Tuesday, August 29, 2006
PTA PrattleGive Back the Gift Wrap
Anyone who has a school-age child is an expert in the game of fundraising. The PTA will get you, one way or another; they plan it that way. Take, for example, the gift-wrap. Does anyone actually sell it? Seems to me we all buy a few rolls for ourselves, and maybe check in with our mom to replenish her supply. I hit up the babysitter once. One mom, Chloe bag in hand, told me she refused to buy any, as the practice is “too suburban.” (She lives in Beacon Hill.)
At a PTA meeting at my sons’ school this fall, we debated doing away with the stuff. “No,” wailed one frosted-haired mom, “the sale is how my family back in Iowa participates in the school”. (It seems the practice of selling gift-wrap is not only suburban, but mid-western as well.) Another mom, educated at Berkeley and still clad in wooly socks and Birkenstocks, eschewed the all too colorful wrap, bags, and stationery. Her solution was to give the catalog to her daughter’s teacher, telling her to pick whatever she wanted for the classroom, on her. The teacher couldn’t find a thing. A pair of new mothers from Back Bay, decked out in Sevens and pointy-toed boots for their first-ever PTA meeting, bemoaned the lack of guidelines. They wanted to know how much they’re supposed to “sell” (code for “buy”).
As we were about to abolish this age-old practice adopted by just about every school in America, the PTA treasurer, a levelheaded numbers guy in a button-down shirt, cleared his throat. “If I may make a suggestion… Let’s look at our budget to see how much money the sale brings in.” Well, ok, that makes sense. Papers shuffled as we each pull out a copy of the budget. There’s a bit of silence. Seems the sale generates more money than the crafts fair, the bake sale and book sale, put together, Needless to say, we all continue to buy and sell gift wrap.
Details have been altered to protect individuals' identities.
Anyone who has a school-age child is an expert in the game of fundraising. The PTA will get you, one way or another; they plan it that way. Take, for example, the gift-wrap. Does anyone actually sell it? Seems to me we all buy a few rolls for ourselves, and maybe check in with our mom to replenish her supply. I hit up the babysitter once. One mom, Chloe bag in hand, told me she refused to buy any, as the practice is “too suburban.” (She lives in Beacon Hill.)At a PTA meeting at my sons’ school this fall, we debated doing away with the stuff. “No,” wailed one frosted-haired mom, “the sale is how my family back in Iowa participates in the school”. (It seems the practice of selling gift-wrap is not only suburban, but mid-western as well.) Another mom, educated at Berkeley and still clad in wooly socks and Birkenstocks, eschewed the all too colorful wrap, bags, and stationery. Her solution was to give the catalog to her daughter’s teacher, telling her to pick whatever she wanted for the classroom, on her. The teacher couldn’t find a thing. A pair of new mothers from Back Bay, decked out in Sevens and pointy-toed boots for their first-ever PTA meeting, bemoaned the lack of guidelines. They wanted to know how much they’re supposed to “sell” (code for “buy”).
As we were about to abolish this age-old practice adopted by just about every school in America, the PTA treasurer, a levelheaded numbers guy in a button-down shirt, cleared his throat. “If I may make a suggestion… Let’s look at our budget to see how much money the sale brings in.” Well, ok, that makes sense. Papers shuffled as we each pull out a copy of the budget. There’s a bit of silence. Seems the sale generates more money than the crafts fair, the bake sale and book sale, put together, Needless to say, we all continue to buy and sell gift wrap.
Details have been altered to protect individuals' identities.
# posted by Style Carrot @ 12:15 PM 
