SAPTA's Annual Foodfair, Funfair & Art Exhibition held on 25th September 2009

SAPTA's Food & Funfair cum Children's Day Celebration 2009
A report from Dorcas Ho, SAPTA Organizing Committee, Project Leader

I was in the midst of planning the St Andrew's PTA Annual Foodfair for this year, when Thomas gave me the Magic Date, '25th September' and the bomb.
He wanted this year's Foodfair to coincide with the Children's Day Celebration, a much earlier one, so that the Primary Sixes can get to enjoy their last Children's Day, then quickly settle down, back to their exam preparations.

With that in mind, I'd decided that this 'celebration' must be a Fun and Meaningful one, in every way.
Firstly, their Children's Day Gift from SAPTA- a pack of 7 very simple 'toys and games of yesterday'.
These toys were chosen especially to create bonding time for parents and child.
My intention was to allow the parents to show their kids how these games were played during their time, and to let the children know that toys need not be expensive.
They can be cheap and simple, but yet healthy and still fun too.

Next, the Art Competition- A Go Green, Live Green Art Competition for all levels, optional for the Primary 5 and 6, due to their heavy study workloads and coming exams.
A different theme was given to all level.
I had stressed that all art pieces must be made purely from recycled materials only.
And a letter was sent out to inform the parents that it would be their job to help their kids find the right recycled materials for them to make their art pieces.
Parents were also encouraged to not only help the kids find the materials, but to also spend some more bonding time with their kids, to take this opportunity to teach them about 'Going Green, Living Green' and the need to recycle.

A simple exhibition was put up, on the Foodfair Day itself, with parents invited to come in to view the exhibits.
Many students too were attracted to the corner, some viewed the pieces, like viewing a new toy!
And why not, for some of the pieces were indeed very well done and most interesting.
The results of the winners will soon be announced in one of the Assembly, with book vouchers to be awarded.

So much for a meaningful Children's Day, now for the Fun factor.
To create more fun, I'd decided to throw in a Mini Funfair for this Foodfair.
The 4 Sports PSGs that are under the umbrella of PTA, namely the Rugby PSG, Hockey PSG, Football Club PSG and the Atheletic Club PSG, were invited to help run these games stalls.
These are very active and enthusiastic parents, who took up the challenge immediately.
Meetings were held and games were decided, with the games stall purely to be tended by parents from their own Suport Groups.
Each PSG decided to have 2 games stalls, one outdoor and one under the shade.
The boys were all spoilt for choices that day, with 50 cents for 3 tries and lots of generous free participation goodies and winning prizes to grab in return.

Now, for the Foodfair.
This year, we had encouraged parents to form their own teams, to come in to decorate and run their own stalls.
The respond to this idea was wonderful.
I received many enthusiastic enquiries and even calls to ask if they could 'chope' stalls, way in advance!
We had a very interesting lay out of food this year, that was enough to feed the whole school-
Fried Rice, Fried Noodle, Fried Beehoon, Nasi Lemak, Mee Goreng, Mee Rebus, Mee Siam, Lontong, Pratas, Spaghetti, Hot Dogs, Burgers, Fish and Chips, Chicken Wings, Chicken Curries, Satays, Fisballs, Nuggets, Ice Kachang, Chin Chow, Soya Beancurd, Sea Coconut with Logans, Cakes, Cookies, Brownies, Pies, Tarts, Tib-Bits, Ice Creams, Jellies, Candy Floss, Ice Pops and a stall with Sweets and Snacks from the Sixties and Seventies, and many many more...........
The boys went 'gaga', with so much to try and with everything going so cheap.
Unlike what most parents had thought, food sold during the Foodfair is much cheaper than food sold during the school's recess, as this is one day, when we 'spoil' our boys crazy.
The beautiful and colourful decorations of the stalls, added onto the festive mood and happy boys dancing on open ground to the late Michael Jackson's music, could be seen at the background.

At the end of the day, all parents and kids were tired but happy, except the PE Department, I heard, as by then the TAF Club boys would have more pounds to shed.
I'm encouraged and am glad that many new parents, who had come in to join us for the first time, enjoyed themselves so much, that immediately after the event, they'd already come up to me to indicate that they would like to return next year, either with the same stall or to sell something different!

On behalf of SAPTA, I would like to say A BIG THANK to all the parents who were involved in making this event a wonderful success.

Thank you & God Bless
Dorcas