School Pictures: Waste of Money Or Memorable Tradition?
NOTE FROM COLLIN:
Similar to how we do our Try Me Tuesday posts with product recommendations, I thought it would be also fun to do basically the complete opposite. With that said, I introduce “Waste of Money Wednesday!” 😂 This post will be exactly that – the Hip2Save team will be sharing products that they aren’t happy with, products they feel are a waste of money – basically product UN-recommendations.
Hey There! It’s Lina – one of Collin’s sidekicks!
Do you purchase school and team portraits each year, and still have them in the original envelopes? 📸
I recently came across a box of these familiar blue and white Lifetouch envelopes filled with sheets of pictures of my kids. The sad part is that most of them were untouched like the day I received them! Oops!
We just had picture day again, and every year I say maybe we will skip this year, but then I’ll still write that check again because of guilt! And these packages aren’t inexpensive!
That has me thinking… Are school pictures kind of a waste of money?🤔
Maybe it’s because I’m not taking the time to send them to out of state family? Honestly, I can barely manage to get Christmas cards out half the time!
Or maybe because of the internet and the fact that my friends and family see pictures of my kids all the time on my personal social media, so I’m not really as motivated to share these?
(Me in 4th grade with the bangs and acid wash jean outfit! Priceless! )
Remember the old fashioned school class pics?!
Now those portraits are like gold! Why aren’t we still doing these? I would be excited to buy this for my kids to look back on of them with their class. (At least my school doesn’t offer them.)
Doesn’t it seem like there are pictures for every single activity and sport?
Every time we turn around there’s picture day for something… dance, baseball, softball, football, soccer etc. There’s even spring time school pictures!
I hate that there are stacks of pictures collecting dust, but definitely feel like I need to still buy them. Is it okay to stop buying these when your kids are 9 and 11 and already halfway through school? LOL I’ll probably continue buying them or at least buy a digital copy. 🤣
P.S. I did find one great way to organize school portraits, and other important school related papers by creating bins for both of my kids organized by grade level! Go HERE to read about it and grab the FREE organizing printables! 🙂
We need your help!
Do you still buy school or team portraits? Any tips to save money on them?
Any ideas what to do with all these older school pics from years past, still in the sheets?! Asking for a friend! 😉
Other Waste of Money posts:
- THREE Mascaras I Will NEVER Buy Again
- Dear General Mills, Your Charm is Not Making My Bank Account So Lucky!
- These Pioneer Woman Dishes are So CUTE, But Sadly They CHIP…
- Bryn Will NEVER Buy This Nintendo Product Again, Ever!
- Michelle Will NEVER Again Buy A Wanna-Be Roomba Vacuum
- Thinking of Buying a Hoverboard? Read This First!
- I Won’t Buy Cra-Z-Art Crayons Again – Too Waxy, Clumpy & Soft
- Seriously Amazon… Why Such BIG Boxes?
Luckily, our picture packages are waaay less than I thought they’d be. I paid less than $10 for just a few–enough to send grandparents and stick in a photo album and that’s all I need!
Same here. Picture day was last week and I spent $12. I got the smallest package for $7 and added on 2 3×5’s for $5 more. It’s enough to send to our small families. I stopped buying the 8×10’s years ago with our first child when I realized I never got around to framing them! I do have a pic frame for each kiddo with 13 slots – one for each grade so I can have just the 2 frames. Much easier. My son did ask this year why I didn’t get the big packages like most of his friends. I think he was a little hurt. I just explained that we have a tiny family and some people have great big families. He seemed to feel better about it. On the one hand it feels like a waste since we take so many pics of our kiddos with our phones but it’s also a time honored tradition and I want them to look back and be able to see classroom pics, etc. When I was young my mom frequently couldn’t afford the pics so I was missing a lot of years and the ones I did have were burned in a house fire so I can’t look back. I’d like better for my boys.
Lifetouch offers new customers a free hi-res digital with any purchase. I order the smallest package and get the digital copy gor those free cvs 8×10 offers, shutterfly ornaments, etc. Use a different e-mail address with Lifetouch each yr to be a new customer.
