Saturday, February 22, 2025 • 6:00 pm
Updated January 25, 2025: Getting ready for the 28th Annual Party, and oh my we need some joy right about now. Invitations go out imminently!
at the Reformed Church of Highland Park
19 South 2nd Ave., Highland Park, NJ 08904. Parking lot and rear entrance are at 222 Raritan Ave.
Help Us All Stay Healthy
We're doing the party in person! Our local (and awesome) Reformed Church has graciously offered us their space again. It's big and has high ceilings with good ventilation. There's a parking lot, and a "stage" area for the kids! Weather permitting, there's even a front yard.
The past years have brought some serious medical conditions into our "chosen family," and some of us are in fragile states of health. It's more important than ever for us all to help protect each other from infection! We can't exactly require masks, as we'll all be eating delicious things. But we ask that you have the latest updated COVID vaccine, and take a rapid antigen test the day of the party. (Tests will be available at the door if needed.) If you don't yet have your flu shot, please consider getting that too.
Finally, please stay home if you have any contagious illness or symptoms thereof. We want to be able to keep doing this party! If you RSVP and then can't make it due to illness or other crisis, we'll totally try to get a goodie box to you.
Please RSVP so we can know how many treats to make!
Chocolate & Vanilla & More!
Our party has officially been "Chocolate and Vanilla" for several years now, and who knows - we're not exactly married to those limitations! There are always new desserts to explore, new flavor combinations... So if you see a goodie on the table that doesn't seem to fit the profile, don't be nervous! We will make sure there's plenty of chocolate AND vanilla to go around, however many other flavors catch our fancy. Deliciousness, like love, doesn't divide -- it multiplies!
Catered Dinner Is Back!
Last year, we weren't able to host a catered sandwich table, between time constraints and health problems. But we're bringing it back this year! Our plan is to provide falafel, shawarma, and hummus stations from Mamoun's Falafel, and a selection of deli sandwiches as well.
Please let us know on the RSVP form whether you'd like to be included in the FREE catered dinner, and if so, what dietary restrictions we should watch out for on your behalf.
And finally, we are always in need of volunteers to help set up, keep water pitchers full, supervise the kids' play area, and so on. Please let us know if you can help with those! Thanks!
We love you, and we hope you can join us on February 22nd!
The challenges continue, but so do we! 2024 was a very rough year for us with lots of health emergencies and other setbacks. 2025 looks to be even harder in lots of ways, and we're more dedicated than ever to finding ways we can celebrate these connections, reinforce this community we have built, than ever! We're a little slower, a little later sending out invites (sorry!), and a little more in need of extra help to pull it off, than we used to be. But the party persists -- WE persist -- and we hope you come away from the party with your spirits as refilled as we do. We love you all.
Please, please RSVP as soon as you can. I have inherited my family's obsession with providing way more than enough food, but that only goes so far. If we're going to make all the desserts in time, we will need some kind of a headcount. Thanks!
We'll see you soon!
Shirley (and Skyler, and Martin, and Agatha)