What is Spruce Experience?
The Spruce Experience puts the FUN in fundraiser! It’s a list of parties and events that our Spruce Street families generously offer to host and sponsor throughout the school year. Spruce Street families pay to attend the parties, and ALL the proceeds go to help Spruce Street make a difference in your kids' education. All costs of the events are incurred by the hosting family or families. Plus, in some cases, it can also be an excellent opportunity to meet other Spruce families and students!

Hang on. Attend? Meet? What about social distancing?
Well, that's where we need even more creativity than previous years.
First: there are plenty of fun events that can be organised as a zoom-mediated get together. Think of a magician's show. Or a comedy club. Or an interactive jazz band. A cooking class or wine tasting. Trivia night. A college counseling course. Puppet shows or dance parties for the kids. There are so many possibilities!
Second: think ahead. It's chilly now, but it will be warmer in the spring. And outdoor events (a picnic? a run? birdwatching in Central Park? an architecture walking tour?) could then be safely managed in COVID times with distance and masks. If there's something we have learned throughout these challenging times, it's to be creative and resourceful!

OK, got it. But where do the proceeds go?
To the Spruce Street PTA, of course. That is, to the school. Spruce Street PTA's efforts each year ensure that our school has the resources needed to fund essential school programs that are not part of the DOE budget (which, as you may already know, is a sadly shrinking one). This includes modern instructional technologies, professional development for teachers, NDI, Chess, our library, and much more. While it’s hard to realize the necessity of many of these funds due to programming being halted this year, it’s always important to think ahead.

Who are the parties for?
All students, parents and families of Spruce Street School. It depends on what you choose to host: some parties will be more family-oriented, some will be more for kids, other for adults (please don't plan a wine tasting for elementary school students).

Sounds fun! I want to host a party, what next?
Awesome! We need you to make the Spruce Experience a success and we welcome all ideas! Please e-mail the Spruce Experience Committee at sprucestreetpartybook@gmail.com and let us know what you have in mind. Dates and times are completely up to you.

Wait a second. I said I want to host a party, but I don't really know how. Especially not with Covid-19 and all.
Barely an inconvenience. Let's get in touch and figure out together what could be fun and feasible. We have a long list of ideas and projects that can be adopted by motivated families. With a little organization, there's so much that can be done! Think of it this way: instead of hosting an event in your home, you will bring the event to the participants! Depending on the event, this may involve delivering bags of ingredients, wines (and cheeses?), or materials for an art project to your guests. Let's say you host a book club event, for example. You may choose to send each guest a copy of the book in advance, then deliver a goody bag of your choice for the day of the event: wine and snacks? a box of tea and cookies? depends on the book, sure, and on the taste of the host - that's you. Of course this is some extra work. But think of this: on the plus side, no clean up after the event!

Do I have to host a party alone? I have a great idea but it's too much work / too expensive.
Not at all. While we can't promise to help with the practicalities, nor finance an event (the whole point of this being that Spruce families run the show and that the event funds the school through the PTA, not the other way round) we have seen in the past that the easiest way to sort this out is to involve another family, either to help with the organization or to co-sponsor the event. Still - if you need vendor contacts, ideas, suggestions on how to make things feasible, you can definitely count on us.

We hope to see you soon for all sorts of amazing Spruce Experience events!