PTA Fundraising Basket - UGH! Ideas anyone?

[Mermanaid]

Our PTA has an annual fundraiser where each grade donates two silent auction baskets. They are usually the SAME type of baskets year over year (and my oldest is only in 2nd grade).

I'd like to do something different. My room parents really want a movie basket so we have that one approved. But, I also submitted a scratch off lottery tix basket. It got nixed though since it's technically gambling. Too bad because every parent I ran into and discussed said how cool that would be.

So ... does anyone else have other ideas (that aren't fun in the sun, game night, bbq kinda things)? Our silent auction is in early Feb so I need to nail this down ASAP so we can solicit parent donations.

[s7714]

Are the baskets supposed to be aimed at adults, families or kid usage? Or any of those?

I've seen Lego baskets do well, but obviously those are kid focused. One teacher I know does a Hello Kitty basket most years, but again that's kid focused.

[BabbyO]

What about entertainment books or coupons, GC's to local businesses. Or I'm thinking of the fundraising cards...

Themes:
Coffee lovers
Through the grape vine (wine - though that may be frowned upon since it has alcohol)
Sewing basket
Pet basket (pet items)
Spices
Regional basket (passes to local museums/sporting events/attractions)

[Mermanaid]

Baskets can be aimed at any audience. We actually did a Lego basket last year and it didn't even sell for the retail value.

I tried for the gift card basket but another grade already took it!

[crl]

Well, I don't know what your usuals are so. . . . Here are some random possibilities, maybe some will be new to you.

Wine basket? A couple of good wines, a good cork screw, some crackers and cheese?

Chocolate basket? Hot chocolate, bars of good chocolate, assorted truffles, chocolate sauce, etc.

Reusables basket? Lunch box and bag, snack bags, grocery bags, microfiber towels, etc

Gift wrap basket? Solid red paper and solid white paper with a variety of curling ribbon colors, nice gift tags, scotch tape, scissors, small assortment of gift bags, in some sort of nice storage container instead of a basket.

Ticket basket? Pairs of tickets to pro or college games, concerts, ballet, opera, etc.

Tools basket? Except a tool box with the basics, screw drivers, hammer, wrenches, tape measure, flashlight

First aid basket? Compete first aid kit.

Take a hike basket: backpack instead of basket, filled with Kleen kanteens, granola bars, guidebooks for local hikes, blister band aids, insect repellent, sunblock, etc

Hope that helps,
Catherine

[arivecchi]

Restaurant basket with gift certificates to different local restaurants?

[justlearning]

Our school doesn't have silent auctions, but DH and I attend other charity events with silent auctions. The baskets that I personally like the most (and bid on) are those that contain gift certificates to restaurants and/or entertainment venues. For example, the one that I most recently won contained certificates for free zoo passes, free roller skating, free game play and buffet at an entertainment place (with arcades, other games), etc.

In most cases, I don't bid on objects (items for the house like quilts, other home decor)--they're usually not my taste. It seems that those always have the least amount of bids, so I think others must agree too. I once won some garden art that I still love, but that happened to match my taste.

The most unusual silent auction item I won was a procedure for getting rid of spider veins. There weren't many bidding for that, though, so I got a great deal.:)

A popular item I see at silent auctions is a session with a photographer and a certain number of prints (or the disc). I also see spa-type services.

ETA that in my experience, silent auctions items rarely go for more than their retail value. (Live auctions items almost always do, but not usually silent auction items.) Is it different at your school? With the movie basket, for example, do parents bid for more than what the movie theater tickets cost? If you're asking parents to donate the items for the basket and it sells for less than that amount, it seems like it'd make more sense to just have the parents donate the $. :) But if you can get restaurants and other places to donate the items (they benefit from getting their name out there), then it doesn't matter if they don't sell for the retail value.

ETA another thing--after having won many different items, I've realized that I personally feel uncomfortable bidding on anything that involves personal contact directly with the donor. For example, I once bid on a housecleaning session but then felt really awkward when a woman with the organization (who doesn't clean houses for a living) showed up to clean my house. I also feel awkward knowing how much I should tip someone who has donated a massage. I also feel uncomfortable if I end up never going back to that person. That's now why I pretty much just stick with restaurants and entertainment venues.