Thanks for sharing!
Even better buy the class photo and then get the free digital download. It’s $14 bucks and you get the class picture too!
I buy the school portrait package every year because grandparents want it for Christmas. Now, I am stuck with a bunch of wallet sizes pictures. Don’t know what to do with them?
Have you ever ordered your pictures online through lifetouch? You can customize what size pictures you want on each sheet so you wouldn’t end up with sizes you didn’t want. I’m not sure if you can do this with small packages or not but I get a bigger package because I split it with my sons dad and I like to pick what sizes I want for each sheet.
Use them for Christmas ornaments—homemade or the little frames.
I buy a 5×7 to frame and some of the smaller ones for family. I put the newest school pic on top of the older ones. The frames are only for school pics—one for each of my kids. Not a big deal at all to change the pic once a year. After sorting thru their work at the end of the year, I filed awards, report cards, and representative art and schoolwork in plastic sleeves and stuck them in a binder with leftover school pics from that year. My daughter loves looking at her book, remembering activities and projects.
My daughter is in the 8th grade and we’ve never bought school pictures. We do buy sports pictures and yearbooks though. All of her school pictures are less than satisfactory(unruly hair after P.E. or closed eyes) so I don’t feel guilty at all.
Lol! The unruly pictures are the best! When your kid is grown and has kids off their own, those are the funniest to share!
I so agree! Priceless 😉
I wish they did class photos too!
I opted for wallets and a 5×7 or 8×10?? Cant remember- that was only $14
I shouldve just done the digital pic for $15 i think.. so not expensive at all for me 😊
I wish they still did the class pics like before. Now they just have everyone’s individual pic on one sheet and your kid in the middle. I don’t buy school pics
Yes! I want to see them on those risers!! Ha
My kids’ get the class pictures and I’m so glad to have those!! I order the same Lifetouch packet each year for my kids consisting of the class pic, 2 5 X 7s for the grandparents and a digital image on a cd! It’s around $20 for that packet
My sons school still does class pictures! I buy my sons every year, hopefully they continue to do it
I generally agree with you, but am only speaking from the perspective of the mom of a kid in 2-year-old preschool 🙂 I think social media has significantly changed the game on the overall relevance of school pictures.
Our preschool had school pictures and the cost felt outrageous. I did like that our company had an option for digital images where you receive digital copies and a cd. That seems much more useful and was cost effective and allows us to print pictures that we want and share them digitally through social media if we choose. They also do a composite class picture, which I love!
I used to BEG my mom NOT to buy my school pictures. It never failed that they would schedule our pictures AFTER gym class and I looked horrid. So, in my opinion, they are a HUGE waste of money. I would prefer to spend the money having an individual photo session done with a good photographer so I know they would come out well rather than buying the school pictures where they are rushing to get pictures taken of 300 kids and they don’t care how you look in them.
Thanks for sharing!
sometimes I jsut got the cheaper package, to send to grandparents, however sometime the kids don’t like the goofy poses they make them do or don’t like how they look so we don’t buy them, instead I save the ID cards they get for free from the same company taking the photos and just scan and print it bigger and sent to the grandparents, I save the ID cards to put them together in one page and see how they change thru the years!
I just think of the pictures as another fundraiser for the school. It is better than wrapping paper that tears when you look it at, or crappy chocolate.
I’m all about photos. We always purchase the small one with the classroom photo. I know we spend less than $25.
Both… and so expensive too… :/
I’m in the same boat Lina. I tell myself every year don’t pay for packages because I never frame them or send them to relatives. I do cherish the pics to see how my kids have changed from year to year! My packages do offer class pictures which I like as well. I live in a small town where the kids attend the same school from pre-k to high school so it would be fun to show “so and so” throw back pics as they get older. They aren’t cheap though! $30 and up plus additional child’s packages 😫🤑😕
Yes! It adds up 😀
I like having actual pictures of my child because I don’t share pictures of my child on social media(not a fan of ‘sharenting’). It makes my child feel special when he goes to family members homes and he sees himself on everyone mantel or picture stand. I still have photo albums, call me old school but I love how my childhood pictures were displayed and my child loves seeing himself in the abulms too. Plus it gets him away from his tablet where we do everything digitally now. New is good but old has traditions.
