School Auction Project?

[Matt Meiser]

Daughter's new school is probably going to have a fundraiser auction this school year based on discussion at the PTO kickoff meeting. I'd like to build something for it. Anyone make something in the past? Suggestions on what would do well?

[David Weaver]

Something people can carry away. Chess sets, boxes and cutting boards are what I've seen around here.

[Mike Henderson]

I've donated serving trays in the past and the they did well. Fairly easy to build and not too expensive - you may be able to use offcuts.

Mike

[Richard Coers]

I did a blanket chest for my brother's cancer benefit. We sold raffle tickets for weeks before the event, and raffle tickets there too. We had single tickets for $5, five tickets for $20. Made right at $1,200. Takes more effort to print and sell the tickets, but folks didn't seem to mind spending the $5 for a good cause. Otherwise, I do a lot of little things. Small cutting boards, pepper mills, rolling pins, trivets, serving trays, small keepsake/jewelry boxes.

[Jim Tobias]

Over the years, I did a couple of small tables(1 sofa table and 1 end table) and a decorative box.

Jim

[Paul Symchych]

Cutting boards are very popular for charity auctions. I've made them out of all sorts of cutoffs and left-overs -flat grain, not end grain. Quick and easy to make. Strips of various colored woods get more attention. Smaller ones, say about 6 or 8"x 12" to be used as cheese boards or bar boards sell well because many people already have a big carving board. Easy to take home as an impulse buy and the small ones usually sell from $45 to $75 depending on visual impact and of course the crowd involved.
Let the size of woods in your scrap pile determine final dimensions.

[Mike McCann]

corn hole boards with school logo go over well

[Keith Outten]

Custom Pens are always popular at schools. If you can make them in the school colors or have them engraved even better.
.

[John A langley]

At the auctions I've supplied toilet toppers. I make them 20 wide 30 tall and 9" deep. I little crown molding at the top. You can do all kinds of things with the door, like a mirror. It does not take real long to build and the auction has got as much as $125. The other thing that I built is a cradle. I've done that twice. They have fetched upwards to $600. It goes well if someone in the audience is pregnant and they have their mother-in-law with them

[Larry Browning]

I made a 16" (Think American Girl) Doll trundle bed based on a picture in a catalog for a friend's grand daughter. I have been asked to make many more just like it. I have turned most of them down, but I have now just finished making 3 for my own grand daughters. Something like this would sell like hotcakes. I made all 3 of them in one day. They are pretty easy to make from 1/2" Baltic birch plywood. I think I probably have about $10 in each one. You can easily get $30, $40 or even more for them. The one in the American Girl catalog sells for $100. (think the bedding is extra too) It has a little more embellishment to it, like some simple routed outlining that I didn't do, but my version looks to be quite a bit sturdier than the $100 one. I don't have a picture but could provide one if you wanted.

[Lee Schierer]

I would go either with a box like this 269409 or a wall rack for hanging quilts like this. 269410. If you want to get fancy you could even sell the quilt rack and customize the length to suit the high bidders needs.

[Rick Whitehead]

I've made some picture frames in the past. I made them from contrasting woods, and sized them to fit photographs, i.e. 5 X 7, 8 X 10, etc.
Rick W

[Ira Matheny]

I've just completed my fifth benefit auction. School auctions seem to like things such as:
[A] Cutting Boards.....such as 3 matching cutting boards [cheese size, small kitchen/sandwich board, lg kitchen/carving board] with matching wood & layout;
[B] wooden holder for I-pads, & similar electronic devices;
[C] keepsake boxes;
[D] Wine Bottle racks for 8 to 20 bottles;
[E] and the greatest item, Marshmallow Catapults. Kids go wild and parents always like to bring some home to the kids!

[Steve Kohn]

My former boss contributed a wooden music stand for their school's sale.

[Keith Hankins]

My son is in his HS band and as fundraising chair for the music parents org (MPO), I decided to do something similar. I built a PIE-safe out of cherry and donated it. We took it to all the football games and other fund-raisers and I did 200 tickets at 10 a piece. At our last fund-raising event our spring pasta dinner, we pulled a name out of a hat. It went well I enjoyed it. The punched tin was from a firm in Lancaster PA and when they found out what it was for, gave me a good discount. It was fun and remember it's deductable.


http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzi3SCp

[Mike McCann]

Like to see more onthe marshmallow catapults

[Len Henkel]

I made this a couple of years ago. Lots of work but it drew plenty of bids.
269448

[Ira Matheny]

Marshmallow Catapults.
Tiger[or Flame ] Maple and Claro Walnut. Notice multiple holes to adjust for height or distance269452269453269454269456

[Art Mulder]

Daughter's new school is probably going to have a fundraiser auction this school year based on discussion at the PTO kickoff meeting. I'd like to build something for it. Anyone make something in the past? Suggestions on what would do well?

My suggestion is to keep it small, unless you really know your audience. So much of the public has no understanding/appreciation of the work that goes into custom stuff, and therefore the appropriate value. So I would go with the fancy cutting board, serving tray, fancy birdhouse sort of thing.

[Walter R Butler]

You can make iPad/ tablet holders, which are quick and easy. I fussed over a few for my oldest's daughters science class, making round forms out of glued-up baltic birch.

I also saw, in a bookstore, a "literary" cutting board which resembled a book: it was maple, but had a 1 1/2" walnut strip on one edge as the "spine." Three edges were then routed with a core box bit to resemble the recess of the pages.

But, after reading this thread, I'm going to vote that you make some marshmallow catapults.
269587269588

[Bill Rogers]

How about the Magic Wine Bottle holders? You can make these out of small pieces of scrap wood and they don't take long to fabricate.

[Matt Meiser]

So the auction is on, toward the end of March so I still have 4-5 months. I'm thinking about making a few small things. This is a pretty big affair with both a live auction and a silent auction. I'm thinking about maybe a jewelry box which they could bundle with something donated by one of the local jewelers. Also thinking about some kind of wine-and-cheese set--I've seen a few plans for a wine server that holds a bottle and a couple glasses and I figure we can turn a stopper. Then for the cheese, a cutting board.