Sunday, October 19, 2014

say cheese

It's that time of year again! School pictures. They have been taken and the proofs returned, with mixed results. One loves them, the other one is kind of meh with a titch of "I don't like them" thrown in for good measure. As for me, I like them both just fine and we have all managed to come to an agreement on which pose to purchase, so now it's just what package do we buy?

The package I normally buy runs us about $70ish (for both kids) and it allows us to have an 8x10 for the living room wall and all the grandparents to have a 5x7 and then there are bunch of smaller sizes that barely get used. In fact, if I am being completely honest with you, the 8x10 from last year's pictures never actually made the switch into the frame. Bad Mommy, I know.

The more I looked at the packages the more annoyed I got. There is really no economical way around school pictures. If I was looking for one 8x10 and four 5x7's at the minimum, just that alone would cost me as much as buying the package where I end up with a bunch of unnecessary prints. The waste bothers me as much as the cost in case you're wondering. It's no secret that my kids are enjoying a well documented childhood. I have no less than 3,000 pictures on my phone right now and probably a good 75% of those are of their adorable faces and yet I feel this compulsion to spend a ridiculous amount of money on these pictures that are really just okay.

So I'm not doing it. I know! Bad Mommy, again. I am going to buy the $14 pack of magnets, one for us, the rest for the grandparents. Every Christmas brings them a calendar full of  beautiful pictures of the whole family which is where I'd rather spend my school pictures savings.I'm  moderately certain my kids won't be scarred for life if they reach adulthood without an overflowing envelope of unused school pictures (which I totally have somewhere in my closet).

How do you feel about school pictures?

4 comments:

Lynn said...

"It's no secret that my kids are enjoying a well documented childhood." HEE, and also, WORD. I didn't buy them last year because they switched to a new company, and I hate hate hated the backdrops, but it still felt somehow wrong at the time. But now it feels great - I have hundreds of photos of the kids I've taken myself, in more relaxed environments and at actual memorable places and moments, so I just use them instead for the grandparents/home frames/Christmas cards. It's liberating!

Goofball said...

in this digital age with an overload of pictures everywhere, I think school pictures have become redundant without added value. Why would you feel a bad mom? It's just a picture, like they have dozens? no?

Julie Leclair said...

i'm totally with you on the waste. the packages are made to force you to buy more. and buying the single prints is ridiculous! this year there was a roman pedestal for one pose. it looked like he hand his hands on a toilet! i will probably continue to purchase them, but will probably go down to buying just one 5x7 to put up on the wall of fame. so that we can tease his mercilessly in the future.

Betsy Hart said...

I think that is fair. I spend $7 on each kiddo and got two 5x7's. I am happy with that.