We're doing Winter Olympics this year for our carnival. Also have done Fiesta, Technoland, On the Farm, Down by the Ocean, Mardi Gras, Around the World and some more I can't think of.
We're doing 'An Evening at the Theatre'. Our event is pretty formal. We're going to decorate with a 40's type of Broadway theme. Lots of draping fabric, etc. We're thinking of having musical posters like playbills and maybe even having some of our corporate sponsors have playbills. Shoudl be fun!
I was just thinking that if an auction theme was based on the local community, then the event could be called 'going local' or something like that and feature local business events and services as a special feature. Then travel, national discounts and product donations could follow. This would give purpose to the event and the local community takes center stage. I would think it would be easier to get donations locally as well because of the desire to market the local community to the attendees.
Having said that, I just thought of a few even more exciting ideas. A travel theme would be really cool and I am thinking suitcases with travel stickers on them and retro planes and such. Perhaps a safari adventure theme would be pretty exciting too. See if you can auction some plush animals and wear khakis and hats.
Last year our theme was "When we were kids" --- parents were asked to dress from the childhood era. We also asked them to send in childhood school picture and their kids made decorations with the pic. Very cute. We also tied in some of our auction items into this theme. Everyone really seemed to get into it and the kids got a kick out of making decorations for their parents event and hearing about what school was like in their day.