How Often Do You Purchase School Pictures?

I always bought the smallest package each time. Sometimes it was a great pic, others it wasn't but I saved them all.

NEVER. The school pics are tacky & blah. I rather go to a photographer and spend a few bucks more.

Once per year, we get a moderately priced package, around $25.

If they had them more often I would only buy them once per year.

Call me a sucker. I buy the big package every year. And then I alwAys like the spring pictures better...so...yeah those too.
My son is in 5th grade & I've done that every year since K.
So, in 6 years, I guess I've dropped $420 on school pix.
I buy the sports puctures too.
Oh well, people blow more than that on Starbucks or a handbag PER year, so, for me? Worth it.
Just can't pass up
Pictures of my handsome guy! Lol

Our daughters school only does a School photo once year and then a classroom photo once I year. I always purchased the least expensive set, so we could have all of them..

She is now 23, and we every once in a while have pulled them out to look at them.. I use my own on my facebook page. Pretty funny..

I bought school pictures every year, once a year, until this year. The form came home and the cheapest package was $35, and a'la carte was not allowed. I found this to be ridiculous and decided that the kids' $10 baseball photo would be their picture for the year. My boys are in 5th and 7th grades. I'm glad I purchased photos every year up until now and am honestly ticked that the photography company wants to charge so much for 1 usually crappy photo.

TWICE a year now? Oh no no no no!! One picture, in the fall. That's it!

I get the smallest package every year and send one to each grandparent and aunt/uncle. I figure it's another small way to support the school as well.

I am so glad I am not the only one to say NEVER. I used to, but not anymore. I have 3 kids, so it is expensive to buy them, plus then I only get individual shots. I'll use a photographer and get good family and individual pictures. Yes, that will cost more, but the pictures are a million times better.

So I do not buy them at all anymore. I do buy their sports pictures.

It also helps that I have an amazing camera that I have on me almost always, so I have thousands of pictures of my kids.

School, sports, dance, whatever, I only order the SMALLEST package available. That way if I like the pictures I can always order more. And let's face it, we love our kids but some of the pictures are pretty bad :-p

*sigh* I buy them every year. *sigh* I want the pictures and there's never any option for just getting one 5 x 7, you gotta get a "package" and it usually includes a couple 5 x 7s, 3 x 5s and a whole pile of small ones. I put one 5 x 7 in a frame, give a few away to family members and the rest stay in the envelope in which they came. My kids are 16, 12 and 11 so you can imagine how many pictures I have at this point...

*sigh* I wish they'd have an option for just buying one photo.

We do the school photos, once a year, and get a bunch of the wallet sized ones to send out in the Christmas cards. A couple 4x6s or 5x7s and we're set. (The 8 by 10 from last year is still in the envelope! Won't be getting more of those anytime soon unless it's a quality portrait photo or the like.)

I'm surprised that some schools do them twice a year. We just do them in fall and call it good!

I do not ever buy them because I am a professional photographer and I do my own photo's of them all the time. Besides I think the school pictures always turn out terrible and the quality is terrible

I buy only one per year. I buy the basic, least expensive picture.

Unless they are outrageously priced I usually buy them once a year for the individual photo and once for a class photo. I know some schools have gone to two individual shots a year and I think that is too much. I had plans to make albums of their school pictures year by year. If we missed picture day, I always use to try to get a head shot to use in its place. However, it took me til they were in college to have the time to get those albums together, so I would encourage you to date the back of the picture, the school and the teacher! I have a friend that just buys the class photo and takes pictures of her kids herself since some of the school photos are not great. She does the same with sports teams.

I got the cheapest set each year til they hit senior year. Then I bought a bunch.

once a year.. buy a small package cause the pix are usually pretty crappy. our school has 500+ students and the do pix in one day.. so it is like 1 minute per kid.. so they don't take long to make sure the kid is smiling .. is looking at the camera... just point and shoot.. next kid please.

