School Costumes | Pad Patter 2.16

[bestcee]

One of the non noticeable differences in homeschool versus public school - No costume making. If Munchkin wanted to dress up for a lesson, it was whatever he wanted no grading from me. Public school? It's graded. Ugh.

We did the idiom costume in the fall, and now it's the colonial costume for the wax museum. Through a fun mess of procrastination by my parents, and the date changing, I have today to get his costume ready.

I don't remember having costumes in school growing up. We had dress up days - like neon day, backwards day, etc. But no costume performances.

What about you? Did you have costumes in school (outside Halloween)? Have you had to make someone or help make someone a costume? Did it turn out okay?

 

[HavaDrPepper]

Boy am I glad I never had to go through this kind of stuff!!!

To answer your questions, back in the dark ages, we didn't have costume days. I don't even remember dressing up for Halloween... that was only done for trick or treating.

The only time I got to dress up for school was the last day of 1st grade for "Hobo Day". And, it was only for 1st graders.

 

[Cherylndesigns]

LOL @HavaDrPepper "the dark ages". We didn't that I recall, but my grandson has them all the time. His dad and I (when we lived near them) used to have to make some crazy costumes. One time he had to be A Blizzard. Really??? We made A Blizzard costume. Here's a layout I did about this one.

 

[Angela Toucan]

My children had dress up days at school, but they were most definitely never graded.
Grading costumes is going to be grading the amount of spare money in the household budget not the child's creativity/skill. That is so wrong.

 

[sm_amber]

Our schools don't do costumes as such. Once in 5th grade, my son's class did biography projects on famous people - some chose to dress up, but others just brought related props or print outs. And none of the "extra" stuff was graded outside of the actual research content of the presentation. I agree with @Angela Toucan about grading of those things being exclusionary and prejudicial against households with less financial means or parents who don't have the time to acquire them because they're working 18 jobs to make ends meet .

 

[amien1]

At my kids' schools- we just have dress up days- and optional at that. I have one child that LOVES to do them, and one that hasn't participated in a single one. lol! We usually just pull from what we have- we spend no $$ and they usually turn out great. Most of the time it's just doing hair a certain way & making clothes work. That's enough for her!

 

[Memaw2Wm]

Other than a May Day celebration in first grade, I don't remember dressing up for school except at Halloween for the school party.

I don't remember my kids having to dress up either, but man the PROJECTS the grandkids have had to do ... ACK!!! One year my granddaughter's 6th grade teacher assigned so many projects one after another, (literally, she'd assign a new project the day the prior project was due) that one of the moms led a revolt and that was the end of projects for that school year. Teachers should NOT assign a big project on Monday and have it due on Thursday ... most parents in my area work and need at least one weekend to get projects done.

 

[HavaDrPepper]

LOL @HavaDrPepper "the dark ages".

Well, it was in 1963, a whole different era than what it is now. Black/white tv's (if you even had one), no cable and definitely no internet/computers. Phones were on a party line. So for many it would be considered "dark ages" LOL

 

[AJK]

My children had dress up days at school, but they were most definitely never graded.
Grading costumes is going to be grading the amount of spare money in the household budget not the child's creativity/skill. That is so wrong.

I agree. I never had a costume for a school academic project. I know we had ones for the fall festival and "easter", but those were outside of classroom instruction hours. So this seems really odd to me...

 

[gonewiththewind]

The only dress up days were for pep rally days or Homecoming Week. A few in middle school and then the rest in high school. Voluntary and definitely not graded.

I agree with others that it's hard for parents these days to find time for all.the.things. during the week. Even weekends aren't open anymore with lots of families working multiple jobs.

So how is the project graded?

 

[IntenseMagic]

Like others have said, any days like that we've had were just pep rallies or homecoming, etc. My kids never had a dress up day that was required or graded. I'd be curious to know how it's graded as well. I agree with it seeming really exclusionary. Even if it's only like a "participation grade" it still could potentially be a rough experience for some kids/families.

 

[Scrapping with Liz]

Grading for dressing up?!?

I don't ever remember dressing up for anything in school.

Our homeschool group does something once a year called Faces of History for our 9-12-year-olds. They write a 5 paragraph essay about someone from history, memorize it and dress up and recite their paper. That's the only dress-up we do...and it's not graded!

I actually detest things like this...pajama day, backward day, crazy hair day, etc. With 7 kids it's just overwhelming to think about it all. I know some people love it...more power to them!

 

[meganmecrazy]

My kids go to a performing arts high school and with them being in the musical theatre & dance departments they don't wear their normal everyday clothes often In fact, this morning my son came walking downstairs dressed all dapper...he said they had to dress as they would for an interview. Then just the other day he needed clothes to look like a character in the musical, Me and My Girl. It's a normal for us! Now that they are seniors they can pretty much fend for themselves, except when we don't already own something that they need. It drives me bonkers, ESPECIALLY when they don't tell me about needing stuff until THE NIGHT BEFORE

 

[Cherylndesigns]

Well, it was in 1963, a whole different era than what it is now. Black/white tv's (if you even had one), no cable and definitely no internet/computers. Phones were on a party line. So for many it would be considered "dark ages" LOL

When they were little, my grandkids asked me if the world was in black and white when I was a kid.

