Riker Hill 2025 Multicultural Night -- Information

The Riker Hill 2025 Multicultural Night is scheduled for Monday May 19, 2025 from 5:30pm-8pm (rain date: Tuesday May 20, 2025). It is a celebration of the diversity of cultures around the world and within our Riker Hill Ramily. The event will consist of three parts.

1. Food and craft tables (family tables) - starts at 5:00pm: Parents and families are encouraged to sign up to set up a table to represent their family’s culture!

Sign ups are on the HSA website until Wed March 12, 2025. Please fill out if you are interested in doing a craft or bringing in food for the event!
Details do not have to be set yet at time of sign up, but can be worked out with the committee co-chair and table lead.
Families representing the same culture will be introduced to each other by the co-chair and asked to coordinate so they display a cohesive table showcasing the culture.
Talk to other Ramily families who would love to show their family’s culture at the event!
Families must be able to bring their own table for the event. Families must stay by their table (or ensure another adult does) and not just leave the craft or food unattended.
The attendance for the event is high. We recommend you prepare approximately 350-400 items to distribute.
Families are encouraged to decorate their tables (and dress to represent their culture) but trifolds are discouraged.
Involve your family! We encourage extended family members (grandparents, aunts, uncles, au pairs, and others) to staff the table and share their culture with the RH Ramily.
Food tables: We would love for you to share your culture’s food. However, to be safe for food allergies, we ask that you stay by the table and only distribute food to children who have the adults present. We will have a 1 page sheet for you to fill out the food ingredients and check off if it contains top allergy items that you will post at your table. Although we will try to get donations of plates and napkins, it is also encouraged that you bring utensils for attendees to pick up at your table. Finally, remember - it’s a bite, not a meal. Please make it bite size so everyone can have a taste of the food you are sharing!
Craft tables: be creative! Bring a craft or an activity that represent your culture. Please keep in mind the activity or craft should be age appropriate, and since it is outdoors, there is not an ability to plug in devices. Finally, demonstrations are ok but performances should not be done at the craft table - meaning that attendees should participate, not just watch the activity you planned.

You can sign up for a table here.

2. Passport to Learning (class tables) -start at 6pm: each Riker Hill class is assigned a country for their class. Each class will learn about that country, its culture and customs, and prepare a trifold on facts about the country.

At the event: at least one class parent will staff the table for their class from 6-6:45pm. It is preferred that there is two parent volunteers. Children who attend the event will pick up a “passport” from the customs check in, and go around to all the countries to learn facts. The class parents will be given some questions to ask children and after they answer correctly, the class parents will give the kids a stamp on their passport.
After the passport is filled, the children can turn their passport in back at the customs area for a prize!
Class parents who cannot make it to the event, please reach out to your class to find an alternate (we can provide a sample email), and email carreywongyu@gmail.com to let her know who is stationed at your class table.

3. Performances - start at 7pm: Performances will be indoors at the big gym. Prior to 6:45pm, the big gym will NOT be opened to performers or audience members. The side doors will open at 6:45pm and performances will promptly start at 7pm.

Sign up for performances on the HSA website by March 12, 2025.
If we receive multiple entries depicting same/similar culture, we will draw a lottery for those entries with Mrs. Benavides. Outcome of the lottery will be final.
We hope to confirm your slot earlier, but will do so no later than March 21, 2025. Please do not begin practice until your entry is confirmed.
Music accompanying the performance must be submitted by April 11, 2025. Instructions will be sent on how to submit in the music.
Dress rehearsal: selected performances will be invited to a dress rehearsal on May 13th at 4:00 pm in the Main gym at Riker Hill Elementary. This will be the only date/time for rehearsal at Riker Hill prior to performance. You will not be allowed to practice/rehearse in the main gym on the day of the event.
There will be a cap of the number of performances, and each performance shall be no more than 2 minutes (120 seconds), to allow for us to have time for introduction and transitions. We urge you to please refrain from asking us for any extra time be it 1 or 2 seconds. We want to be fair and to everyone.
Groups can be minimum 3 and maximum 10 students. Groups will not be given more time for their performance. A diverse mix of different cultures will also be prioritized. A student can perform only in one performance.
The performance can be a dance, song, fashion show or playing an instrument but it has to represent a culture and should be appropriate for elementary school audience. Any performance not signifying a culture will be eliminated.
Please Note: This event is for current Riker Hill Elementary students only. Please do not include siblings or friends who are currently not studying at RHE.

You can sign up for a performance here.

FAQs:

Does the food for the food tables have to be nut free or pork free? Riker Hill is an allergy aware school. We do not have food restrictions but we will be distributing an ingredients/allergy sheet that you must fill out and display at your table. We also ask that someone stays at the table when distributing food. This way if questions come up about allergies, you can answer.
How much food is the right amount? Due to the expectation of high number of attendees, we encourage bite size food, around 400 count. It’s a bite, not a meal. Pizza will also be served at the event.
Does the tables brought for food/craft have to be a certain size? No restriction on size, but you will need to bring your own table.
Will I have time to be stationed at a table if I sign up also for performances? Table events will happen until 6:45. At the same time, doors for performances won’t open until 6:45 and will start at 7pm in the gym. Although some parent or class tables are welcome to continue outside, anyone who wishes to move to the indoor performance event should have enough time to do so. If your child is selected for a performance, we can also work with the co-chairs to put your child’s performance a bit later if you need time to wrap up the table. Alternatively, having a co-class parent or other families help you with the table can free you up to prepare for performances.
Can you put me in touch with others who are interested in doing a food/craft table representing the same country, to make sure we coordinate and aren’t serving the same food? Yes!! We ask anyone interested to fill out the form on the HSA website and we will be reviewing and coordinating, one of which is to put parents who represent the same culture in touch with one another. In the past, the parents also started a Whatsapp group to help coordinate. The cochairs will communicate with the table lead but not the entire group.
The dance performance I’m planning is 3:30 min long, is that ok? No. We are asking all performances to be limited to 2 minutes (120 seconds) in order to have time for everyone.
Will the event will be outdoor or indoor? The table part of the event will be outdoor, as in previous years. However, the performances portion indoor to the gym to have us be able to use the stage. The indoor portion will open at 6:45.
How and when should we send the music of the dance show? Selected performances need to upload their music by the deadline shown above. Instructions will be sent to the lead parents of the performers selected..
Is it ok that my show includes some students from Riker Hill and some from other elementary schools in Livingston? Other schools host their own multicultural night event, so we ask that performers are limited to those who are current students at Riker Hill.
How can I volunteer? First, if you are open to leading a table (food/craft) or a performance to represent your culture, please sign up! Second, class parents are always looking for volunteers to help with the class “passport” tables, so reach out to your class parent or carreywongyu@gmail.com to see if help is needed. Finally, we have a number of volunteer tasks for general volunteers, so reach out to carreywongyu@gmail.com to be a general volunteer on the night of the event.
NOTE: We also welcome RH alumni (middle school/high school students) to come help!