School Auction Ideas?

[emma'smom]

I'm co-chairing our school auction this year. It's a small school with a lot of parents who are just happy to pay tuition. We live in a small town. Can anyone think of any original ideas for auction items. We have parents already soliciting the typical restaurant donations.....but can anyone think of anything creative?

 

[shazen]

I'm on the board of a non-profit that does a couple auctions a year for fundraising. A couple items that are always popular at our auctions are the basket of chocolate (a group of people donates a few high-end chocolate items each and it's all put in a nice basket) and the personal chef (someone who cooks well goes to the winner's home and cooks a nice meal for them - you may be able to get some of the ingredients donated as well).

I'm curious what others will say - we can always use new ideas as well!

 

[angiedora]

Our school sounds similar to yours. Just a small private school. We do a yearly basket auction. Each homeroom picks a theme and contributes to a basket. The room Mom then asks the other parents in the classroom to contribute to the themed basket.
The theme may be gardening and come with gift certs to local nurseries, packets of seeds, gardening gloves, etc..
Or maybe a movie basket with blockbuster gift cards, popcorn, candy etc.
One of our most popular baskets was a family game night basket with board games.
Coffee and chocolates basket
College Football team basket with tickets and signed memorabilia
Mom's night off basket with restaurant gift cards and cleaning service gift card
You get the idea. It can be as big as the particular homeroom wants to make it.
With 20 or so homeroom classes we earned over $6000
last year with this fundraiser. We did it silent auction style so the parents really got into it.

 

[froglife]

Our school auction had some really creative items this year that raised a LOT of money. Here are the ones that I can remember:

1. Front row seats for graduation or other special events. Ours is a Catholic school so they had seats for 1st Communion, etc. as well.

2. A sleigh ride with Santa down the main street on the way to school before Christmas.

3. Play hooky with the principal - can't remember exactly what this one was, but something like your child and a couple of his/her friends got to go out with the principal for part of the day to lunch and bowling or something.

4. Wii party at school with one of the favorite teachers.

5. Big concert in the principal's backyard by a local kid's band. Then the principal cooked hot dogs on the grill with all the fixin's.

6. Same as #5 but with a local Irish band popular with the adults and with nicer food.

7. As another DIS member mentioned, we also had the baskets from each class - each class was assigned a different theme.

That's all I can think of at the moment. If I remember some more I'll let you know.

 

[Aliceacc]

Think of any vacation/attraction places that are within a 2 hour drive from you house. (For me, that would include all of NYC, the east end of LI, ski/waterpark/theme parks from the Catskills to the Poconos)

Go online and sollicit any freebies they'll give you. Once you get one, think about hotels/restaurants nearby and see if you can build a package.

 

[rt2dz]

This board has a lot of information on fundraising and a good message board that is really tailored to this type of stuff.

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

Here are a few ideas:

Front row tickets to a school performance...our kids do a 4/5 play every year and it's a big deal!

Front row tickets to graduation.

A "reserved" parking space. We have three of them and they usually sell for $1,000 to $5,000 each! (Parking is always hard to find at school -- particularly for special events!)

One of our teachers donates a "pool party" at her house every year.

We do "class parties..." things like movie in the backyard at somebodies house, bowling party, etc...and charge $30 per head. Parents, siblings and kids are welcome.

Some of our 8th graders donate babysitting.

A couple of our teachers sponsor a "lock in" at school on New Year's Eve and limit it to 20 to 30 kids.

Our school has it's own busses so one of our teachers agrees to be the bus driver (i.e., designated driver) for an "Octoberfest" party that visits some local wineries.

We also have the kids to a special project (with a parent leader) that then becomes the class gift to the auction. Funds from the class projects go specifically for scholarships. We have PreK to 8th grade and the projects have been many things...a handmade quilted wall hanging, a mosiac table top made by the kids and fastened to an iron "couch" table, a wall hanging was done last year by pre-K that was all about wheels (kids made things from wire and clay and it was made into a collage that was beautiful!), garden stepping stones, etc.

Also we "raffle" off free tuition for a year. We have to sell a minimum number of tickets and a set price (usually $150)...it's usually enough to collect double the cost of tuition and the winner is drawn on auction night (but need not be present to win). We also send the raffle entry tickets to grandparents and "special friends" as many grandparents will buy these as a "gift" for their kids.

Hope some of these ideas help!

 

[wlfans]

We had an auction last year. Some things we did.

Principle for a day sold during a live auction.
Silent auction with donations from golf clubs, sporting tickets, garden and business items.
A grab bag section. We had gift cards donated from parents and local business and smaller item(pocket cal or coffee mug) in each bag. One bag out of the Fifty had an ipod, real hot at the time.

Our parents donated a lot. A family had a summer home which they rent out. They gave one week to the school, that alone brought in $1500.
Other parents had season tickets to Yankees and Red Sox. They were donated and raffled off. Cleaning service and landscaping, a play time at Gymboree.

Each class made theme baskets with donation. Raffle tickets for the baskets were then sold.

Do you have a college or university around? They are always willing to give sports related items or tickets. We're located in the same town as Quinnipiac University. We received shirts, book bags and many game tickets for basketball and hockey. Also, they run summer camps and donated tution to the camps. The camp items were done in a live auction. We even had a persian rug donated.

Try to get a hold of parents who their own business or who know someone who does. I know its difficult. We pay for our children's education also, then donate, then we're the ones who turn around and buy the stuff we donate. Try to get outside businesses involved. Do you run a school tournament for basketball or a play? Try to hit up businesses listed in programs.

We sold tickets to our auction night. There was catering and silent and live auction.

 

[holly7347]

Is there much crafting in your area? At DD's school each grade was responsible for putting together a gift for the auction. Her class did scrapbook supplies. Or if there are any crafty parents that want to make something to auction. There were a couple quilts made for our auction as well as some really cute girls dresses.

 

[perkinsrose]

Maid (housekeep/housecleaning service) for a day?

 

[Perditamarie]

Here's what I would bid on:

* child/family membership to the YMCA
* Karate lessons
* paint your own pottery party/certificates
* family movie passes
* family portrait session
* bikes/scooters
* tickets to local production of Nutcracker/Philharmonic etc.

At our school, principal and vice principal for a day is very popular.

I like the idea of family experiences, and am not sure I can take another fund raising basket!!!

 

[Nicoleclaw]

The one that always gets the most tickets put in for out of 150 plus baskets at ours is the lottery tickets!! 20-30 of them stuck in a flower pot on those things that you would put a card in flowers on. So it looks like a flowerpot with flowers made out of lottery tickets. Also, holiday baskets, buy the stuff right after the holiday on clearance.

 

[HerdOHuds]

I went to an art auction at a local school a few years ago and it was really cool. Each class had created a whole class masterpiece. The kids names or art were featured prominantly. The one I remember best was a step stool with each child's thumbprint in different colored paint and their name neatly written below. There was stationary that classes had created, a large framed art piece with a snowman from each child on a snowscape-all out of construction paper, local artists had donated original art. It was really the neatest fundraiser I have seen.

There was also a silent auction for other baskets and smaller items.

Plus the school was decked out in art projects on the way into the auction.