I commented something similar. 🙂 I love keeping certain old traditions alive and I also dont share on social media. 🙂
I buy the cheapest package for my two kids, one with two 3×5, two wallet size, and a class picture. $15. I always pick the one with their grade for the background. I have a frame for Kindergarden-12th grade, then I put their wallet size according to grade. The class picture I put in a school album for each, so they can go back and remember their classmates’ names later.
I always buy the cheapest package too because I also have a k-12 frames for my kids… they are around $10-12 so no big deal… I have trained my kids well to poise and smile so they usually look ok…
I always do pictures of my kids at JCPenny each year. Way cheaper then the school ones and then give them out to Family and put in scrapbooks. They have packages that start about $7.99. I usually only buy a class photo from the schools.
Me too! And the pictures are so much better!
I don’t buy them. Too expensive and not great pictures. Our school does do class photos and I do buy those. To commemorate each school year, I take a picture of my kids on the first day of school and then make a magnet labeled with the school year. I get to look at the pictures all the time!
After getting my little one’s done for kindergarten and seeing the quality I got for what I paid, I no longer get them done through the school and I don’t feel guilty. If I want a professional portrait done, I can get better deals through portrait studios and can be selective about what I want. Also, with the quality and ease of use of cameras and editing software available to the general public now, it’s very easy to make your own pictures that turn out beautiful and don’t have to look like stiff portrait poses with plain backgrounds and can be done for very little cost. Just my 2 cents, ymmv. It all depends on what you want and how much time you want to invest, I guess.
Same here. I was not impressed with kindergarten photos. I took better ones myself so that’s what we do now. I don’t feel bad cause I still get photos, just not 15 copies of the same one. I can choose how many, what size, etc. And they are all free thanks to Collins photo deals! 🙂
I thought I was the only one. I always get the smaller package that includes class picture (individual shots of each child layed out on same sheet) and a few individual photos in 2 different sizes. That’s usually the cheapest route and they run about $30-35 a set. I opted out this year because they are 8th and 9th grade and they will have yearbooks. I do harbor some regrets still.
This year I paid for the “value” package for both of my kiddos. My daughter got hers and they’re precious. My son’s entire class got theirs but he never got his. After several emails and calls with Lifetouch it was discovered that the pictures have been “lost in the cloud”. Sooo..my son has to do the retakes next week. He HATES having his pictures taken so when I told him he had to do it again he wasn’t thrilled. Lol. I will say Lifetouch has some great backgrounds and props. They’re really unique for school pics.
Oh man! Hope the retakes go well 😀
I started out buying both now I just buy a few school ones and never the sports pics. They are just so posed and they have bad hair, weird smile faces etc.
I always buy just the 5×7. They come 2 to a sheet. Pretty inexpensive way to buy off my guilt!
Haha! 👍🏻
I keep the proofs of individual pics. I buy the class pic and the yearbook.
Yes yearbooks! We buy those also 😀
I may be the odd woman out here but I love school pictures. I feel like the fact that they’re kind of goofy and awkward is part of the charm. I still get “real” portraits done where everyone looks great and we’re all frolicking outdoors looking coiffed but school pictures are still some of my favorites.
Thanks for adding your opinion!
Sorry you are not unique. I agree with you. My parents never really participated or purchased things during the school year, but they always bought the school pictures. As awkward and dated I looked, my kids and I enjoy looking at them. I like seeing my classmates. I know people say never look back only forward, but I do like to see how I made it to where I am now. So yes to school pictures. If they are still in the envelope, at least they are safe and sound to pass on to the kids. I think they will appreciate that you bought them.
Thanks Maria!
They charge too much money for these portraits. Sometimes even pictures aren’t that nice. When they do it on that large scale they shold do some discounts. It will be nice if these portraits are more related to the things which your kids are good in that grade.
