Boutique to kick off holiday season

November 7, 2011 — by Sanj Nalwa and Edward Dong

9 a.m., Dec. 3. Some students will be spending the morning in a cramped classroom, taking the SAT. Others may be enjoying their day at Christmas in the Park, a holiday-themed extravaganza in downtown San Jose. And still others will be relaxing at the school-sponsored Holiday Boutique, shopping for unique Christmas gifts with their friends as holiday music plays in the background.

9 a.m., Dec. 3. Some students will be spending the morning in a cramped classroom, taking the SAT. Others may be enjoying their day at Christmas in the Park, a holiday-themed extravaganza in downtown San Jose. And still others will be relaxing at the school-sponsored Holiday Boutique, shopping for unique Christmas gifts with their friends as holiday music plays in the background.

At the Holiday Boutique, an annual fundraiser, dozens of vendors come to the school and Thermond Drama Center to sell their holiday-oriented wares. This year, the boutique will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Products will include plenty of gift options, such as jewelry, chocolates, toffees, poinsettias, hair accessories, African baskets and other crafts.

“[Last year], there were lots of different types of vendors,” chemistry teacher Jill McCrystal said. “There were people making quilts, cards, candles and wood products like bowls and plates. Just all sorts of different things you could give as gifts.”

The quality of the products impressed McCrystal.

“I bought quite a few Christmas presents,” McCrystal said. “They had a woman who made cards that were all cut out by her. They were sort of like 3-dimensional cards and they were gorgeous.”

McCrystal also had a table at the boutique last year, where she sold gemstone jewelry. Although she felt that there was a reasonable number of customers, she would have liked “to see more there, since it’s supporting the school,” she said.

This year’s proceeds will support the senior class.

Started four years ago, the boutique originally contributed to Sports Boosters. However, when the class of 2012 took over the fundraiser last year, it became a way to support the junior class, and now the senior class. This year, the boutique will help fund events such as the Senior Ball and Senior Beach Day.

Like McCrystal, principal’s secretary Susan Dini sold jewelry at the boutique last year. Dini also helps organize the event.

“We contacted [past vendors] by posting on eBay and Craigslist,” Dini said. “I’m also helping for [a boutique] at Pioneer [High], so when the vendors contact me for the boutique at Pioneer, I ask them, ‘Well, why don’t you come to the boutique at Saratoga?’”

Vendors must pay a fee to set up shop at the Holiday Boutique. Last year, the class of 2012 raised over $2,000.

“It’s a pretty good fundraiser. You usually get a couple thousand out of it,” senior Mac Hyde said. Hyde, who helped organize the event in 2010, hopes more students and their families will come to enjoy the boutique this year.

Both McCrystal and Dini plan to participate in the Holiday Boutique again.

“It really gets you in the holiday spirit,” Dini said.

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