Kids going door to door...

[ha98ed14]

Asking for $. I just turned down a 4 yo and 6 yo asking me for $10 for their soccer club. It's 7 pm here, and dark outside. These two kids are standing on my front porch and the dad is at the end of my walkway. WTH dude? Don't you have any grandparents or neighbors or something!?

[ha98ed14]

Asking for $. I just turned down a 4 yo and 6 yo asking me for $10 for their soccer club. It's 7 pm here, and dark outside. These two kids are standing on my front porch and the dad is at the end of my walkway. WTH dude? Don't you have any grandparents or neighbors or something!?

ETA: I'm really not a Scrooge; I don't have any cash in the house and I'm not writing a check to people I don't know. But better yet, just don't ask me!

[MamaMolly]

That just seems weird to me. Though where we live it is common on weekends to see kids in team uniforms at busy intersections with a plastic milk jug collecting coins. I hate it!! I'm always scared I'm going to see one of them get hit. :(

[♥ms.pacman♥]

Meh, that is a little strange but then again, doesn't seem that odd to me..at least the kids weren't totally by themselves. I guess what i'd find weirdest is that they're just asking for money, not selling anything. This past weekend, we got a kid coming to our door (older, maybe like 12?) selling coupon books as a fundraiser for something. DH asked how much they were and they were like $40 each!!! Um, i'll buy Girl Scout cookies or popcorn or chocolate or whatever, especially if it's our neighbor kids we know, but $40 bucks for something i probably could find most of it online...no thanks.

[mik8]

Asking for $. I just turned down a 4 yo and 6 yo asking me for $10 for their soccer club. It's 7 pm here, and dark outside. These two kids are standing on my front porch and the dad is at the end of my walkway. WTH dude? Don't you have any grandparents or neighbors or something!?

You mean just outright asking for $ without any type of fundraising? That's weird. Perhaps that's the norm in other areas but certainly never happened in our neck of the woods.

[twowhat?]

The whole "begging for money" thing from kids to support their soccor league or whatever is a pet peeve of mine. What is it teaching them? That it's OK to stand on a street corner and beg for money in a cup? When they are perfectly able to work for it? Do a car wash, for goodness sake!

Even the whole flamingo thing irks me a little (where a flock of pink plastic flamingos "lands" in your yard, and to get rid of them in 24 hrs you have to donate $10, or you can donate $15 to specify which house they "fly" to next...ok yeah that's creative but the kids aren't doing any "work"...it's basically begging for money and, even worse, flagging your house if you choose not to donate).

I'm OK with selling stuff. Car washes. Lemonade stands. Whatever. But kids should have to "work" to earn funds for their team, etc.

[TwoBees]

That just seems weird to me. Though where we live it is common on weekends to see kids in team uniforms at busy intersections with a plastic milk jug collecting coins. I hate it!! I'm always scared I'm going to see one of them get hit. :(

I refuse to donate to these kids unless I can tell they are college kids or older (usually wearing "State College" shirts). IMO kids should not be out in the middle of traffic for ANYTHING, so on that principle, I refuse to donate.

If a random kid came to my door I probably would not give him/her money. If I knew the kid, I'd probably chip in. There aren't too many kids over the age of 5 min my neighborhood right now though, so I think I've only encountered this issue once.

[TwoBees]

Even the whole flamingo thing irks me a little (where a flock of pink plastic flamingos "lands" in your yard, and to get rid of them in 24 hrs you have to donate $10, or you can donate $15 to specify which house they "fly" to next...ok yeah that's creative but the kids aren't doing any "work"...it's basically begging for money and, even worse, flagging your house if you choose not to donate).

OMG that's awful. I've never heard of that before. I'd probably call the police. I'm not scrooge either, but that's just wrong (and blackmail!).

[cvanbrunt]

Even the whole flamingo thing irks me a little (where a flock of pink plastic flamingos "lands" in your yard, and to get rid of them in 24 hrs you have to donate $10, or you can donate $15 to specify which house they "fly" to next...ok yeah that's creative but the kids aren't doing any "work"...it's basically begging for money and, even worse, flagging your house if you choose not to donate).

Shut the front door! People do that? Seriously? I'm a total curmudgeon, admittedly, but that is beyond annoying. I might leave a garbage bag of crushed flamingos for them. Or hold them ransom until they rake my yard.

Flagging your house if you don't pay up? Where do live? Sicily? WTF kind of lesson is that to teach kids? Wow. I'm po'd for you!

