Hi Everyone...

My daughters school is having a fundraiser in March. I am helping the main person in charge of it. I have been going to local businesses & giving them the flyer to donate.

It is called a Basket Bash. Basically you donate a themed basket of items or a door prize or a big prize.

So far I've had Wendy's give me frosty coupons, & some movie tickets & all small stuff...My daughter's school is a private school. So we aren't funded like public schools. We are non-profit.

I'm donating one of the 75% off roasters I got, we are going to pair it with a grocery gift card (if we get one)..we were thinking it as a Easter item...I'm also donating one of the Dirt Devils I got 75% off. If we get a Merry Maids gc we are going to pair it with that.

Please if you have any ideas...Feel free to share! If you ever did a Basket Bash...Please share! We are tyring to build our kids a new playground & remodel the school.

TIA
~Christy

My kids used to go to a private school and they did baskets one year. They had each class do a themed basket and parents donated items to go into the basket and then they auctioned them off at the carnival they had.
They had a gardening basket, movie basket, etc. It was really cute.

My kids school does a basket raffle at their Spring Fling. They have each class donate a basket. The room mom picks a theme and asks parents to donate items that go with the theme or money so she can buy the items.

Some of the most popular ones were the 'gift card trees'. Basically, you take a plant and stick a bunch of gift cards in it. Each parent in the class donates a gift card. Some have a theme (necessities -- Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, Publix, Walgreens, etc. / eating out -- restaurants, Starbucks, etc. / kids fun -- ice cream places, roller rink, inflatables place, putt putt place, etc.)

Sarah.........mom to Jason & Devin

Our school has done the same thing. Each class donates a basket and each parent donates something to the basket. We've had local college basket theme (KU & K-State), restaraunt baskets, date-night baskets, girls games, girls toys, boys games, boys toys, KC Chiefs theme, craft theme, scrapbooking, Italian food theme, BBQ theme, candles, aromatherpy...there's a lot more but that's all I can think of right now.

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

Some baskets that I've seen at my boys' schools (and they may be repeats of other posts here...):


Golf
Candles
Movie Night
Hunting
Camping
Family Board Games
Alabama/Auburn (local collegiate baskets)
Coffee
Scrapbooking
Cooking/Kitchen
Wine
Book Lovers
Spa
Beach Items

Also, you can hit up local vacation spots (we always asked the condos at Gulf Shores and the casinos in Biloxi) and see if they will donate a one or two night stay. Museums might also be a good spot to try. I had some luck getting donations from some of the small, boutique type stores in my area as well.

We once had a "basket" in a wheelbarrow. Maybe from Home Depot?

Also, if you want something bigger to auction you could always hit up local furniture stores. You never know!

Something you'll want to have handy is a letter on your school letterhead to provide to the businesses that you visit. Type up several requests because they may have to be passed along to higher management to be okayed.

Good luck, it is a daunting task for sure! I hope it goes well for your school!

I've always found the easiest way to get donations is to start with businesses you use and then get out the phone book and start calling area businesses; I have found very few in this area that will turn you down. We always get lots of donations from area golf courses, restaurants, tourist attractions, museums/parks giving yearly memberships, etc.

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I dream to escape!

Me three or four on the classes collecting items for a basket based on an assigned theme. Typically, the room mothers are tasked with gathering and preparing the baskets. The one year that I did it I got an icky theme though. Music. Fortunately, I had a groovy purple clock radio thing that I'd picked up at a 75%off Target sale to fill the bottom of the basket. Yeah, Target!

But you definitely have to push it out to other people and can't take it all on yourself. You might want to assign the baskets and look for additional donations to help bring them together....especially of gift cards and tickets, that can be attached to wrapped basket.

For our spring fling, except for the baskets that had Red Sox tickets and other high value items, the key was to have baskets that the kids thought were really neat and would beg their parents to buy tickets for.

Public schools don't have funds for this kind of thing either, FWIW.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

It's not a basket, but in addition to baskets at the auction, our elementary school would auction lunch with the teacher. Parents could bid on the child's chance to have a private lunch with their teacher, like in the classroom when the other kids were in the cafeteria. It cost nothing and raised quite a bit of money, I think.

You've had a lot of great suggestions here. One thing I wanted to add is if you have a Dollar Tree close by they have all sorts of supplies to finish off the basket to make them look more professional. They have shrink wrap bags, that include a bow for $1, they also have the different colored shredded paper fillers for $1 a bag. You just use a hair drier with the shrink wrap bags, they really help pull the basket together.

One of my favorite basket theme is movie night ( has been already mentioned above). We take a popcorn bucket, fill it with movie sized candies, microwave popcorn and a GC for movie rentals. You could go as elaborate with this as you like, add drinks, more snacks, etc. We do these for teachers gifts and I do quite a few ( three kids ) so I don't go too big with them. They're always well received though. Here's a few done up so you can see the bags and paper I'm talking about. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...MovieNight.jpg

Another basket we do is a car care basket, use a car wash bucket. Fill the middle with a roll of shop cloths ( or paper towels ) add stuff to detail or take care of their car and then add a GC for a car wash or a GC for gas ..., use a fun air freshner for a tag frilled up with a bow.

At our school, they also do one basket per homeroom. I think the most popular baskets were the toy basket, crafts basket, food baskets, Mom's spa basket, and the golf baskets. Everyone in the class was supposed to send in one or two things for that class's basket. The beauty in this, is that each family can decide how much, or how little they can spend on that item-from a $1 store spatula, to a gourmet whatever. Some of the stuff that was donated from businesses went into the baskets, if it fit the theme, and the rest of the stuff donated by merchants was sold by silent auction. It was a really fun night. Our basket night was coordinated w/ the ice cream sundae party-a local ice cream shop donated the ice cream, and each family could buy tickets before hand. It was a very popular night.

oh, I use to do fund raising professionally...
Local limo companies, Hotels, larger corp give more!
Once you have say, Hampton Inn offering free weekend, call the Holiday inn and tell them the Hampton Inn is donating XXX and ask if they would like to as well!!! Always ask for the Sales Department. They are the one who is looking for new business and spreading good cheer. That way, they can ask the big boss, and get back!!!!!!
Always worked for me!! Best of Luck
oh, even Taco bell, Macdonald's do too! Ask EVERY CORP!

