We are getting very close to our 9th Annual Tricky Tray and Auction. Reservation forms will be going home early this week and will also be posted on our website.

Please keep the prizes coming. We have many great ones, but need more!

We are also in the process of putting together our very popular Live Auction Dinner Party prizes. Would you be interested in hosting one this year? These dinners raise a good deal of money for Clinton School and they are always incredibly fun.

Here is how it works: You come up with a dinner idea, tell us the number of guests you can have, choose a date, and write up a description. We will then auction off seats to your dinner party during our Live Auction.

If you are willing to host a dinner, please contact Cecelia Cancellaro at ccancellaro@verizon.net as soon as possible. We are pasting in some descriptions of past years’ dinners below to give you a sense of what they entail.

We would like to have our list of dinners finalized by January 17th, so please get in touch soon.

Here is a list of last year’s amazing dinner parties:

Dinner Party #1: A Fabulous Italian Feast on Saturday. Hosted by Jackie LaFalce Lahey and Scott Lahey, this authentic Old-World dinner featuring a menu based on Grandma’s mouthwatering recipes, will include an antipasto platter, meatballs and sausage, pasta, and Italian pastries, with accompanying wines. Salud! 10 guests (must be at least 21 years old). Opening bid: $25 per seat

Dinner Party #2: North Carolina Style Barbecue Feast Hosted by the Janay family, Owners of “Woody’s Pig Roasts”, this North Carolina style barbecue feast will celebrate the great culinary offerings of the Old North State. Menu items include pulled pork, baby back ribs, beef brisket, and chicken, along with traditional barbecue sides. Come hungry and be ready to take home leftovers. 8 guests (adults only). Opening bid: $25 per seat

Dinner Party #3: An Elegant Cocktail Party, Saturday, hosted by Principal Patty O’Neill and Leah Gomberg. Wear cocktail attire to this elegant affair which will take place at the home of Leah and David Gomberg. Gourmet hors d’oeuvres and delectable desserts will be paired with wines chosen by Clinton parent and sommelier Scott Lahey. Tunes will be spun by Clinton parent and DJ Jeremy Moss. 10 guests (adults only). Opening bid: $25 per seat

Dinner Party #4: Traditional Seven-Fish Italian Christmas Eve-Style Dinner. Join Liz and Don Salituri at their home for an amazing menu of Italian holiday dishes, including cold seafood salad, mussels in garlic white wine sauce, clams oreganata, shrimp scampi, cod mariechara, and grilled salmon. And wine of course. 10 Guests (adults only). Opening Bid: $25 per seat

Dinner Party #5: Traditional Puerto Rican Dinner, hosted by Rose Rios and Bob Leto. Puerto Rican cuisine is similar to both Spanish, Cuban and Mexican cuisine, but with a unique tasty blend of Spanish, African, Taíno, and American influences. Come enjoy the labors of a true “cocina criolla” in Maplewood. Menu includes tasty appetizers of empanadas made of garlic and lime infused chicken as well as seared tuna on plantains with a micro cilantro salad and chipotle vinaigrette. Main course will consist of seafood paella and a traditional “lechon” (whole pig). Side dishes will include sweet plantains, and white rice with home grown pigeon peas straight from my uncle’s back yard in Puerto Rico. Avocado and “yuatia” salad with olive oil and caper dressing will also be served. Dessert will be a real island delight of caramel flan and guava bread pudding. We’ll also have a sangria fountain. (My white passion fruit sangria recipe is four generations old and is only handed down from mother to daughter!) Buen Provecho! 10 guests (adults only) Opening bid: $25 per seat

Dinner Party #6: A Belizean Dinner. Bring your appetite to the home of Rosanna and Dermal McCrear and enjoy the delicious cuisine of Belize. Menu items include panades, garanaces, relleno, ducunu, potato pone, coconut tart and Belikin Beer directly from Belize. 8 guests (adults only) Opening bid: $25 per seat

Dear Parents,

I’m sure you remember our spectacular Clinton Student Theatre program from last year and probably still have your copy. It took the efforts of not only our amazingly talented graphics team, but also our extremely dedicated advertising volunteers who went out to the community and asked local merchants and businesses to purchase ads so that we had the funds to produce such a wonderful keepsake program.

Maria Peralta is heading up the advertising group again this year and she is looking for volunteers who can help recruit advertisers for this year’s program. She is scheduling a planning meeting within the next week for all those who are interested in this worthwhile endeavor, so if you would like to join her, please get in touch with her as soon as possible at marluper1@gmail.com.

Thank You!

As you know, our 9th Annual Tricky Tray and Auction will be held on Saturday evening, February 11th at the hall in St. Joseph’s Church in Maplewood. Please mark your calendar and save the date. You won’t want to miss this incredibly fun event. Reservation forms will be sent out in early January.

WE ARE NOW COLLECTING PRIZES AND WE NEED YOUR HELP

Please keep us in mind in the wake of all the holidays. Perhaps you got a double of something, or just got something that really isn’t your style… We can use it!

And please remember to let us know if you have services to donate or if you work for a company that might be able to donate an item. If there is a restaurant you frequent, perhaps you can ask them for a gift card donation. If you need our official letter, just let us know and we’ll email it to you.

We have some AWESOME prizes already including tickets for Late Night with David Letterman, tickets for The Daily Show, a Kindle Fire, Walt Disney Park Hopper Passes, and a Woody’s Pig Roast for up to 30 people!

We still need much, much more though so please let us know if you can help. We’d like to have all prizes in hand by mid-January.

Contact Cecelia Cancellaro (ccancellaro@verizon.net/973-763-1730) if you have a prize to donate or if you want to help us put together this event.

Attention Kindergarten Parents!!!

Our intrepid Director of the all-Kindergarten number for the Clinton All-School Revue is seeking assistant directors! The Kindergarten number kicks off the show and is always a crowd pleaser (and adorable)! Rehearsals will be on Mondays after school starting in January. Please contact Kris Stringer at kristringer@yahoo.com or 973-313-1970 if you would like to help out.

Don’t miss our Winter Craft Fair on Saturday, December 3rd. All details can be found in this flyer.

Also, we need some recycled materials to use at this great annual event. We are collecting the following items to re-use for some of our craft projects:

Plastic CD cases, bottle caps (metal, from root beer bottles, beer bottles, etc.), unused holiday or everyday cards (the kind you get in the mail or as gift but you might never use), and pine cones.

If you have any of these items, please send them in to school with your child in a bag/container marked “Craft Fair.”

The Clinton PTA needs volunteers to help organize and run the Winter Craft Fair which takes place at Clinton School on Saturday, December 3rd from 11 — 2 in our school cafeteria. It is a really fun event and we hope some of you will be able to help us.

We need a small group of parents to meet to plan out some fun family-friendly craft activities and then to prepare the materials for the craft fair. On the day of the fair, we need some extra hands to show children how to make the crafts and help with supplies and organization.

Please email Leah Gomberg at ldgomberg@verizon.net if you can help. Our craft fair is a great way to spend some quality time with your children and make some neat gifts for the holidays while supporting the Clinton PTA and its activities.