[elbenn]

Shut the front door! People do that? Seriously? I'm a total curmudgeon, admittedly, but that is beyond annoying. I might leave a garbage bag of crushed flamingos for them. Or hold them ransom until they rake my yard.

Flagging your house if you don't pay up? Where do live? Sicily? WTF kind of lesson is that to teach kids? Wow. I'm po'd for you!

I've never heard of requiring people who get the flamingos to pay to have them removed, but I have seen fundraisers where people pay money to have flamingos go to someone's house. It is supposed to be a fun surprise and then they remove the flamingos 24 hours later. The person pays to have the flamingos come to the house, but the owner of the house doesn't have to pay to have them removed.

[lizzywednesday]

I've never heard of requiring people who get the flamingos to pay to have them removed, but I have seen fundraisers where people pay money to have flamingos go to someone's house. It is supposed to be a fun surprise and then they remove the flamingos 24 hours later. The person pays to have the flamingos come to the house, but the owner of the house doesn't have to pay to have them removed.

It depends on who does the flocking. And what "rules" they'd like to put in place to get the flock to move.

I have friends who do this in different states - one here in NJ the other does it in WI - and they're usually successful ways to fundraise. HOWEVER, they will typically start with friends and past donors rather than random neighbors.

[twowhat?]

Shut the front door! People do that? Seriously? I'm a total curmudgeon, admittedly, but that is beyond annoying. I might leave a garbage bag of crushed flamingos for them. Or hold them ransom until they rake my yard.

Flagging your house if you don't pay up? Where do live? Sicily? WTF kind of lesson is that to teach kids? Wow. I'm po'd for you!

Whoops I should have worded that differently - I meant that they "flagged" your house by leaving the flamingos in your yard for a few days if you choose not to donate (so everyone knows if you didn't donate since the flamingos stuck around). If you donated, then the flamingos would be removed the next day. But yes...still annoying. The first time it happened I thought it was creative. The second time, I thought about it more and realized that it's annoying and lazy.

[niccig]

I don't do door-to-door sales for anything. If I know the kids, I might buy for their school, but I only do it once. If you get to me 2nd, sorry, I already did it.

[arivecchi]

Shut the front door! People do that? Seriously? I'm a total curmudgeon, admittedly, but that is beyond annoying. I might leave a garbage bag of crushed flamingos for them. Or hold them ransom until they rake my yard.
:ROTFLMAO:

Love this.

[Kungjo]

Even the whole flamingo thing irks me a little (where a flock of pink plastic flamingos "lands" in your yard, and to get rid of them in 24 hrs you have to donate $10, or you can donate $15 to specify which house they "fly" to next...ok yeah that's creative but the kids aren't doing any "work"...it's basically begging for money and, even worse, flagging your house if you choose not to donate).

That would just tick me off. I would end up removing them. They would be in the garbage. I didn't give anyone permission to trespass on my lawn and am not going to be forced to pay money for the removal.

[vonfirmath]

It depends on who does the flocking. And what "rules" they'd like to put in place to get the flock to move.

I have friends who do this in different states - one here in NJ the other does it in WI - and they're usually successful ways to fundraise. HOWEVER, they will typically start with friends and past donors rather than random neighbors.

I've seen a church youth group do this to members of the church. But you can "opt-out" ahead of time by telling them no. (They advertise it ahead of time. We were there for AWANAs and so I saw the advertisements about this upcoming event -- at the time we lived half an hour away. I wondered if they'd really bothering "bird'ing" a house that was not right in the area since most members were RIGHT there.)

[Ms B]

Though where we live it is common on weekends to see kids in team uniforms at busy intersections with a plastic milk jug collecting coins. I hate it!! I'm always scared I'm going to see one of them get hit. :(

I am with you on this, especially when it is a group of kids of varied ages in raggedy band uniforms that appear completely unsupervised. No way is this a legit fundraiser; it's just a bunch of kids who bought some used uniforms at the thrift store and who are begging to get money to spend.

The worst is adults who have a handmade sign that says something like "Help the Homeless" but who cannot identify the particular charity that they are collecting for. Really? Do you think I am that dumb?

That said, I always give something to the firemen when they are out collecting for MDA. The difference is that I know that they are legit: they have fire trucks, which are not usually available to the general public. :)

[AnnieW625]

I will do Campfire candy or Girl Scouts, that is it. I would do Boy Scouts Popcorn it wasn't soo over priced. We have had two kids come by our house in the 7 yrs. we have lived there.