Angela’s Events

In my previous silent auction submission, I explained how we go about collecting items for the auction. But besides the collecting things, which takes months to do, there are some other things that we do to make the auction evening a success.

First is to select the date of your auction. We always have our auction on the same night as a home high school basketball game. This way we can get more traffic then the regular auction goers. We also have a barbecue chicken dinner meal at the same time as the auction. We have the elementary kids sell tickets for the dinner several weeks before the event. Our incentive is that each child who sells 10 dinner tickets will receive a free happy meal from McDonalds. That may not sound much to you, but let me tell you…it works! For some reason, waving a happy meal certificate in front of the kids’ noses gets the job done! Not only are you getting the community there for the auction, we also make a nice amount on the dinner. So, in essence, it is a double fundraiser.

We make sure that each item that is in the auction has a bid form to go with it. The bid form is placed directly in front of the item. In order for people to bid on the items, they must first purchase a bidding number. We charge $1.00 for this number. If someone is given the number 7, then anytime they want to bid on the item, they will write down the number 7, and then the amount they would like to purchase the item for. If someone outbids them, they can rebid as often as they would like. Now, if you are planning on doing the auction, please, please, please make sure that you have rules for your bidders. We ran into an incident the first year we had our auction (we really had no idea what we were doing and it was a learning experience). Towards the end of the auction, we had 2 ladies wanting the same item. The one lady had her friends surround the item so the other lady could not get in to rebid. We since have added a rule that if you bid on an item, please place the pen back down (we also had a lady collect all the pens so others could not bid…..pretty sad, huh?). Also the rules stated that once a bid is made, to step away from the item and give others room to bid. It is crazy to have to make such rules for adults. But for some reason it can get pretty heated…..

Of course the messy part is when people try to collect their items and pay for them. Because our first year ended up being a nightmare, we added a rule that once the auction is over, everyone must leave the cafeteria (which is where we hold our auction), and come back at 9:00 to pick up their items. This way we have time to collect all the items that belong to the same person. We categorize the winnings by the bidding numbers and it makes it go much more smoothly. If you do not do this, it can become a madhouse.

So…that is about it! There are details that were not mentioned, but that is the basics. I will warn you….it is a TON of work. But it is such a fun night, that it is well worth it.

    I am all for healthy breakfasts for my kids.  I expect them to eat something hearty before school every morning.  So….what kind of breakfasts do you think we have?  Everyone, besides my husband, enjoy leftovers from dinner from the night before.  My kids favorites are pizza and Chinese.  My favorite is mashed potatoes.  YUMMY!  Now, don’t get me wrong.  My family does eat the normal cereal and pop tarts.  But I do try to push the dinner’s leftovers.  Why?  It sticks with them longer AND I don’t have to throw as many leftovers away.  I really hate wasting food.

Why do I bring this up?  Well, the other day I was talking to a friend and we were talking about breakfast.  I had mentioned that I had eaten mashed potatoes for my breakfast.  The look on her face was priceless!  I didn’t think ANYTHING about potatoes for breakfast, but she thought that it was a horrible choice.  She  said “It just isn’t right!”  However, I strongly disagree!  Who can pass up mashed potatoes for breakfast!

So, if  you want to use up those leftovers, give them to your kids in the morning for breakfast!  It definitely is a better meal than that sugary cereal.  However, some people might think it just isn’t right, like  my friend.  But as I always say “to each their own!”

So….who else eats mashed potatoes for breakfast????

I have mentioned before, that our PTO doesn’t like to do a lot of selling type fundraisers. Some of the fundraisers that we have done or are still doing include Read-a-thons, dinners, the school fair, and the much anticipated Silent Auction. This auction is something that our community looks forward to every year. We have done it for 4 continuous years. But let me tell you….it is a LOT of work. First off, let me start by saying that our school is a K-12 school with a combined enrollment of around 270 students. It is VERY small. We only have a couple businesses in our area, so we have to go out into the surrounding areas to try and get businesses to donate either items or money for our auction. This is a little disappointing, because many businesses will not donate to a school that is not in their district.