 

[jk703]

We are in a regular public school. There are dress up and spirit days... but never anything graded! I'm kind of shocked that a costume would be graded - unless it's like a home ec/sewing/creative/performing arts type of class.

 

[Memaw2Wm]

Oh and then there are the field trips with dress codes. Last one I remember was when Natasha was in 8th grade, they were going to the Kennedy Center no jeans/sneakers allowed. I told the school N only had jeans and sneakers (truth) and that I wasn't buying her a dress (or dress pants and top) along with dress shoes to wear one time to go to a performance she had no interest in seeing. Nope, not happening. I'd keep her home, or she could help out in the school office that day. Teacher emailed me and said her usual school clothes were fine, that she was always "neat and clean."

I've taken the GK to the Kennedy Center to see "kid stuff" and most people were wearing jeans.

 

[rach3975]

My kids have had a handful of required dress up days. They were graded, but more along the lines of, "Did this student make an effort?" than "How high quality was the costume?" In 3rd grade my son had Medieval days, or something along those lines. I was one of the cheap parents who had us make his costume with things like tin foil and cardboard (which was his teacher's intention), but a lot of the parents ended up buying elaborate costumes. The kids who followed the directions and made them ended up being embarrassed to wear their costumes, so I wasn't a fan of that assignment. (Interestingly, my daughter didn't have Medieval Day when she attended the same school a few years later.) All of my kids had to dress up for an Ellis Island simulation for 7th grade. I like the idea of it, but the specific directions were stressful for the kids. For example, they said no sneakers because they weren't historically accurate, but that's all my kids had so they went in their sneakers. Girls had to wear a long skirt, but lots of people today don't have those. I think they counted on the kids borrowing things like button down shirts and long skirts from relatives, but we don't have any local family and anything my kids borrowed from me or my husband at that age would have been falling off them. We made it work and my kids were dressed up enough to get the participation grade, but they definitely didn't look quite the way the school hoped.

When they were little, my grandkids asked me if the world was in black and white when I was a kid.

LOL--my nephew asked my sister that a few years ago, too! What's especially funny is that our baby and childhood photos were all in color, he just thought all adults were from "the olden days." He also asked her if they had cars yet.

 

[Lynnette]

The only thing my kids have to dress up for is concert black for band performances. I have one in high school, and one in middle school - we only have one pair of black dress pants at the moment but since they are the same size it works out. However, earlier this evening the two schools had a combined pops concert and it didn't hit me until an HOUR before that the one pair of pants wouldn't cut it! Cue me racing to Wal Mart praying they had the right pants. No dress pants in the right size but luckily they had a pair of black jeans! PHEW! We made it and all was well
I'm sure that if they showed up in the wrong clothes their grade would not be affected, but I would hate for them to stick out like a sore thumb...

 

[bestcee]

Grading costumes is going to be grading the amount of spare money in the household budget not the child's creativity/skill. That is so wrong.

So how is the project graded?

I'd be curious to know how it's graded as well. I agree with it seeming really exclusionary. Even if it's only like a "participation grade" it still could potentially be a rough experience for some kids/families.

Apparently, I didn't reread what I wrote very carefully. The projects are graded, the outfits are extra credit. But, extra credit in the "Please do this if you can" way. If that makes sense?

They were graded, but more along the lines of, "Did this student make an effort?" than "How high quality was the costume?"

This is how they were graded. It doesn't have to be fancy, his teacher even said she wasn't worried about shoes, socks, etc. Although I made Matthew wear long white socks with the khaki shorts. Especially since it was 20 F this morning! Most of the girls wore some sort of pioneer dress. King George was wearing a Burger King crown and leprechaun green coat.

 

[bestcee]

Our homeschool group does something once a year called Faces of History for our 9-12-year-olds. They write a 5 paragraph essay about someone from history, memorize it and dress up and recite their paper.

This is mostly what it was? They had to write and memorize a 1-2 minute speech. It had to be someone from the colonial times, which apparently was extended out to include the early 1800's. There was a list, or you could ask the teacher about your own choice to prevent 10 farmers.

I think they counted on the kids borrowing things like button down shirts and long skirts from relatives, but we don't have any local family and anything my kids borrowed from me or my husband at that age would have been falling off them.

Yep. His teacher actually said your mom probably has some clothes that would work - blouses, vests, etc. Um, I don't! I don't have any of those type of clothes.

Luckily, the thrift store cost me $6. And he looked pretty awesome I think!
Don't mind his expression. Somehow he figured I was the only parent making their kid dress up. He was shocked to show up and find 70% of the kids had dressed up.