Hi Everyone! I was recently asked to put together a basket for a silent auction. I was wondering if any of you go to these and what type of baskets you bid on? I am trying to come up with some ideas to make one but would like to make one that would bring in quite a few bids. I do not have much for cash to spend on items for it but want to put together one that would bring in quite a bit of good sized bids. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Those are all great ideas ladies! I will have to narrow down my choices here soon and get going on it! My daughter is part of the NE MPLS Royalty program and we are hosting a Spaghetti Dinner at the St. Anthony Community center on November 18th. We will also be doing a silent auction and all 8 of our girls' families have to put one together for it. Thank you again for your help! You ladies rock!
Spa basket are always good in my book. You can go to a dollar store and pick up a few differnt fun ideas for it. You could also go to a Sally's and get stuff they have pretty creep stuff and don't forget the famious Target cleanence. Use a old Easter basket and you are set
Good Luck
Stampbooking and scrapbooking stuff, homemade cards, kids craft supplies, gardening themes, a cute idea is a home movie kit with micropopcorn, candy movie tickets or a movie, bath/home spa products..............
Depending on your market, I find that the children's themed baskets go over very well. For example all Barbie, all superhero, princess, pirates, that sort of thing. There are always several parents or grandparents that think, "Oh my ... absolutely LOVES pirates etc. I MUST get that for him.
Have fun with it.
Your choices will really depend on what the silent auction is for - who benefits? who attends? I have done many silent auction baskets, filling them with Usborne Books, since I am a consultant. If you know someone who is a consultant with an at-home company, you may want to ask if they would like to help. I know I would be happy to help build a basket, since it will help me with exposure for my business! You could find your Avon, Mary Kay, Discovery Toys, Tastefully Simple, etc, etc. representatives, and offer to "round out" their donation with something complementary - For my book baskets, I have done gardening books, along with kid-size gardening gloves, a small shovel, seed packets, etc. Think of things for the season we are in, and check with those direct-selling gals!
I think it depends on who you are targeting. If it were moms I would think house cleaning or babysitting might be good. If it were business men I would call some golf courses and see if they would donate a round of golf for you to auction off in your basket. Good luck!
A Spa basket would be great. I do sell this type of product, but you can also put together something fun yourself.
Things with alcohol sell well. You could put BBQ items, fishing stuff, home cooking utensils or cookbooks, dollar bills, certificate for Sears, Cub/Rainbow, Simon home delivery. The options are endless. Good luck!
S.,
Generally these are for fund raisers - hoping that much more money can be generated by the auction than by donating cash. If you just buy stuff to put in the basket, you will be lucky to break even. You might as well just make a donation. We do these at our school and church and the only way to really make it work is to go to vendors and employees of the local businesses and get donations of goods and services for the basket.
Since Target HQ is right there it is a prime opportunity to get things from them and their vendors. Most businesses will make donations to nonprofits for things like this. You can also go to local hair salons, spas, etc. and ask for a coupon for free services. Local restaurants are also very good about giving out free coupons. Also try kid friendly places like "Pump It Up."
If you can't get a donation from a business, someone who works for the company could get a huge discount. Ex. - Someone who works for Microsoft can purchase software for 10% of retail price in a situation like this.
Both our church and school have raised thousands of dollars in one silent auction by doing this - and the only thing to pay for is the gas and the thank you cards.
Best of luck,
S.
My husband did this last year for work place. The basket we put together was all chocolate themed. We went to World Market, Byerly's and Kowalski's and bought high end chocolate bars (dark and milk chocolate) hot coco mix, and some other fancy type chocolates. Also at one of the stores, we found some "hot chocolate" mugs.
Also, I went to a silent a few years back and bid on an all Aveda basket. It was an awesome basket that had so much of everything in there. It went too high, so I had to quit bidding, but definitely brought in a lot of $$$$$$
A movie basket would be a good idea. You can always find good priced dvd's, throw in some candy, popcorn, even a throw blanket. I've seen them before at silent auctions. Another idea could be a newborn baby basket- most people know someone that is having a baby sometime soon. You can always find pretty cheap baby stuff. Good Luck!
Try a goodie basket with cookies/brownies/nuts and other snacks. If you make the cookies and treats yourself it isn't too expensive and everyone loves treats so I think the basket would be a hit. Another option would be to make homemade breads and/or muffins. Goodluck.
If you have the time, call around and see if you get anyone to donate items...Large companies or golf courses, hair salons, etc. love PR and they will only ask that you put their name somewhere on the package.
Who are you targeting? Scrapbooking baskets go over great, Archivers has clearance stuff all the time, or Michaels or Joanne Fabrics has low price itmes, jsut pick up some paper, a scissors or two, stickers, pens, etc.
Food items
Alcohol- or drink mixes
Wine/cheese
movie tickets
Barnes and Noble gift certificate w/a bottle of wine
Cleaning supplies (name brand items)
Another hot item are those USB sticks, if its for men, who wouldnt love a basket full of computer related items.
Get creative, you may even have things at home that are new and unused that you can put in the basket. You dont always have to spend a lot of money.
We do this yearly at work and the Luxury basket always sells for the highest. Unfortuneately, it is usually the most expensive to put together. Champagne, chocolate, gourmet coffee, spa items. Home Goods often has clearance prices on Godiva chocolate and cocoa and stuff like that. I've been to health fairs that have donated full size bottles of aveda which are really popular, maybe follow up on donations? Good Luck.
I just finished an auction last week. Some great items that went were a dress up trunk (an old trunk spray painted pink with some hideous sequin dresses, princess shoes from costco and a tiara and a few Boas, it went for $175 at a moderate auction - not super high end). We made a one of a kind art peice from a canvas and the kids hand prints for the charity we were supporting, depending on your charity might depend on if you can do this. It cost us about $20 for the canvas and supplies and it went for $190. We had a baby and mom bonanza basket and it was a bunch of friends of mine that all seemed to have one or 2 girl outfits with tags on them (under 12 mos) and we threw them together a mary kay rep gave us some lotions for mom and I think we had a candle in there too. It did nto cost us anything since we got the clothes (new with tags) donated from friends. I think it went for $160.
Maybe those ideas might help.
I'd suggest going with a theme basket. Get creative, use things you may already have on hand for "emergency" gifts (lotions, candles, etc). Also, shop the clearance rack at your favorite store. I recently put together a Martini-themed basket from Pier One. I found most of the items on clearance & spent $25. A friend added a bottle of Absolut & it was the most bid on silent auction item at the event!
Good luck!
