[Insert Name Here] wanted to organise an event for our Muslim pupils to celebrate Eid-Ul-Fitr. In previous years they had organised a small Eid celebration, just for Muslim pupils with a few snacks, during the school day, but decided that this year they wanted to make it a community event by also inviting their parents, their non-Muslim friends and their parents to come together to celebrate Eid.
The group met to talk about the meaning behind Eid-Ul-Fitr and decided that they wanted the celebration to be about coming together to share food to celebrate the end of Ramadan.
[Insert Name Here] discussed the fact that all food and drink needed to be Halal and worked together to research local halal restaurants. From here they looked at their budget, deciding that they would like food from the restaurant but also needed to budget for decorations; drinks and cakes too and allocated a budget accordingly. Azra recommended a Turkish restaurant that her family use and contacted them to ask if they could help cater for 100 people. They realised that the initial budget of £300 for catering would not be enough, so they asked the head if they could extend their budget using some of the money, they had raised from their stage 1 project at the Christmas Fair. This was agreed, and they extended their food budget to £450, working with the restaurant to come up with a menu, thinking carefully about making sure that there was a selection of food for all tastes. They designed invitations and ordered Eid decorations from Amazon.
On the day of the event, they spent the afternoon decorating the hall, setting up tables thinking carefully about how to arrange seating, they wanted it to have a real community feel so set up tables to seat 12 people, to encourage families to sit together and talk. The event was a huge success, with around 100 people attending, both Muslim and non-Muslim and with people from all over the world – Turkey; Iran; Afghanistan; Romania; Moldova and the UK, sitting together, talking and sharing food. At the end of the event, parents & pupils expressed their gratitude for the event, that they feel part of the Hebburn community and how much it meant to them to be able to celebrate Eid together as a school