Never. I don't find the prices reasonable and I have to get the picture they take whether I like it or not. Not to mention no family pics or kids all together. Between school pictures, sports pictures, etc - it's a fortune. Instead, I get a professional family session done once every two years.

I'm just like Nervy Girl. We only have one photo per year, and I get what I need to put in Christmas cards to family & godparents. I used to get stuck with an unused 8x10 too until I started buying one of the smallest packages and just adding another sheet of wallets.

Once a year is good; twice a school year (like, Fall and Spring?) is too much! I think 20 years from now as you look at the annual photos, you'll be able to see a difference. I did a slideshow recently for my wife's 40th birthday and we had all her annual school pix, and could see a difference every year. I would also like to add that there is just something nostalgic about the "classic school picture", as opposed to hiring a professional for a locational sitting.

We do because our boys are so small and the changes are still dramatic. Also for us the drama of going to do studio photos is too much. One kid is crying or whining or melting down or or or while the other one is crawling or climbing or or or. Then once you are through the photo taking, you have to pick the ones you want. Just describing it makes me want to drink. Lol. So while the school photos are not the greatest, they are painless. I work to afford just these kinds of extras so the cost doesn't factor in. I hang the 8 x 10s in frame in the hall. Finally while we take plenty of informal photos, I never get them uploaded and printed. I say do what works for your family and don't worry about it.

Nah. My sons' birthdays are exactly 1 month apart, and I get their annual birthday portraits done on the same day (a few days after one's birthday, a few days before the other's birthday). We've always been perfectly happy with the portrait studio at JC Penny's, it's very affordable, there's always coupons, etc. We went YESTERDAY and got an 8x10 of both boys together in one outfit, 2 5x7s of the same pic for grandparents, and a sheet of wallets of our favorite photo of the their individual shots in a different outfit. 4 sheets for $3.99 each. We have that membership which is like $20 for 2 years, so there's no sitting fees. We like 'em, it works for us. Then if we get a wild hair to do a family photo (about once every other year, or if cousins come to town), we can get pics then too (no sitting fee). Otherwise, I just rely on my constant snapshot taking. I keep the little negative the school portrait gives, but I don't buy because the price is too high, but I WILL buy their class photos every year through elementary. Because it's their teacher and little friends....it's sweet.
We do purchase the sports pics too, again, because it's a group shot. I don't bother with individuals because I take tons of those myself, but I always buy a group/team photo. I agree that it's awesome to display one picture until the next year when the new one replaces it and the old one goes in their "school days" photo album. Growing up my cousin and I loved looking at all our parents/uncles/aunts books, and we'll do the same for our kids too.

If they do them 2x, we buy once. It also depends on the packages. It's hit or miss. Last year, the preschool printed x pages and poses and you bought the ones you wanted, mix and match, and returned the rest. I bought more that way than I did this year. It is TBD what I'll get. I chose no fancy business, my pose and my small package. I got pictures at Target for her birthday that I really like, for $16 with all my coupons. My sister and I shifted our kid pictures business from Kiddie Kandids (which closed locally) to Target and have both been happy. So, yeah. I get that pictures are pricey, but $26 for a bare package is a bit much.

There were years we simply returned them with the older kids. One year SS hated his so much, he tore them up. And I can think of one year in 4 in HS when SD actually wanted hers purchased (senior pictures notwithstanding). The difference in my DD between 4 and 5 is not huge. All the other years have been bigger changes. I am curious to see what she looks like at 11 because historically 11 or 12 is about the age where you get a good idea of what they will look like as a young adult. In HS every year can be a completely different kid. And do buy the yearbooks.

I actually feel mostly resentful about school pictures since they are so limited, so rushed, and so expensive.

At our school you get them once a year, in the fall. There ARE spring pictures, but those are for the ones that either missed fall pictures due to illness, or transferred in after fall pictures were taken.

I think the packages are horribly overpriced, so we order the picture CD/email, then go to Costco and make our own copies for way cheaper. Part of the Cd/email is a copyright release.

