Christmas Fair a huge success

Our 25th Annual Christmas Fair was an amazing event for the whole family

The return of our annual Christmas Fair was highly anticipated as the best event of the season. Those who joined us on campus over the weekend to sample international foods, shop at vendor tables and celebrate the Christmas holiday with friends were not disappointed!

All morning the lobby was filled with the sounds of Christmas songs as performers took the stage. Staff performed Christmas carols, elementary students, middle school choir and high school choir students sang yuletide songs and student musicians brought their instruments to the stage. Many families took photos with Santa, enjoying a new cultural experience or an annual tradition.

Vendors lined the hallways, offering handmade items, high quality goods and an array of services. Many a happy shopper filled their bags with gifts for Christmas or with treats for themselves! Anyone who has attended our Christmas Fair in the past will recall that the popular international food court is sold out quickly and this year was no different. Though our cafeteria was filled with hand-prepared specialty dishes at the beginning of the day, each and every stall was sold out before the Fair wrapped up.

As always, the day ended with our immensely popular raffle. With prizes donated from scores of sponsors and Qingdao families, excitement was high during the lengthy raffle drawing. Head of School Mr Peek and Principal for Student Well-being Mrs Quernemoen traded off pulling names from the tumble and the Qingdao Dolphin graced the stage with his presence for the last few raffle prizes. The crowd cheered enthusiastically when friends won a prize and everyone waited expectantly for their name to be called.

This mammoth event could not have been the success it was without the participation of our many amazing sponsors. The ISQ-PTO offers heartfelt thanks to those sponsors who donated raffle prizes, helped out with kids games, manned a first aid station and more. The proceeds from the Christmas fair will be used by our PTO to support local special needs school TongXing as well as student service projects and programs.