Children's dance class: How much should i expect to pay?

ok- so i%26#039;m totally new to this, and was blown away by how much this crap costs! it%26#039;s not bad for just the lessons: $35/month for 45 minutes of lessons/week. but then you add the $30 shoes, $55 costumes, recital tickets that we just spent $40 on... it adds up so quickly! is this par for the course with children%26#039;s activities?


i will soon have four children (two due in october). i don%26#039;t think we can afford things like this for 4 children!

Children%26#039;s dance class: How much should i expect to pay?
I agree, it%26#039;s insane, but it%26#039;s also the norm. I dance and my classes are $45 a month per class. In addition one costume alone can be $80 or even more. We must have certain dance shoes that are anywhere between $50-$100 and aren%26#039;t allowed to buy the Payless brand or other ones like that. Then we have to have certain earrings, hair pieces, and makeup come recital time. Tickets for recital are $10 per person and they actually expect the dancers to have to buy tickets to see their own recital (thankfully they don%26#039;t really hold up to that rule). Thank goodness this is my last year dancing. Thankfully my parents are nice enough to pay all my dance expeneses for me, as they do want me to participate in something.
Reply:That is all going to depend on where the dance class is and the owner. My daughter has been in class for a a little over a year but it is good for us. The teacher comes to her daycare once a week and teaches for a hour and we pay $35 a month. Yes, the shoes and stuff are expensive and yes I only have one child but I think that it is worth it in the end. I mean once you buy the shoes, and outfits they should last awhile. As far as the clothes, now you can get them cheaper since Wal-Mart carries them now. I guess all you can do is look and see what you think might be best for your children, because in the long run they might not even what to do that.
Reply:My daughter has been in dance for 2 years now, we pay $45 a month for her to go 1 time a week for an hour each class. Our costumes this year were $110 so you should feel lucky with yours only being $55. We have to buy our kids there page in the recital program which is $80 per page then have to pay $10 per program we want to buy. My daughter is only 5 but has been in it sense she was 3 so we wont take her out she just loves it to much. Oh and we have 3 kids, our little girl is our only girl though the other two are boys
Reply:Par for the course? It sounds on the cheap side to me, I%26#039;m afraid.





You can do things to make it cheaper, though. See if a mum with a slightly bigger child can sell you grown-out-of shoes (and sell your daughter%26#039;s on to another mum when she grows out of them). Offer to help with costume making. Why are the tickets so expensive - is it because of the cost in hiring a venue? Maybe you or someone you know knows about a cheaper one.
Reply:My daughter just began dance classes (ballet/tap) about 3 months ago, we started late in the season. For us it%26#039;s $46/month, every Saturday morning, 1 hr/session. I can%26#039;t remember what I paid for the ballet shoes, I picked them up at Payless. Tap shoes, I think, were $18-$20. The recital/costume fee is $100. (My daughter%26#039;s is June 14th.) Our bonus is that we know the dance studio%26#039;s owner personally, her husband coached my son%26#039;s hockey team a couple of seasons ago. They asked my husband, who works at a printing company, to design the recital programs... and didn%26#039;t charge us for the costume/recital fee this time around. Whew!
Reply:I know what you mean I have been doing ballet since I was 5 and it adds up.


Now the place where I did my ballet when I was younger is a gym aswell so I pay £40 for all the facilities including any lessons I choose to take.
Reply:My daughter goes to a dance school and the cost of everything is around $1,000.00 a year.


That includes:





Tap shoes


ballet shoes


tights


leotards


pictures


costumes


recital fees
Reply:that is so true as for i do dancin..its crazy...bot 10-15 a lesson this is 4 a hr
Reply:as a mother of 4 two girls 16 and 14 and two boys 13 and 10. everything you give them is worth it in the end. sports might lead to scholarship and keep them away from things they should not be doing, music lessons oldest plays the saxophone dance lessons, cheering etc. it might seems like such a sacrifice no and a burden but when they are my kids age they will love and appreciate it all. look here is a paper my daughter wrote for school to prove it and she does every extra activity she can trust me from band to student council class president to field hockey and more they all play a sport or do an extra activity by choice every season.





Here is a paper Courtney Wrote for school:





Courtney





February 4,2007





A Mother like No Other





The person who has influenced my life the most is my Mother. I chose to write about her simply because she has been everything in my life. She is an educated loving Mother, who has basically been a single parent to me and my three siblings for most of our lives. My Mother graduated from Tantasqua Regional High School and further extended her education in college. She holds a degree in Business and a nursing license. She married my Father at the age of twenty-one and had me at the age of twenty-two. My parents divorced when I was three years old. After the divorce there was never once a moment when she didn’t express her love for me or the importance of doing well in school, being involved and seizing opportunities. My Mother is the reason I have achieved so many of my goals in my life so far, such as, doing well in school, class president sophomore and junior year, joining sports teams, and success in music. As I continue to grow up more things are added to my already busy schedule. Without my Mother I wouldn’t be the person I am now. Without her sacrifices of things she wanted or needed I wouldn’t have been able to seize so many opportunities. In order to be present in our lives my Mother would often take lower paying nursing jobs with more flexible schedules. She always made sure she was available whenever we needed her. Whether we needed a ride or just her support and attention she is always there. Now that I am older it is easier for me to see all that she has really done and how it has affected my life. She has taken the time to teach me that the only person responsible for my happiness and success in life is me. She told me that if I truly want something then to go after it. I was told not to let anything or anyone hold me back. I grew up knowing that I could become anything I wanted. Not only did she tell me all of this, she followed through with it. She supports my dream to graduate from High school, go to college, study medicine, become a doctor and help people. No matter what my goal is she is always there supplying support, from the smallest goal of getting a role in a play to the greatest goal of becoming a doctor. Besides all of the facts I mentioned there is something greater that my Mother has taught me. My Mother has and continues to teach me how to love. Everyday of my life I learn something new about being a mother or loving someone. Without my Mother I wouldn’t know what love really is. I do not think I will ever be able to thank her enough for all the support and love she has shown me over the years, and will in all the years to come. I love her and she is without a doubt the biggest influence in my life.





you will find a way to afford it all because that is what parents do I am going through things now like Prom for both girls etc. and you just have faith that God makes it all work out somehow. good luck my sister ha twins they are amazing and fun her kids were two girls 3 and 1 1/2 when she had twins and she survived too!



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