My Children's school sells them each year and takes pre-orders for them ONLY and sell them for $15 each. Parents can also place adds in them for an additional fee.
I was raised in an area where Elementary Yearbooks were not done or heard of so I have a hard time committing $15 per child (3 of them) for yearbooks each year. Of course they don't want to share a yearbook either because they want their friends to sign it. Imagine what the inscription would read, "Remembers great times at the Sand-table and building with the blocks."
Personally, I refuse to buy them just because it is one more of the HUNDREDS of things that come home for sale at our school and I really don't see a point to them having a yearbook for every grade.
Seems like it would take the emphasis off their Senior yearbook if we had copies of them from kindergarten all the way up. Personally, I prefer to buy the class picture each year and keep them in my own scrap book so that I can look back later on in years, I don't think I need a yearbook to do that too.
I do understand that selling them is a money maker for the School/PTO so I don't mind them asking and think for some parents yearbooks might be a treasured keepsake.
Perhaps, if it is inexpensive enough, your group can donate a copy to the teachers one year to try and "Hook" them on the idea maybe then they won't be so quick to dismiss it.
We are a K - 5 elementary and we do a yearbook each year. Every student receives one free of charge. It's all black and white and we add clipart, boarders to the pages before they go off to print. I like getting them. I put them in my children's scrapbooks.
We have year books. My boys are in thrid and fourth grades. I cannot afford to buy them both one. They are fighting over it this week. To my knowledge all of our staff buys one. There is also a bunch of old ones in the PTO cabinet from when my husband attended there (many years ago). They are fun to look at. I still treasure mine from when I was in elementary. We didn't have the kids helping but I think that is so cool. That is a good experience for future adviterising agents, graphic designers, etc. Plus it makes the kids feel good that they can do something to help their school.
Our elementary school has a yearbook. We are a Pre-school - Grade 4 school. We don't do this as a fundraiser. I think this year we might lose money because we are offering the first yearbook at full price $12 and any additional yearbooks at $5. My son loves it, he constantly looks thru his old ones. I'm not sure how many we sell but I think we sell about 150, there are about 420 kids in our school.
I think the kids would be disappointed it we didn't have it. It is alot of work for that committee.
Our elementary schools all have one around here. I personally find them unnecessary, but do purchase one each year.
We don't sell them to make a profit, we just break even, which is our intention.
We think that yearbooks and t-shirts are more of a service to the kids than a fundraiser.