I will say, that going from place to place, asking for items, is not one of my best qualities. I am an outgoing personality, but I also am not the type of person to set myself up for rejection. And rejection happens over and over again. I will say it again….rejection happens over and over and over again. But in the end, when you see all the items that your PTO team has collected, it is very satisfying.

We have come to the conclusion, that it tends to be WHO you know and not WHERE you go. This does not always hold true, but many times does. So, if you are going to do a silent auction, the best thing to do first, is hit up the people who work in a place that you would like to donate. We also send letters out to all the students’ parents encouraging them to make their own family basket to donate to the auction. We do not get many donations this way, but it also serves as an advertisement for the auction day. Each elementary classroom also does a themed basket. The teacher picks a theme, and the students bring in items that have to do with that theme. As an incentive for this, the class that has the highest selling basket, gets to keep ALL proceeds of that basket for their OWN classroom.

One of the best things that we do, is send letters to pro sports teams and colleges. You would be surprised who donates….and who does not. We have gotten things from the Browns, the Bengals, Ohio State, Cavaliers, Cincinnati Reds and others. It costs only a stamp to send the letter (and in some cases you need to email them, which cost nothing) and you get nice items that bring in high bids. I like this the best, because I only get rejection through a letter, NOT face to face! It is much better on the ego!

This part of the whole auction process is only a small part of the work. I will do a part 2 of our silent auction in a different post. So, if you are interested in making money for your organization, this is a great way to it. Plus, seeing people having fun as they participate in the donating, is an extra benefit that is well worth all the work!

If you have done a silent auction in the past, how have you gone about collecting items? I would love to hear from you!

I am very active in our school’s PTO. We do not like to do a lot of “selling” type fundraisers. We try to keep it as fun as possible. This year we are adding a used book fair to our fundraiser events. What is this? Well, we will have a book drop-off point, in which people can bring their unwanted books. Over the next few weeks, we will be collecting these books. Then we will be having a used book fair at the end of the school year. All books will go on sale for only 25 cents. This is a great way to recycle books that kids have outgrown, or books that adults have already read and do not wish to keep. All of our proceeds will be used to buy new books for our school’s library. We have never done this before, and do not anticipate making a load of money! But we know we will make some, and we feel wonderful about the fact that it will encourage students to read this summer.

As a PTO we work very hard to give our teachers school supplies that are needed in their classroom that the school itself cannot provide. Did you know that many teachers spend their own money every year in order to purchase things for their classrooms that the school just cannot afford to provide? With our fundraisers we are able to give the teachers an extra $100 a year for supplies, pay for field trips, buy playground equipment, and do special things for the teachers throughout the year to make them feel special.

Have you ever done a fundraiser like this? I would love to hear all about it! Oh…and one more thing….support your PTO!

For some of you, blogging may be second nature. For others, like myself, it is brand new. For instance, this is my first official blog! I must say, I feel like have finally made it to this century. Computers are something that I do not know much about, but little by little am learning. It is sad when your 11 year old knows more about computers (and I mean considerably more) than you. So…here I am. Trying to “get with the times”. I love talking to my friends, messing around on the computer and writing. So blogging seems to be the perfect fit! I can discuss my daily routine, share experiences, and give suggestions. My husband is wonderful, but he may not always appreciate all the details and and discoveries of my life. See…I am a stay at home mom. He does not always find the joy in learning a new way to get stains out of the carpet like I do. But I realize, that there are people who do enjoy, and even get excited about learning about such things.

So, here I am. Doing something fun and new. Maybe it is not as glamorous as some people’s lives, but learning how to blog, and doing it regularly has now become an adventure to me. If you have ever wondered if you should try it, I say GO FOR IT! It is a great way to express yourself and share yourself with others!

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