How much should I as room mom harass parents for $?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please don't kill me, I'm learning the ropes here!

New Kindergarten room parent in a wealthy district (probably matters for this discussion). School "recommends" parents commit $25 to class fund for parties and teacher gifts. Sent an email (friendly) with a deadline (before party supplies had to be bought for first party) and one reminder - $ request was in the same email as Halloween details etc, so it wasn't a "GIVE ME YOUR MONEY!" email.

7 out of 21 families haven't given anything. I know a bunch of these families and there's no way this is a financial issue for the majority. If I have to cover the teacher gift I will, but at what point do you just say eff it and stop asking? I don't want to harass people, but it's also like, come on now!

Thanks for any thoughts.

$25 seems like a lot to ask for all at once. When I was the room parent, I ended up asking for $5 per child for the valentine day party and end of year party. Some donated more. I did mention in my email that if they did not want to contribute money to let me know and I would send them a list of stuff they could provide. I had about 90% participation. That was enough to buy some crafts, food, etc. To help keep costs down, I made the cupcakes and cookies for the parties. But was still able to buy a small fruit tray, veggie tray, juice, and chips.

For a teacher gift for the winter holiday and end of year, I sent a separate email asking if people wanted to contribute to a group gift card for the teacher. Completely voluntary and any amount was fine. Not everyone participated.

I respectively disagree. I love it when the room mom's ask for one donation instead of a bunch of tiny ones.

I love the PayPal idea. Then I can pay it when I get the email. Biggest problem is remembering.