This mom nails everything wrong with school ‘spirit week’ during the holidays

As a mom who has a kindergartner now, and it’s coming up on holiday break, I feel this viral post on X about school spirit weeks deep in my soul. And I only have one kid to worry about. His last week of school before the holiday break is this week, and so far we have had Holiday Hat Day, Ugly Christmas Sweater Day, and Kwanzaa Colors Day. The next two days are Hanukkah Colors Day, and then on the last day is Cozy Socks and Flannel Day. While I appreciate they’re being inclusive with all the holidays, it’s just so much.

I found myself using command strips to stick random ornaments and bows on a red sweatshirt for my son at 1 a.m. on Monday before the ugly Christmas sweater day on Tuesday because I forgot. I stole ornaments from our tree and bows from our presents. And I’m one of the lucky ones who actually had these things on hand, and it was for one kid.

“Mariah” shared that she has two kids and nine different dress up days next week. “This is ridiculous,” she said. And then she listed out all the ways this sucks. And surprisingly, it’s not just because it is a giant pain in the you-know-what for parents who are already tapped out and busy around this time of year.

The first reason Mariah shared is that dress-up days “expect families to be able to go out at the drop of a hat and get multiple Christmas character shirts and ugly sweaters at the most expensive time of year.” Second of all, Mariah said, “It’s just another way to alienate kids whose families can’t afford a bunch of extra stuff or the mental load of the extra work.”

“It also assumes EVERYONE in the school celebrates Christmas and creates a whole week out of dressing up for it,” she added. “Most people do celebrate Christmas where I live, but then it’s even more alienating for people that don’t,” Mariah said.

“Have a PJ Day on the last day before break and call it good…please,” she concluded.

She also wanted to add a few disclaimers before she “put it on mute” because of the probably awful comments she received…it is “X” after all.

“‘Just don’t do it’ is a silly response to a kid excited to dress up. I have one kid who doesn’t much care & one who cares a lot & would feel very left out if I said to suck it up,” she said.

“Obviously it’s optional and you can do whatever works for your family,” she added.

She continued, “And to just say ‘buy second hand’ assumes a level of availability not granted to a lot of rural communities.”

“I’m just pointing out that it’s extra work and money when kids want to participate. And how it’s alienating when they want to but can’t afford it,” she said. “Christmas is already a time that highlights financial differences in families and this really magnifies it more.”

Not to be the Grinch who stole holiday spirit week, but like Mariah said, let’s just have a PJ day (or week!) and call it a day.