Honeybun will be done with VPK in a few weeks and to celebrate the school is having a graduation ceremony. We are all really excited for the event as I remember my pre-school graduation and how exciting it was to do such a “big kid” thing.
Unfortunately, as has been the case with Honeybun’s school from the start, there has to be something to complicate things. The complication: a $25 cap and gown purchase.
When I first heard about the ceremony there was no indication it would cost to participate (technically it is a free program and they cannot require us to pay for anything, BUT they’re doing the ceremony the day after school is out so they can do whatever they please). A few days later a sign went up stating caps and gowns for the optional ceremony would be $25. I asked the director if the caps and gowns were necessary and suggested she ask other parents (many of whom are worse off than us) what they think.
The next week a sign saying the OPTIONAL cap and gown money was due the following Friday. Then on Wednesday before the money was due the sign changed again to read the cap and gown money was due for the optional CEREMONY. This change made me wonder if the cap and gown purchase was required to participate in the ceremony. I asked the director this exact question to which she responded “Well, kind of. I just don’t want any of the kids to be embarrassed. But YOU’RE her mom.” Hubby and I decided not to make the purchase.
I explained to Honeybun that the cap and gown was very expensive and gave her the choice to participate in graduation with no gown or not do the ceremony at all. I sweetened the deal with a promise of new fancy shoes (which I had intended to get for Easter but never found) and she was happy enough going without the cap and gown.
The next morning there was a note for me from the director saying that every other parent had paid the fee and that she would allow us to pay in weekly installments if that was easier. We paid the fee because we want Honeybun to participate. Honeybun was actually disappointed when I told her she would be getting a cap and gown.
Here’s my issue with the situation: I just spent $25 on a cheaply made cap and gown that my child will wear once and that will end up in the dress up closet where it will never be touched again. It’s not that we don’t have the $25, it’s that we have many much more important things that that money could have been used for.
I’m an extremely frugal spender (I saved 60% on my grocery bill this weekend!). With $25 I could have:
- Bought Honeybun 2 ½ full outfits (tops and bottoms, more if I got dresses)
- Gotten ½ a tank of gas which lasts me approximately 10 days
- Fed my family for more than 1 day (I spend $100-$150 a week on groceries for our family)
- Bought over 125 newborn diapers (and not the cheap ones either)
- Covered the cost of tolls for hubby to go to/from work for over 2 weeks
- Paid for 2 weeks of home water and trash service
- Gotten a babysitter for hubby and I to have a date night
- Bought 15 lbs of cat food (the more expensive kind that Monk only throws up sometimes)
- Replanted one entire flower bed out front
- Bought the 2 patio chairs hubby wants for the girls but that I keep insisting we can find cheaper
That amount of pressure is insane!