Don’t be alarmed; the title may sound misleading.
I’m actually not advocating to auction your kids off, though being a few weeks into summer, I know the notion likely has some appeal.
A friend just today mentioned that she needed to gather items for a kid’s auction at her family reunion, and I decided I wanted to brainstorm the idea a little bit more.
The way I see it, is that you could have two different purposes for your auction. The first would be to raise money for a cause, and the other would be a just for fun, no real money involved auction.
Whichever option you choose you’ll need to start by making a guest list, and in the invitation to those people request that they each bring one or two auction items per kid. You can give specifications as to price limits if you wish.
Perhaps there is a $5 maximum or maybe it has to be from a dollar store. You could also include handmade items, like wood block walking blocks – think stilts or pretty headbands.
Another option is to bring toys that you no longer play with, that are in good working condition. I can imagine that this would go over really well as a toy swap.
Set up a table with all of the auction items and allow kids to peruse and make a list of their favourites. Supplying cute bidding number cards would also be a fun addition.
This is also the perfect time to have the “how to cope if you don’t win the bid on your favourite toy” talk. Little people feel big and it’s best to prepare as best as we can.
If you’re using real money, I’d suggest bidding in increments of 25 cents, and setting a limit of the amount of money each kid can bring. If you’re doing it just for fun, I’d suggest using a roll of tickets, and giving each kid 20 tickets or so to bid with. If there is a hot ticket item, do it first so kids aren’t all saving up for the one item that only one kid gets.
