CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Local districts are trying to keep spirits high by encouraging students to dress up on themed days until the end of the year.
But for some families, buying new items for temporary purposes isn't always feasible or realistic. For parents like Desiree Perez, she wants her children to participate, but with two children those twelve days of Christmas get costly, very quickly. 3NEWS spoke with the principal at Evans Elementary who has some solutions for parents.
"It's like, where do we find not only the time, but the money, resources to get all of these certain items that they want," Perez said.
Desiree Perez is a mother of two CCISD students – fifth grader Audrina and second grader Jonaven.
"When they put specific outlines for children, like children take it very seriously," Perez said. "So when it's specifically saying red and green, like you need to have that red and green, or it breaks their heart."
Perez said following the expenses of Thanksgiving and preparing for the holidays makes it difficult for parents to shell out more money for something temporary.
"I get it, I get the holiday spirit," Perez said. "And we want to all do that. But the resources at this time we think in life have just been insane."
Patricia Mendoza is the principal of George Evans Elementary and said communication is paramount when coordinating events for students.
"Timing is key," Mendoza said. "You want to give parents enough time to plan for these types of events, especially if they are a multi-school aged family household."
Like Desiree, Patricia Mendoza is the mother of a second grader as well.
"I'm a campus principal," Mendoza said. "And you know, you have a lot of different holiday facilities to celebrate, and it does add up. And so to be cost efficient, parents definitely want to reach out to their community resources. Local churches are a great source."
Mendoza feels having extra themed items in class is necessary.
"For instance, we have a jingle bell day," Mendoza said. "And so if a student doesn't come with a jingle bell, we're going to have extra jingle bells so that we can offer so nobody feels left out."
Perez suggests activities that have little cost to parents.
"Maybe even if they didn't do 12 days of it," Perez said. "Maybe if they did three or four days and then the other days like crafts or something that would help."
Perez and Mendoza ended up having the same cost-efficient idea.
"We have a reindeer day," Mendoza said. "So a lot of that is going to be in class where they're making the reindeer headbands, and then they're wearing it, no cost to the parents. It's a fun activity you can do in the classroom, and everybody gets to be involved."
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