Each fall my children's daycare hires a local photographer or photography company to take pictures. It's really convenient because it takes out the hassle of commuting somewhere and there is a group discount for the finished pictures.
I rarely get a chance to get my kids professional pictures and when I do, it's really expensive. I also prefer to have the rights free digital album instead of prints which ends up running several hundred dollars. The photographers at the daycare offered the digital album for only $50 for 8 great pictures.