I buy the smallest package available each fall, then I will purchase the smallest package of spring pictures if they are really good.

I bought school pictures (grades 1 thru 5) every year. Mostly because I thought it would be nice for my kids to have the class photo. I always chose the basic package.

I really see no reason to purchase them. With today's technology even with the most basic digital cameras you can take your own pictures. Also, places like Sears and Walmart, take much better photos at a fraction of the price of the school pics.

I ONLY purchase the school photos, once a year. Just the basic package.
And this is because the photographer is a local, company.
I do not like, purchasing from that national school-picture-taking company. (forget their name). Because, they database your kids' info/photo/name/school, etc. and who knows what they do with that info or how they get rid of their non-purchased accounts. I researched it etc.

Besides, we have enough photos of our kids, that we take ourselves.
I only sign up my kids to take photos once a year per the local photography company that does it at my kids' school. And THAT, is up and up and then goes into their yearbook.

The one done by the national photography company, for schools, are just another getting-parents-to-buy-more-photos type thing. And even if you do not purchase the photo, you have to return the proofs to them. So I don't even sign up my kids for that one. We opt out. And I tell my kids.
There is no point. Except, perhaps it is also a money earning thing for the school... I *think* they might get a percentage of what is sold??? Dunno.

The "spring" photos that are at my kids' school, are NOT for the yearbook. So there is no point in even having my kids sit for that one much less, buying it.

Never. I like the snapshots that I take much better than school photos, and every few years we have professional photos taken.

I buy one individual sheet every year, plus the class photo - I find it a little expensive so I limit my package. I like having it for the kids and I find it fun (and funny) to look back at mine. My daughter likes to trade pictures with her friends also, so it's fun for her to have the exchange size.

We also get professional family portraits every year, with my husband and kids and also the extended family -- grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins. We also take tons of pictures throughout the year.

But my family loves pictures, lots of them, so it never occurred to me not to get the school snap shot. I even help out on picture day getting the kids organized in the gym :)

Never have, not in 10 yrs or better.

I bought the cheapest and made color copies.

I buy every year, even if it's just the 5x7 for the scrap book that is being made. At my son's school if you volunteer to help organize and gather the students you get a small package for free.
1 5.7
2 3.5x5
1 sheet of wallets
Not bad for helping out for one day.

Another bonus for me to buy the pictures - what I can afford at the time is that proceeds benefit the school.

I have two boys in 2 and 5th grade. I bought Kindergarten pictures for my first son and I don't even know where they are.
I have GREAT pictures that I have taken. On the soccer field, at the pumpkin farm, chopping down Christmas trees, playing with his siblings, with my extended family.
I don't waste the money on school pictures since all of the pictures I have are pictures of memories we have made.
L.

I like buying them twice per year.
Every few years we use his school picture for Christmas card postcards to send to family.
You don't have to buy them as often if you don't want to - it won't make you a bad Mom.
My husband likes collecting one of each of the same size photo and keeps them in an album.
You can almost flip through it and 'watch' our son 'grow' as you do it.
Just wait till you get into high school.
The school picture people offer an airbrushing photo finish option to cover zits, blemishes and fly away hair.
You don't have to use it but many like it especially for senior pictures.

I buy the school pics once a year. It honestly never occurred to me to not buy them. We get portraits done every other year and buy packages of the sports pictures too for each season. I'm a sucker for photos I guess. I have a simple album for each kid for the school and team pictures. My mom did the same thing for me and my brother and it worked great. All contained and organized by year. All of the class photos are in there too. Occasionally I get a great school photo and I frame those. My favorites stay in the frame until we get another winner. My daughter's school photo has been crappy for the last couple of years, so I still have one from ages ago displayed. Maybe we'll get lucky this year and have one we can show. School photos aren't really about quality, but it's fun to see the changes each year with the same exact pose.

I purchase one photo CD per year and purchase the year book every other year.