Do you buy school pictures or annuals. (parents, son, grandpa) - Children, problems, school, daycare, behavior, age, teenagers, infants - City-Data Forum

no kudzu · 12-15-2011, 09:31 PM

Our school deals with Lifetouch for school pictures and I usually don't buy them. But this year one girl's
picture was really good so we ordered some wallet sized photos. Well the order was mailed directly to us and it is not what we wanted or ordered. This has really messed up our Christmas plans. They only communicate (within 48 hours by e mail) and I'm not happy.

Last year we were told so few annuals were sold that they probably won't be offered much longer.

I see the significance of high school annuals but not at all for elementary school.- especially with this depressed economy.

What has been your experience with Lifetouch and do you buy school pictures or school annuals?

Hopes · 12-15-2011, 10:27 PM

What are "school annuals?" Do you mean year books?

I always bought the school pictures, the smallest package was all we needed.

Yearbooks weren't available in elementary school though, instead a class picture was included with the school photos.

Whenever yearbooks were available (starting at 5th grade), we bought them.

Never had any problems with Lifetouch.

ohiogirl22 · 12-16-2011, 06:48 AM

We always got 1 8x10 (for us), 2 5x7 (grandparents), and a sheet of wallets (to hand out at school to friends). That was more than enough. I saw people getting 5 8x10s and always wondered how many people really wanted a picture of you that big.

I always got a year book in elementary school, they where paper and like $20. Usually at the end there was some sort of collage. It was only about 15-20 pages long, looked kinda like a magazine.

no kudzu · 12-16-2011, 06:59 AM

Yes annual is what we call year book. I personally like the class picture but I think annual for elementary school is too much. The school makes some money out of the deal too so I guess that is why some schools still do it.

NJGOAT · 12-16-2011, 07:07 AM

We get the yearly pictures, the class picture and the yearbook. The yearly pictures, I think ours are through Lifetouch as well, we have been pretty pleased with and haven't had any issues. They are good enough that we use that as the professional picture for the year as we like to get them done annually. It also helps that the pictures are usually done right around my sons birthday. The class pictures are hit or miss, but it may be something he would want in the future. The yearbook is nice to have as it covers PK-8 in our district and is pretty inexpensive.

Kibbiekat · 12-16-2011, 08:16 AM

Yes, I buy school pictures and year books. The elementary year books are not hard cover and are $20. The school pics weren't taken by Lifetouch (our order was messed up too). It's just one of those things I think would be nice for the kids to have later, and I like to have it to put names with faces too. It is a fundraiser, too and the schools need all the help they can get right now.

smagid · 12-16-2011, 08:42 AM

I have been extremely disappointed with the LifeTouch pictures the last year and the yearbook quality that they put together. This year the school picture was so awful that we had to do a re-take. Re-Take was a million times better. So much of the time they don't take the time to get the child to even smile. Our school does Fall Pictures and then the class picture in the Spring.

I am still waiting for the class picture since they put the wrong grade on it for my daughters class. They have not responded to any of my emails either. Grrr!

Magritte25 · 12-16-2011, 08:48 AM

Ours are through Lifetouch and yes, we buy a set every year. Our school doesn't have yearbooks but if they did, we would buy that as well.

JustJulia · 12-16-2011, 09:27 AM

We usually don't buy school pictures. They are overpriced, and my two younger kids make goofy faces. They don't mean to, but they have not learned how to smile for the camera. My son is invariably grimacing or looking to the side, and my daughter (who is special needs) peels her lips back and looks like she's about to bite. If we want to give pictures, we take them ourselves, or we go to a professional photographer.

We buy yearbooks for all the kids every year.

Pitt Chick · 12-16-2011, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by no kudzu

Yes annual is what we call year book.

Never heard annual used that way... just about flowers!

Anyways... elementary yearbooks are free to anyone who has a school picture taken.
Buying the photo is an option, not required. We usually did not like them, so we went to JCP or someplace else for annual photos.