Friendship party...or not???

[sleepyone]

I received a call this morning from a parent (P) of a child in my dd's class. P says the teacher (T) called her saying that T doesn't think the room-mother has anything planned for the Friendship party and can P find out and maybe plan something?

T totally forgot to have the kids make their bags for the valentine's cards and is having them do that today. All through last week, I kept asking dd whether she had a list of students for the cards and she didn't. I kept asking whether they were handing out cards and dd didn't know. Well, finally after school yesterday, dd says that she has a list of all the classmates and we do need to do the cards.
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P calls me and asks if I can either handle it or help her with it if she can't get in touch with the room-mother. Although, P is supposed to be the room-mother for her older child's party today, she said she could leave the other moms in charge to help with this party.


So, I'm waiting for a call to know what I'll be doing today. I'm pretty sure I'll be at the school either helping or in charge of a last minute party.

Don't cha' just love last minute plans??

Okay, that's the end of my vent thanks for "listening".

ETA: By the way, I'm going to have to bring my 2 year old ds and 3 year old dd to help.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Nothing like last minute, eh?

I hope the reason is legit and not that the parent just "took the money" and ran.

 

[ckay87]

I always forget Valentines day. That's just one of many reasons that I am not a teacher.

Good luck - I don't do last minute well.

 

[sleepyone]

I was told room-mother's child has been out of school ill this week. I wonder if she had anything pre-planned, though? Maybe, we could pick up her supplies??

 

[georgina]

Nothing like last minute, eh?

I hope the reason is legit and not that the parent just "took the money" and ran.

Uhh...what money would that be? I've been doing parties for years, no one ever gave me any money to use. We had our Valentine party Friday MY LAST ONE EVER AS AN ELEMENTARY PARENT!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!

 

[Keggy]

My sister is the room mother of my nephews class. Two weeks ago she sent a note to the teacher asking if she wanted to do something today. Last night the teacher sends a note home with my nephew saying can you plan a party for the class for tomorrow. Let me know if you can't.

My sister decided to ignore the note, like the teacher ignored hers.

I think it is rude to expect someone to jump at the last minute.

Kelly

 

[minniecarousel]

I was calling around looking for a sub for this week (I work half-time at a HS, making copies for teachers). Most of our subs are parents of students in the district. One parent said she couldn't work this week, partly because of the "holiday". I forget how big a deal Valentine's Day is at elem. school.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

DS brought home his list of classmates a week before their party. (They had the party last Friday instead of waiting until today.)

At some point (on a different day earlier in the week) he brought home a litle note saying the party was Friday from 1:30 - 3:00 and it listed supplies. If I wanted to bring something I was supposed to check it off and send the note back. Hmmm. At Christmas we had the same sort of arrangement. I checked off that I could bring whatever they needed and asked them to CALL ME and let me know what to bring. No response. So I brought cookies.

I figured for Valentine's somebody else could help out. DH went to the party so if they had been really lacking he could have run to the store. The thing is, nobody knows what other people signed up to bring or IF anyone else signed up to bring anything! A little communication would be helpful!

 

[Breezy_Carol]

I sure don't miss these days.

 

[lecach]

For my DS's daycare (he's 14 mths old) they gave us a list of kids for the valentines and asked us to sign up to bring things. I signed up for ice cream cups and took them in this morning. My Mom went to the party and said they didnt serve them. Although they did have a TON of stuff. I wonder if they forgot - OR maybe the other Mom that also signed up forgot to bring hers and since my bag wasnt enough for all the kids they just didnt serve them?

 

[Sandy V.]

Reminds me of the saying "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part".

I am also glad that these days are behind me as mine are now in high school. It was always the same 4 or 5 parents in the class that supplied food, crafts, games, etc. for parties like these. The rest just "coasted".

 

[disykat]

I don't really "get" the whole "room mom" thing. Maybe I'm a control freak, but when I taught, I planned the parties and parents brought food and came in and helped. I usually put a sign up sheet out at open house and also at conferences for people to sign up early and then a notice in my class newsletter as the party came closer. It really wasn't an issue, usually the kids voted on some ideas or I reused ideas that had been successful in the past.

I've had to do some parties as a parent for my kid's teachers - and I think it's much harder to plan them as a parent when you don't know the kids or the other parents.

 

[mickeyboat]

I really like the way our school does parties. The teachers plan and run the parties. They ask the room mothers to bring in supplies and treats. The room mother calls the parents and asks them to bring an item off the list.

Hannah's room mother has called me twice, but Emily's hasn't called at all. I think I will ask another parent about that when I see her this weekend.

Denae

Edited to add: It's not that I think the teachers should do a ton of extra work to plan parties. I think they just know what has worked best in their classrooms in the past, and would rather have some control over the type and length of the party.