Our fundraisers went very well this year so our PTO decided to have a t-shirt design contest. After the winner was chosen we purchased them for the entire staff and students...for free to them. About 20% of those never turned in the order form so I went through the yearbook over spring break to make an educated guess on sizes. Well the shirts are in and distributed...what a headache. We have parents that ordered them to small (even though they were told the sizes run small) and a teacher who got just what she ordered who said to me yesterday, "If you want me to wear this you'll have to buy me a bigger size". Well I had to make a unpopular decision and sent home a notice that said...if an error was made on our part we will correct it, however if you received the size you ordered and are not satisfied we will make the shirts available to purchase. It is so frustrating, I worked so hard on this and really had to push to get these shirts for everyone not to mention all the driving, phone calls, and time spent. The pto cannot afford to buy two shirts for people who ordered the wrong size. The funny thing is that all of the orders that I had to guess on were perfect...I guess I know how big all kids are better than the parents LOL! Did I do the right thing or should I have handled it differently? So far there have been about 20 that are not sastisfied. Also...since the first order was big we got a great discount...but re-orders will be more expensive.

WoW! How big was your initial order and how many requested a different size than ordered? I would have done the same thing in your shoes. What a generous gift!

Your decision sounds pretty sensible to me! If someone made the wrong choice themselves, you shouldn't have to pay for it!
I guess you won't be doing this again soon..?

We did a t-shirt sale at our school, however we didn't give free t-shirts to anyone. Of course, we ran into some snags with parents who ordered the wrong sizes. We did our best to switch with other returned t-shirts/sweatshrits and that actually worked out pretty well. I think we actually had to reorder a couple of tshirts, though. Our PTO just ate the cost. I think the teacher who won't wear the shirt should just have to be the only staff without a t-shirt. Too bad for her! This sale is a headache, to be sure. But it is a great thrill to see kids around town with their school wear on, showing our great school spirit. Good luck!

WOW what a great gift to everyone at the school! I would talk to the company that
you ordered the shirts from, if your initial
order was large they may give you a break on
a second smaller order. It can't hurt to ask
and on the second order I wouldn't ask folks for sizes and I would order LARGE all LARGE, they'll shrink they can be worn over shorts and jeans and then give folks an option to turn in the shirt that doesn't fit for a Large one. You maybe able to sell the misfitting shirts at another event or use them as give aways or prizes. This would hopefully keep your additional cost at a minimum. Good luck

I feel your pain. We gave all of our students a staff t shirts this year as well and also allowed any family members to order and pay for shirts and sweatshirts at cost. As with you some shirts were small, part of this was the companies problem and part the families. I had ordered extra shirts so the day we gave them out we were able to fix all the problems that we heard about.

It was great going class to class handing the shirts to each student, by the time I left the school everyone had their new shirt on.

As far as the way you handled it, yes I agree, you supplied the product, if a change needs to be made the PTO should not have to pay for it.