california requires a license unless certain things are on the raffle tickets. for example that the $1.00 is a donation. meaning you would have to give a ticket to anyone who wanted one without them having to pay the $1. could be a problem if no one wanted to donate but usually is not.
lisa [img]smile.gif[/img]
What!? I license to have a raffle? So you're saying you have to have a license to have a raffle but not an auction (silent or otherwise)? Is this for all states? We have a raffle every year and no one has ever said we need to have a license. Our school is in Ohio. If you have any info on this, let me know.
Thanks!
Yes, you will have to get a license to do this. It is considered a legalized game of chance.
We do the basket theme for our Winter Wonderland. All the classes are given a theme. This year we are having the homeroom parents make up the baskets which means they collect everything from the classrooms and make up the basket complete with a label and the theme on it. In the past, our committee collected everything and I can tell you from experience, storing all that stuff in my house around Thanksgiving was tough! It was a good thing we were going elsewhere - lol. We had to make a pathway to get to the front door. It also took 6 hours to do all the baskets up with a committee of at least 5 people! Having the homeroom parents do all this is going to save a lot of work and aggravation for all. It also will instill a lot of class pride. Who will do the prettiest job wrapping and labeling.
On the day of our Winter Wonderland everything is displayed and you buy tickets. We do 5 for 1.00 and our grand prizes are 3 for 1.00. You can buy as many as you want and put them into any corresponding container you want. At the end of the day we draw the winners. Since we ask all to put their FULL name and phone number on the back of the ticket, you do not have to be present to win. Most are though. We then call winners at the end of the day who were not present and give them an opportunity to come and pickup now or tell them their prize will be in the office for 2-3 days. It is such a fun time for everyone. Good luck in yours.
Thank You for replying!
I like the idea of having them on diplay, maybe the office and library will let us display a few so that parents/teachers can look at them.
We are just a little concerned because our parent participation has been poor so far this year.
We are advertising, putting up signs around school, and having the Principal announce it every morning.
We are crossing our fingers!
Thanks again
Kris [img]smile.gif[/img]
I have no previous experience but have considered doing the "class donated" part of our spring auction as a silent auction. Here is my preliminary plan on how to do it.
I planned on setting up a table with each item (basket in your case) displayed with a label stating which class made it. Then I was going to put a box with each item.
At the start of the line I would have a person selling the bid slips. As guests come through the line they buy as many bid slips as they would like and then fill them out with their names and phone # and drop them into the box of the item they want to win.
At the end of the night we'll draw a winner for each item. I think this seems like a "more fair" way for people without a lot of extra-cash to get some things. At our live auction, I'm afraid that only the higher income families will be participating, but this is my first year doing this so I don't really know.
But then again, this idea sounds more like a raffle than a silent auction and I might need a permit from the state for a raffle right? Hum, maybe I'll reconsider!
My friend got together a Basket Silent Auction and it turned out great. Instead of having the PTO put the baskkets together, each class did with whatever theme they decided. Some baskets were movie themed, sports, chocoholic, books, bath, candles, a bunch. she would display them for a week and for $1.00 people could bid on the item. the bid would go into a basket folded with the basket # and amount of bid. at the end of the week, she pulled all of the papers to find out who won what basket and how much. some baskets ended up going for about $50 and she had at least 20-30 baskets.
