Use Baskets as Auction Items and Wrap Up More Profits

By Claire Murad | April 7, 2014

Offering baskets as auction items is a great money generator. Pick a theme for your basket and send a note or email home to each child’s family at school asking for donations for the basket. If you are working with a nonprofit, ask the committee members or board members to donate. I was the “Basket Mom” for my child’s class a few years ago, and chose Summer Fun by the Pool for my basket. I went to a local store and registered for the items for my

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basket. I chose a large bucket for icing down drinks as the container, pool toys, margarita glasses and pitcher, flip flops, towels and table mats. The store gave each parent 10% off when they called in to purchase an item. The parent could shop online or go into the store. Most parents just called in and ordered the item from the list I emailed them. The store held all of my items until everything was purchased. One of the most important things to remember is to leave the price tag on the items for inventory and basket pricing purposes. Each basket should be attractively wrapped and have a tag attached with a list of all of the items in the basket. This is extremely important since it is often hard to see everything inside the basket and the list of items is often too long for the bid sheet. If you are going to sell the basket in an online auction or using a phone or computerized bidding system, take a picture of the basket before you wrap the basket so it can be more easily viewed. Please share your pictures and ideas for class baskets by commenting on our blog. In addition, see the many pictures of baskets on our Pintrest.