My parents always purchased the pictures and I love looking back at them and seeing all the awkward stages. They have a frame of pictures from each year. Can’t wait to continue this tradition with my child. Too many times pictures just stay in our devices, so it’s nice to have physical pictures. Pictures to me are never a waste of money.
Thanks for sharing! 👍🏻
I think they are a waste. As I like the pictures I take at home the best. I buy them anyways…sigh… 🤷🏼♀️
I think it’s a nice tradition and it forces me to get their photos done each year lol. I was a child in the 80s and have always wished I had my pictures done with the laser beam background. My mom always chose the traditional blue background. So I let my kids pick out whatever background color they want 🙂 I pay $34 per each kid which gets me enough photos to send to our family.
Lol! I had the laser beam background in 1st grade and it still is my favorite school picture. 😂 Love the 80’s
So jealous!! Every once in a while, I check on eBay to see if there is a vintage laser beam background for sale. I’m going to buy it and have my picture taken lol.
Does the Lifetouch company have any competitors? Every last school picture that I’ve seen comes from them.
It appears to me they’re able to charge the abhorrent prices because they (seemingly) own the market?!
I can’t think of what it’s called but there is another company that comes to our school. We get pictures of the beginning of the year and then another company come to the end of the year. It’s a fundraiser, so some of the money goes to the school. My kids’ teachers have always done a class picture and they give it out to the class either at Christmas or the end of the year.
Our school uses a company called Interstate, I believe. My kids previously went to a school that used Lifetouch and I miss their cheap digital images 🙁
It is a nice tradition, but it is so so expensive! With the internet, we don’t have to mail out school photos in Christmas cards anymore like we did when I was a kid. I bought them last year because my mama wanted them, but not this year. We get family photos done once a year and I take 1000 photos of them the rest of the year.
I buy the wallets and put them in picture frame ornaments for our tree. Hobby Libby has good ones and we love looking back at all of their pics.
Yes this is a great idea!! Thanks for sharing 👍🏻
My daughters school uses Strawbridge studios. For my son in high school they use Lifetouch.
They way too expensive but I still buy the cheapest package that they have. The grandparents like them. My kids Pre-K teacher posted picture of the kids on the calss shutterfly account. At the end of the year I made a book. It turned out very well. I think I will continue doing this.
My child’s school offered a digital cd with copyright for $10 I did this figuring I could wait for a Walgreens promo for a print! It is the first for us so I’ll know if it was the right choice upon receipt of our image
That sounds reasonable!
I agree! I haven’t even ordered ours yet because I thought they were bit high this year. Not to mention the kids don’t like the way they look and no one really enjoys them except for my mother.
Haha my mom and mother in law love them also! 😂
I have five kids and the pictures are so expensive and generally….not very flattering. If I bought for all five at the cheapest package I would be over 100. Total waste of money in my opinion. I use all the deals on here ( free 50 amazon prints, 75 percent off Walgreen wood canvases, free 8×10 or 5×7 from walgreens, etc) and my house is full of pictures from those deals that I just take myself.
And I don’t do the christmas card thing because let’s be honest….everyone throws those picture cards away for the most part! lol
Yes I was wondering what large families do!? Photo print deals rock! 😀👊
I just purchase the cd
I just buy the digital download (which comes with a copyright release) from Lifetouch. I upload the pictures to Costco ans Sam’s club, and print out only what I want at a fraction of the cost.
I also signed up for their rewards program. After purchasing yearbooks I almost always have enough rewards for one free digital download. When you sign up you get a few extra rewards. Definitely worth checking out!
I always buy the digital download and order what I need. It’s alot cheaper than the packages they offer
Same here!
Thanks for sharing, now i know im not the only one feeling like this.
I stopped buying school pics years ago for my 4 kids, ages 7-13. I do buy them each a yearbook and we do family Christmas pictures for cards so I feel like that covers it! I buy select pictures from dance and gymnastics bc they are a little more special, and I take a good team picture for soccer and basketball with my DSLR so I have it for free! It just gets too expensive, and the pictures are never great! We choose to support the school in other ways.
I have never bought school pics for my kids. I don’t feel guilty. It is too expensive. I like to take candid photos of them outdoors or when they are not expecting it and those end up way better than a goofy smile from school pics.
