The class 5 farewell has a DJ, a dress code and a red carpet. I'd settle for cake

amber_sandal_506118 Apr 2026

Our son's school does a small farewell for class 5 before the children move up to the middle block. This year a group of parents has taken over the planning. The class group now has a DJ booked, a theme ('Hollywood night'), a dress code, and a suggestion that the children walk a red carpet while the parents photograph them. Our son is mildly interested in the DJ and horrified by the red carpet. I would quite like him to just eat cake with his friends. Is this what primary farewells look like now? Do we go along with it, or is it reasonable to send him in a clean shirt and skip the outfit?

4 comments

bronze_kite_982118 Apr 2026
We had the full version of this with our daughter a couple of years ago. Gowns, a photo booth, the works. Half the class turned up in a plain shirt anyway, and those kids looked the happiest because they could run around. Send him in the clean shirt. The kids won't remember the outfits, they'll remember the cake fight.
coral_marigold_721318 Apr 2026
the red carpet is for the parents, not the kids. our son's class had one and the boys spent the whole walk shoving each other off it. clean shirt is fine
teal_compass_487018 Apr 2026
Hollywood night for class 5 is a lot. Our younger one's class did a Bollywood theme years back, she wore her cousin's lehenga and hated it by 8 pm. If he's horrified, let him be comfortable.
lemon_kite_443218 Apr 2026
It might be worth asking the organisers what the children themselves will be doing for those two or three hours. At a similar evening for my daughter's class there was a photographer and a stage, and the children spent most of it in a corner playing cards while the adults took pictures. If the plan for the children is thin, a clean shirt and cake is not just acceptable, it is the sensible version.