Those are cute and I have that same exact fabric! :)
Actually, the basket auction thing isn't so dumb.
We used to do them at my daughters school.
Can't remember what they called them.
It brought in a TON of money!
There were baskets that were auctioned off, then there were other baskets set out where you bought tickets and dropped your ticket into the box in front of the basket. Then after a couple hours, after the auction ended, they drew a ticket out of the box, and whoever had that ticket won the basket. You could buy as many tickets as you wanted. I think you could get 5/$1, or something like that. You could put as many tickets as you wanted in the boxes for the baskets. There were all sorts of themed ones....garden, crafts, cooking, coffee, teas, games, movies, toys, beach....all kinds, they were awesome! They would also have a bake sale to go along with it to make more money.