[DietCokeLover]

Trip around the world - ethnic foods basket
Sports team - items from college or pro team close to you
Beauty - mani pedi stuff, lotions, etc
Music - iTunes cards, MP3 player, CDs, gift cards

[baileygirl]

Are you able to get anything donated? At our school, often times the baset is themed around whatever we could get donated. For example, "day with the vet" where someone gets to shadow a vet for a day (basket might also include a stuffed animal, costume, book on pets, etc). Or one year we got a hotel stay with breakfast donated, so it was a "night out on the town" with basket ball tickets, restaurant gift cert, etc. Or maybe you could do a "summer fun package" and get tickets for trampoline place, laser tag, local swimming pools, rock climbing place, etc? I am guessing a lot of those places would donate tickets to it. Otherwise, maybe something for valentine's day? Couples massage, chocolates, gift cert for dinner out? Have the class make something?

[Mommy2Abby]

I didn't read through all of the responses, so apologies if some of these are duplicates, but here are some that have been pretty popular at our school in the past:

- <Your City> Fun Basket - local themed items, such as things from local sports teams, tickets to local events, museums, amusement parks, etc.

- Family Movie Night Basket - dvds/bluerays, popcorn, candy, move theater tickets/passes/giftcards, etc.

- Chocolate or Coffee Lovers Basket - including chocolate, coffee, gift cards to Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, etc.

- Pamper Yourself/Spa Basket - lotions, soaps, spa gift cards, hair products, etc.


We have had a lot of local businesses donate items, too - so definitely worth it to see if you could get a donation or two and then theme the basket around it.

[mytwosons]

IME, you'll get more for a basket if you somehow incorporate something from the kids. Eg: for a food themed basket, add an apron with all of their handprints on it. I've seen aprons, quilts and pottery all incorporating handprints/thumbprints or artwork.

The other "basket" that did REALLY well was beer. It was a giant metal party tub filled with local microbrews.

[psimpson3-5]

What about a movie themed basket? A couple of blue ray dvds, movie tix, microwave popcorn, candy, etc...?

[Aarohismom]

Baking basket. This is what DD's class did.

[logan's mom]

DH won a tailgating basket through a raffle. Instead of a basket everything was placed in one of those cube shaped coolers. There were some football themed disposable serving pieces/cups/plates/forks (from Target). Cracker jacks, and some various candy, fog horns, the markers to decorate car windows with, a little football, and some sauces and seasonings from the local butcher shop. He pretty much just got the raffle ticket because of the cooler.

[cuca_]

I've done a kitchen/baking basket with baking mixes, utensils, cookbooks, handprint aprons and a couple of gift cards to kitchen stores, and a gift card basket. You can't do another gift card basket? I think those usually do really well, and you could coordinate with the other grade to minimize the overlap.

[Mermanaid]

I've done a kitchen/baking basket with baking mixes, utensils, cookbooks, handprint aprons and a couple of gift cards to kitchen stores, and a gift card basket. You can't do another gift card basket? I think those usually do really well, and you could coordinate with the other grade to minimize the overlap.

Unfortunately we can only have one type of basket for each grade. Since parents donate EVERYTHING in the basket (we don't solicit from local businesses) you just don't have any idea of what you are going to get. Typically, a few of the parents get together and buy a "bigger" item or coordinate so that there are not duplicates. For instance, last year on the lego basket a few parents put their $$$ to buy two big sets. That way the basket wasn't all of the small boxes, etc.

Oh, and no alcohol at all. I think it's crazy but it's district policy.

You guys have lots of ideas ... keep them coming!

[missliss55]

For our PTA sponsored Halloween carnival the board put together a medical/first aid basket for our silent auction. It had all the things you would need with kids: bandaids, thermometers, neosporin, humidifier, etc. It was great & very popular.

[hollybloom24]

The two that are always the most popular at our school are:

- Book basket (include a Nook or Kindle, Amazon and B&N gift cards, different classic books for different ages)

- American Girl basket (people go in on a doll, gift cards, outfits, books)

Legos are also very popular and do well.

I won a book and game basket two years ago and it was awesome. It had:
several Ravensburger puzzles, a Rubik's Cube, boxed set of Little House on the Prairie books, Geronimo Stilton books, National Geographic World Atlas, different card games...

Other popular ones are any local sports teams - families who have seasons tickets donate a set of tickets and you add whatever team gear you can find - Tervis tumblers, hats, jerseys, blankets...)

[justlearning]

For those whose schools have these types of silent auction fundraisers, do the baskets usually go for more than their retail price? If so, how much more usually?

