Welcome Back Parents! - - - - - A Night of Small Group Backyard Gatherings

It has been so long since we have been together! We want to gather to celebrate our Parent Community and get reacquainted, but we need to do it safely. To do this we are planning a series of Small Group Backyard Gatherings of 20 parents - all on the same night!

Imagine being with 20 parents from your son’s grade in a backyard, reconnecting. Now imagine that there are three backyards per grade. That is 60 parents from your son's grade in three backyards creating community. If we did that for each grade it would be a big party…. but in small groups!!

Here’s how it will work:

Backyard Gatherings of 20 - Outside: The Small Group Backyard Gatherings for each grade will have a maximum of 20 people per backyard. All gatherings will be held outside to facilitate safety during these times of continued Covid concern. If it is cold or there is a light rain you will have to dress accordingly to remain outside. In the event of severe inclement weather each gathering can decide if they wish to adjourn or move inside. We have set the 20-person limit as it is within the maximum number permitted to gather indoors under current Covid restrictions - in the event that the group decides to move inside due to severe inclement weather.

We need Host Volunteers: Each Backyard Gathering will be held at the home of a host family from your son’s grade. These gatherings can only occur if we have enough hosts so we ask you to please consider being a host for other families from your grade. To make it easy, each host will be supplied with a "ready to go" party package. This will include an individually packaged hors d’oeuvres kit for each attendee, soft drinks, dishes, glasses and napkins for twenty people. If you are willing to volunteer to host please indicate that in your registration or send an email asap to tim.j.costigan@gmail.com

Cost: This event is being hosted by the RSGC Parents’ Guild. There is no cost!

Drinks: Soft drinks will be provided. You may bring your own beer or wine with you to the event if you wish. There is an optional red wine and a white wine available for you to purchase when you register. See more details below. These wines have been curated by our wine expert Neil Phillips and there will be tasting notes.

Registration: As this is an RSGC sanctioned event, hosted by the Georgian Parents' Guild, we must adhere to the School's policy that all registrants must be fully vaccinated in order to attend. Once you are registered we will know how many hosts we require for your grade. People will be randomly assigned to a Backyard Gathering with other parents from their grade.

Warning: If the registrations received exceed the number of hosts we have for a given grade then we will first make an appeal for more volunteer hosts from that grade. If we still do not have enough hosts then we will allocate places on a first registered - first assigned basis. So register now! And, in the unlikely event that we receive low registrations in a given grade, we may combine two grades in one Backyard Gathering. In the very unlikely event that a registrant was not allocated to a backyard, then they will be given the option to join a virtual gathering via Zoom.

Night of Event: The event will start at 7:00 pm and end at 9:00 pm. You simply need to show up. The host will already have your hors d’oeuvre package, soft drinks, water, napkins, and any wine that your ordered. Please wear a mask upon your arrival and until you get into the backyard. Once in the backyard you can remove your mask. If you have to go inside to use the washroom or in the event of severe inclement weather we ask that you put your mask back on.

Have Fun: We know this sounds like a lot of guidance and rules; but we are still in cautious times. We wanted to try and set things out so that everyone felt comfortable getting together. The most important thing of course is: Have Fun! We are so excited to see you and reconnect.

The Wine: If you enjoyed our wine sessions last year (or just heard about them) then we highly recommend you choose to add one (or both!) of the optional wines to your event. The wines will be delivered to your host's backyard so you can pick them up there. There will be tasting notes from Neil circulated prior to the event so that you can "be ready" to exchange deep thoughts on the wine with other parents.

From Neil: For the return to in-person gatherings, we decided to celebrate the diversity of the wine world, and provide two intriguing wines for people to share. We guess these will be new discoveries for most of you!

White: 2019 Katalin Iturzaet,a Jokin Aranzabal Harreguy Txakoli, Getariako, Spain - The white comes from Northeast Spain, more specifically the País Vasco region. A specialty of the area and DO Getariako is a wine called Txakoli. It’s a zesty white perfect for back yard socialising, and will go nicely with everything from oysters to white meats. This is a blend of two grape varieties: Hondarribi-Zuri and Hondarribi-Beltza.

Red: 2020 Domaine Plaisance Penavayre, Negret Pounjot, Fronton, France - The red comes from Southwest France, more specifically AOP Fronton. It’s a light, food-friendly red made through natural fermentation. Red fruits and some spice notes, this will drink nicely on a back deck or at the barbie. This is made solely from the rare variety Negret Pounjot.