We also do a silent auction with baskets. Each class is given a theme and the parents are asked to donate to the basket. The room parent then puts the basket together. Our baskets list the items inside and the retail value. So if you paid $5 for the roaster on clearance you would still list it at the original price. Also use clear wrap on the baskets so people can see inside. We have a prize for the class with the most original basket. We have had some very cute ideas. One parent built a bookshelf for the I love to read basket. I had a summer theme and put in all on a boogie board. So everything doesn't really need to be in a "basket". Also we have found that once a basket it worth more then $200 it doesn't really increase how much people will bid on it. So we will break it down into 2 or 3 baskets. We end up making more money that way. Also the people in charge get donations from businesses and either make basket with those donations or add to a basket from one of the classes. Here are some of our basket themes,
King for a Day
Queen for a day
Everything Disney
Scooby Doo
Match Box Cars
Barbies
Movie Night
Office Supplies
Lets stay healthy
Camping
Sports
Game night
Pajama Party
Candles
Chocolate
Coffee
Pamperd Pets
Gardening
Good luck,

Our school does this, as well, and we have a whole "Family Fun Day" around it, including a silent auction with the baskets. Each class does a basket, just like a lot of the other posters, as well as having a lot of various other items up for auction. Hotels, teeth whitening, local pools, restaurants, movie theaters, golf courses, massages, ballet, childrens' theater, etc. will donate. We've had great success and raised TONS of money! We'll pair things like a night at a hotel with a nice dinner to up the value of the item. We also found that the younger classroom baskets with the kids helping went for more money. I won the kindergarten "basket" when my son was in kindergarten and I think it cost me around $200. It was a wooden trunk purchased from a craft store (I think Michaels). I was helping in the classroom and actually painted it blue. Then the kids all used their first three fingers dipped in green paint around the bottom of the trunk and used that as grass. We then painted a tree and used their thumbs as the leaves. The kids all wrote their names on the back of the truck and we put a tiger on the front (our school mascot is the tiger). The thing that made it so great was the personalization). In first grade, my son's classroom did a flower theme and painted some large flower pots, using their thumbs to make ladybugs. My mom is a bit of an artist, so she embellished the pots after the kids did their stuff. That "basket" went for $360 (I finally quit bidding at $300). The kids all also wrote a story and the teacher put it together in a binder for that basket. There was a boy whose story was about how much he loved his mom. She was the one who won. I think personalization and lots of donations is the key.

Good luck!

We also do "Principal for the Day" and "Lunchperson for the Day" (the kid gets to plan the menu and help serve AND their homeroom gets an ice cream party after lunch .

WE have found that placing gift cards received with other like items received or bought to spruce up the basket adds to their value...ie a pizza coupon placed on a pizza stone or with a pizza wheel or a bottle of wine, etc!

Good luck!

Hi Everyone. I want to thank you for all the replies & ideas! I sent a link to the main person. Krispy Kreme gave me a mug...which all their shirt & stuff like that was 75% off...So they really broke themselves.

I think one of the best ones so far is Sam's Club donated a gift of membership.

Last year, we have themed baskets by K-8 grade classrooms & then themed ones that were donated...They were say blue tickets...Then the red tickets were doorprizes...like the free frsoty coupons Wendy's gave...We'll prbably put 5 or so together & that will be a door prize...then we have say Yellow tickets...the big prizes...Bikes, (more than likely) the Sam's membership & Pittsburgh Zoo Passes & other bigger more valueable things..

I can't get any hotels at all! They give me crap (word wise)...I've almost ran out of places to beg!!

I actually picked up AAA tour books for our state today & i'm going to skim thru our area & see what we missed.

I picked up the Table Top Air Hockey & Pool Table at Target tonight for 75% off...12.50 each...i will be donating those.

Well thank all of you that have responded...If you have more ideas PLEASE post...We don't bid it is a silent auction where you put your tickets in the box in front of the prize you want to win. Please keep the ideas coming...

New Castle Christian Academy Basket Bash: March 7th 2008!!!

A couple I used this past year (granted we live in a smaller town)...

I called the Police Chief - he donated a ride to school for the winner. BIG hit. For him it was 30 minn or so, but the winner loved it.

I also did the same with the Fire Company and Ambulance Service, but they have yet to happen.

Go to auto parts stores and ask for cash wash supplies, try an oil change place for a free oil change.

Do you have to waer uniforms? How about no uniform day passes? That could be a great door prize.

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saraedawson@yahoo.com

Mommy to Jake, Alexis, Abigail and Joshua, Wife to Matt

Hi. We got an oil change...

No no uniforms...Although our public school has uniforms...how funny is that?

Keep the ideas coming!!! I know we have a pet basket or 2...Italian, greek, & Engish ethnic food baskets. 2 Pampered chef, creative memories. & more...

I have read most of the responses, and I am sorry if there are repeats.
We have done baskets here and themes were
Chocolate Lovers
New Baby Boy/Girl
Dog Lovers (biscuits, squeek toys, etc)
Bird Lovers (seed, feeder, binoculars)
Arts and Crafts or Rainy day fun
Try new businesses in the area (we always have at least one new restaurant here) for GC
Miniature Golf places or putting places for GC (we have two here and they are usually generous with the GCs)