Hello my fellow Halloween lovers! I am so excited to announce that Bal-oween is back again for another year!!

If you don't know me, I am a biology teacher at Balboa High in San Francisco. For the past few years, you all have created an event that my students love and they now look forward to it each year. You give them a day where they can be kids again. They get to show their creative sides, and see their friends (and teachers) all dressed up in their favorite costume! For a school with a 75% low-income household rate, winning money and gift cards has such a huge impact.

This day is much more significant for some of our students than you might realize and thanks to you they get to enjoy themselves! Our students in our moderate/severe Special Ed classroom won the big group prize two years in a row and their teacher used it to take them on a field trip. These parties really are such a joy for our students and our staff. I know not everyone will be out trick-or-treating on Halloween, but everyone deserves to feel like a kid again on October 31st!

So, where will all this money go? Before I give the breakdown, let me say that not a single penny will go to me. Every bit of money raised always goes straight to the kids.

The division of funds will look like this:

$1200 = prizes for best costumes/runner-up costumes for group, pair, and individual costumes

$ 200 = luck-of-the-draw prizes and gift cards to students in costume

$ 150 = decorations, candy for students to trick-or-treat at my door

$ 100 = party for homeroom classroom with the best decorated Halloween-themed door

$ 150 = best teacher costume and one runner up**

** The teacher contest will only happen if donors are okay with it. If even one donor is uncomfortable with teachers competing in their own contest for part of the donated money I will remove that part of the competition and move the money to the student prizes. Also, I will not be a part of the teacher contest, because we all know I'd win and I'd like to give everyone else a chance (jk!)

Thank you so much to everyone who might be able to help us out! My students and I are really looking forward to this party!