Yes, having teachers do something is awesome. Our teacher host a birthday party at the school. We add a pizza, cake, and this year a local ice cream man donated $30 worth of ice cream. There's nothing like the ice cream truck coming to your party.
Dear South Florida,
We got Disney tickets and and are dealing with the $99 deal as well. Our plan is to advertise that there are no black out dates with the certificate which there are with the $99 deal, advertise the fact that you have a whole year to redeem the tickets versus the $99 deal is only until May, and emphasize that the goal of the auction is to raise funds for the school! We have had to remind a few parents that the silent auction is NOT about getting gooddeals but is for raising funds.
Good Luck,
Miami Mom
We live here in South Florida and have gotten the Disney passes for our auction... I've gotten a few people tell us that they wouldn't bid on the Disney tix, though, because they're having a special for Florida residents - $99 pp for 3 days in the parks. It's tough to fight that logic.
We've gotten NO from Legoland, because they only donate to a few Florida counties, which also makes no sense to me since people certainly travel there.
We've gotten no response from Busch Gardens, Universal, and Kennedy Space Center, all of whom have donated in the past.
Our auction is March 4th, and this year has definitely been harder than last year to get donations. I'm not quite in panic mode yet, but I sure am getting close...
Because all of the funds from our silent auction directly impact the teachers in our school, the teachers are more than willing to give up an afternoon for us to auction off. We call them our Teacher Experiences.
For example, this year, each K teacher is taking one child each to Putt Putt, the First Grade teachers are taking the a child and a friend on a bike ride and then out to lunch,the Second Grade teachers are each taking a child to the local Children's Museum, the Third Grade teachers are having a pizza party for the winning child and two friends, the Fourth Grade teachers donated an afternoon of games, then dinner and dessert after school, the Fifth Grade teacher are taking a child to Dinner and a movie. Even the Librarian is in on it donating a trip to the local bookstore to pick out a book. This gave us 25 extra items to auction off and they bring in a TON of money!!
Just some "out of the box" ideas for you!! I hope that this helps!
To also add, plenty of people never use the gift certificates they get for local items either. So you can't argue that either. I've done that myself. That is one reason so many places are able to keep donating as they do because they realize many certificates will never actually be redeemed.
