A mum has been slammed for fundraising for a children’s play set.
We all want to make our kids happy on their birthdays, but one mum took things a little too far when she set up a fundraiser for her son’s birthday present.
A fellow mum shared the stocking story in a personal essay she wrote for parenting website MamaMia, where she went into the details of the ‘odd’ and ‘tactless’ request.
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Revealing that the mum received a fundraiser request for what she thought would be a ‘worthy cause’, she shared that she was shocked after discovering that the request was from a fellow mum fundraising for her four-year-old’s ‘pricey birthday present’ – an outdoor play set.
‘When did fundraising become so self-indulgent and really, plain selfish?’, she raged.
The mum said that the fundraiser post, which had a goal of $500 (around £410) was written from the little boy’s point of view, reading: ‘My birthday is coming up and I would be so excited to play on an outdoor play set. To contribute to my birthday present please donate to the fundraiser.’
She added that the post was alongside an image of the little boy in ‘his well styled and decorated play room, surrounded by toys… expensive toys.’
‘I found this request…quite odd,’ wrote the perturbed mum. ‘To be honest, it seemed more than a little tactless’.
‘Knowing what I do about this Facebook friend and her family, their frequent overseas holidays and what they do professionally, I would not define their financial status as lacking by any stretch of the imagination,’ she continued.
‘So this request for donations to purchase a $500 play set really doesn’t seem to be motivated by financial hardship.’
‘For me, this is where the main problem lies,’ she carried on.
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‘Although fundraising doesn’t always have to be for charities or not for profit organisations, or for those who are going through hardships, it seems bizarre to fundraise for personal gifts,’ she said.
‘Personally, a $500 outdoor play set for a kid whose parents could afford to purchase it themselves isn’t really on the top of my charitable list.’
‘Let’s keep fundraisers for actual causes,’ she pleaded, ‘and if you would like to purchase expensive gifts or would like contributions toward them, set up a gift registry.
‘A fundraiser is not the method for raising un-needed money for unnecessary gifts.’