I assume that they must go for much more than the amount of $ it cost parents to purchase the items that went into the basket (for those schools whose parents must buy the items) in order to make the process worthwhile, so I'm just curious how successful the silent auctions usually are in raising money for the school (or PTA).

[Binkandabee]

One that seems to do well each year at our silent auction is the hot wheels basket.

[belovedgandp]

Is this an elementary school? Will a majority of the kids funnel to the same middle/high school? We've put together spirit ware and sports items for the middle school for our EOY auction at the elementary school.

I've done completely random baskets that are by color - everything must be "red" say and you get a huge mismatch. More fun if you can do several different colors over the grades. Usually ends up getting bid up and split among several people who want different items.

[crl]

For those whose schools have these types of silent auction fundraisers, do the baskets usually go for more than their retail price? If so, how much more usually?

I assume that they must go for much more than the amount of $ it cost parents to purchase the items that went into the basket (for those schools whose parents must buy the items) in order to make the process worthwhile, so I'm just curious how successful the silent auctions usually are in raising money for the school (or PTA).

I don't actually know--never been involved with the auction (I helped at the carnival). My impression was that it varied a lot. Some things went for over retail, others for under. But at our old school (just moved) a lot of items were donated by merchants. They also encouraged essentially regifting--so if your kid got duplicate gifts at Christmas, donate one to the school, etc.

The really big ticket items tended to be things like the family that owns a cabin in Tahoe and donates a weekend. I don't know if it usually goes for more than what they get in rent or not.

Also at ds' former preschool they did raffles instead of auctions so you bought raffle tickets and then put them in the jars next to the items you were interested in. The totals were more than retail value, I think, but not every item would have necessarily gotten over retail on its own.

I am a big fan of just writing a check and we did a fair bit of that at ds' old school. I volunteered at the carnival because it was fun for the kids as well as a fundraiser. And I volunteered at the book fair because, hey, books. And they made very little on that one because the PTA let every kid pick one book (under $5) for free. We never donated anything to the auction and we never bought anything at fundraisers--just wrote checks.

Catherine

[Mermanaid]

A huge thanks to ALL of you! You have great ideas and some of them even tie into the live auction items. That tie in would make PERFECT sense. :)

I've submitted a list of ideas to my room parents. If you have any other ideas though keep adding here. This could be a good resource for the next person who is looking for ideas.

[Mermanaid]

Is this an elementary school? Will a majority of the kids funnel to the same middle/high school? We've put together spirit ware and sports items for the middle school for our EOY auction at the elementary school.

I've done completely random baskets that are by color - everything must be "red" say and you get a huge mismatch. More fun if you can do several different colors over the grades. Usually ends up getting bid up and split among several people who want different items.

That is a great idea that they already do. In addition to the grade level baskets, they have local businesses donate services, goods, etc. They always have a middle school and high school spirit wear lot to bid on. There are usually a few Scentsy warmers, photography packages, the local gymnastics place donates a few sessions, sometimes there are tix to sporting events, etc.

This is the first year they are adding in a live auction component. Seems as if there were a few items over the last years that have caused silent auction consternation (specifically, a parking spot that is right by the front door). I think they are also going to auction off front row seats to each of the grade level programs, an American Girl doll, etc.

[SnuggleBuggles]

At our live auction, the biggest money maker was raffling off the princial's chair. He gave the kid his chair for the day and took the kid's chair. Went for $500. Not too shabby. Going for slightly less was him offering to deliver pizza to your house.

[crl]

At our live auction, the biggest money maker was raffling off the princial's chair. He gave the kid his chair for the day and took the kid's chair. Went for $500. Not too shabby. Going for slightly less was him offering to deliver pizza to your house.

Our old school auctioned off principal for a day. The kid got to make all the announcements and they usually let him or her do things like let everyone out five minutes early for recess and such.

Catherine

[mom2binsd]

I've helped with our basket raffle, the baskets that do best, ours is the type where you drop numbered tickets that you buy 2 for 1.00, the highest ones were the American girl doll of the year, I pod, money tree, it's a a tree with about 300.00 in cash attached, flat screen tv, night out with gift cards to local places, visa gift card. We collect money from parents and buy the items rather than do class baskets as the class baskets ended up being a collection of not great stuff and everyone much prefers this. We also get big donations from local wells Fargo banker ad state farm agent. How about slociting a local hotel for a free night and a gift card to a nice restaurant close by for a getaway night.

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