As a child of a photographer……. we never did school pictures and as a result i have no professional pictures from 6-16, and the reat are in random shoes boxes through out my parents house….now that i have a daughter i do professional pictures every year and any other milestone ( i use groupons alot) once a year i take all the pics i take and the professional ones (always buy digital) and make a yearly Shutterfly book one for me to keep and one to give my daughter whens shes grown. I buy just a digital copy of her school picture from lifetouch (online) and spend 12$ then get free prints from walgreens for grandparents and great aunts. I have think it’s important to remember your good stages and goober stages of life. And compare your kid to your kid pictures (which I barely have any of) after all you cant go back in time, once that time is past its gone forever.
They raised the prices of ours and the cheapest package was $38! I refuse to pay that for school pictures.
if you choose not to order beforehand, you can still go on the website later and buy just a single print. And the websites I’ve been on like lifetouch, offer free shipping usually Black Friday weekend. So you can get a 5×7 for about $6.
Oh nice – thanks for sharing!
My kids just finished school pictures and I ordered the digital copy for $35 which is cheaper compare to any packages. I print them whenever there’s a free prints at Walgreens. Lol
My mom never keep pictures of me and now my kids want to see what I look like when I was their age and it makes me sad I get that picture are expensive but I feel it worth it you never know when your child is grown and has kids of their own that might want to see them so I bought a school years organizer books at Costco that has pockets and questions and a place to put their pictures on it they sale them at begin of the year and my girls love when I pull it out of the closet so they can look at so I always buy a class and team pics for their books but I don’t do the package I just do the one print
I will buy every last picture that they take of my baby and do so happily. School pictures, sports, band, whatever, I’ll buy it. Probably not a huge package, but at least one picture. He’s only 1 1/2 right now but I love school pictures. I love to look back on the pics from my own childhood, so I definitely want to be able to look back at his. He is everything to me and tradition and memories are really important to me personally. I don’t think anyone else gets it (I’ve spent a lot of money on photo shoots for him!) but when he’s grown up and moved away, that’s going to be one of the only ways I can revisit my little chunky baby.
I’m not buying them anymore. I used to buy the wallet size and after passing them out to relatives (not too many put pics in their wallets anymore with smartphones!), I told my daughters to pass them out to their friends…they thought that was so strange! They said that feels like they were saying “hey here’s my pic so you’ll like me!” I had to laugh. We all used to pass them around to our friends and sign the back with – “LYLAS”! So, I won’t be buying any more. I purchase their yearbook each year – they can see their pics there!
I totally had to google LYLAS, never heard that before! My mom always bought the most expensive package the school offered (only child, you see) and gave them away to everyone. Cashier at Foodtown, mailman, family, the post office clerk. No one cares but she didn’t want to be stuck with the smaller pics. She still has a shoebox full of wallets from my childhood. And the college grad one?! That package was $300 which included the yearbook. What a waste of money. In this era, I wouldn’t waste money on pics.
I just chuckled at the “LYLAS” comment, I so remember that era and it being printed on letters and pictures ha haha 🙂 . Thanks for the memory
Our School went with a new company and we get a cd for 25.00 and can print them at home,so I only print what we want.
I’ll never forget when my kindergartener has a huge boogie and they still took the photo like that. They are horrid I buy just the smallest package as a keepsake but get them professionally taken so we don’t have rush jobs
I down sized from buying the package to only one single 8×10 for $10 plus tax. I think it is a good way to track the change of kid’s face and also useful for their graduation party.
I buy a smaller, unretouched package for each of our kids (we have 6), and it still adds up. However, as long as there is a 5×7 for scrapbooking (that I will, of course, one day miraculously get to), and wallets to give to family/add to the K-12 frame, I’m good. They’re about $20 per package and considering how much I love laughing at and watching old pictures and videos, I think they’re worth the investment. I’d hate to look back and wish I had bought them because, unfortunately, there is no way to turn back time.
As a side note, thankfully the schools in our county DO provide class pictures, thank goodness. They will be absolute riotous gold in 20 years!