Silent Auctions and Art Sales

I am not a gambler. I just don't find it fun, and I can never push the thought out of my head "The house always wins." But there is something about silent auctions that sucks me in. Maybe it's the stuff...not the actual items but the shopping aspect of it. You're not just risking your money, if you "win" you actually get something in return. Yay!

On Friday afternoon, we innocently took our two eldest children to their "Student Led Conferences" at their school. Each of them took a turn explaining their work and demonstrating their skills in their classroom. All of which ended with excited pleas, "Let's go to the Art Sale!" In the gymnasium, a Silent Auction and Art Sale. Here's the hook on this one. All of the art was created by the children. I don't know about you, but when asked "Can we buy my art?" I found it impossible to say "No sweetie. Mommy and Daddy are not interested in having any more of your art in our house." We bought everything they made.

Picasso?

Van Gogh?

We arrived in the gym shortly before the Silent Auction bidding was ending, and we bid on 3 items. A movie package, with 2 kids movies (Ratatouille and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), a box of Smartpop, a game and a box of chocolate bars. (It was not the kids who wanted this one.) A car detailing package. (You can guess who wanted this one.) And 4 tickets to any Storybook Theatre performance. We "won" all three. (Remember Joey "winning" the boat on Friends?) Now, all I have to do is pay for them.

On Saturday, we attended a fundraising Gala. Well, I attended. Paul worked all night, playing video on projection screens and shooting video of the speeches etc.


Anyway, the Providence committee do an AMAZING job of planning this event. It is always tons of fun, there are loads of ways to contribute and they raise lots of money. Silent auction, bucket draws, raffle tickets, door prizes. Table sponsorship, live auction, buy-a-brick for the new school. I chose to buy sunglasses ($40 for 2 pairs), have some flowers painted on my arm ($20), and enter to win 5 bottles of wine ($5). I bid on a couple of silent auction items, but did not "win" them. They always invent some sort of game or competition that requires everyone at each table to contribute even more cash on the spot.

Our table.

My red sunglasses.

My arm.

It is an impressive evening, for entertainment and fundraising. Oh, and the on-screen video looked fantastic!