % of my spendings end up doing something charitable while 83% fill the supermarket's sock. So, all in all, I donate to support a supermarket!!!! How stupid is that?
Well, you might argue that we still have a Christmas jumper on our hands. Well, the quality of these fiver worth jumpers are not for wearing - they are as good as all the cheap Halloween costumes - just for one night. And to be honest - who walks around wearing these silly jumpers? I haven't seen anybody, and I live in a 300,000 city, so it will be lurking ina warderobe for a while and then most likely will end up in the charity bag unworn.
So, if school wants to teach my child charity, I would expect it to do better than promote a project in wich 83% goes to waste from the start.
I can see that the kids have fun with the dressing up, but I agree with your general point. If the school chose to let them come in something they were already likely to have, then maybe they could ask for a slightly bigger contribution for the charity. When my big kids were at school they paid once a term to wear their own clothes, but just went in whatever they felt like.
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