Suggestions for gift basket auction - not sewing related
 

I am stuck. I volunteered to coordinate a gift basket for a church silent auction at the end of the month. The basket would be provided by choir members, and they wanted it to be music-related. I have lots of people willing to donate items, but none of us are sure what the most popular items would be. I am going to contact the symphony and ask them to donate a couple of tickets, but what else should we ask folks to bring?

I probably will package the basket with some cute musical fabric I have (maybe make some mug rugs with it), but no one else sews so we need some other ideas.

Pam

gift certificates for CD's?

That's a tough one - people's music tastes are so varied -

cds, snacks, wine or alcoholic beverage always is a draw, dining gift cards, bottles of premium water

This is tough. Musical gift cards for iTunes??

Depending on the church - alchoholic anything might be iffy -

The only thing I can think of are gag type gifts that would be suitable for a kids rhythm band!

I know it has only been a couple of hours since my initial post, but the comments I have gotten confirm my thinking of the past week - this is hard! I want something that will appeal to more than other choir members since we are raising funds for some worthy charities.

I am am going to call the choir president and suggest we do a Halloween basket. The auction will be a week before Halloween, and I bet that will go over well. Of course, if anyone has more wonderful ideas for a music basket, keep suggesting!

Pam

a video of something pertaining to the subject. "the sound of music"
wine glasses with musical notes, music boxes, some divine chocolates,
dish towels trimmed with the musical fabric, pot holders the same,
Go to a gift store andlook around, once you start looking, you'll see a few items.
Maybe some general greeting cards with a music note, or birds singcing.
I think you can make some kitchen napkins out of the music fabric too,
hope this helps.

If you get a donation of symphony tickets, you could add a gift card for a restaurant nearby to make it a "special night out".

Everyone can use a kazoo.

Gift certificate to a store like Best Buy that sells CDs and DVDs, coffee mugs with music notes on them. If you do the symphony tickets, I like the restaurant gift certificate and perhaps a close hotel night certificate. You could also add tickets to other performances like musicals or plays to make it a bigger value.

Okay, go to Amazon and search "Biography of Musicians" and "History of Music". You will get a lot of returns and you should be able to find one or two items in whatever price range suits you.

If you limit the contents of the basket to music related items then you will also limit the number of people who will be interested in bidding on it, no? I think you are on the right track to make it more generic. Dinner for 2 at a nice restaurant would appeal to almost anyone.

Do you have a music shop in the area? You could get them to donate a gift card. Music gift cards to down load music. Make napkins and put in glasses and a bottle of Sparkling Cider (or wine - not sure how your church feels about drinking), along with cheese and crackers. I would also have to look at some kind of chocolate too. Talk to a local restaurant about a gift card, you could also do the same with a local dance studio (for a free dance lesson). Good luck

I know you want it musical related, but I think that one is a little difficult too. How about wonderful coffee mugs with hot chocolate, fancy coffee or teas inside. Good chocolate bars, maybe a CD to listen to while they eat it. Candles, bars of perfumed soap. I'm thinking of music that calms the soul while taking a bath or sitting down resting. When my husband retired, a good friend brought him a basket that contained 2 Cokes, a Clint Eastwood movie, chips and jelly beans.

A copy of the church hymnal?

Gift certificates are nice - but they don't "fill" a basket up very much - even if they have a high $ value.

Scented wax cubes and the electric container that uses them. Not too expensive and many scents are available.

I would not bid on a music theme basket. Music is a personal thing, we all have different tastes. I would stick with a Halloween theme, or any other upcoming holiday. I would also avoid anything scented, many people have allergies. Candles can be a hazard to people, and pets. I suggest items that could easily be used in most homes even on a temporary basis like holidays. At the very least the items in the basket could be re-gifted to several people. I would bid on a basket with holiday themed kitchen towels, small photo frame, a few decorations, for Halloween maybe the basket could be an inexpensive candy dish. Take a quick look down the Halloween aisle and you'll gets lots of ideas.

I think Lynnie and Wannabee have great suggestions!!

We had a discussion last night at rehearsal, and we are going with an autumn theme basket to increase the audience. Since the whole purpose is to raise money for some worthy charities, we really want something with a broad appeal.

I appreciate everyone's thoughts and help.

Pam

Autumn/Thanksgiving will be much easier to think of things -

Potholders? Kitchen towels? Dishcloths? Scrubbies?

Tablerunner also a good idea. Maybe Thanksgiving fabric on 1 side and autumn fabric on the other side.

Or maybe Halloween on one side and Thanksgiving on the other. Also, add some mugs or some themed candy bowls to go with the theme(s) of the table runner.

Yep, you could even go Thanksgiving & Christmas if desired. I just made one that was Christmas and winter snowflake themed. The other was a double sided butterfly fabric one so you have a lot of use out of that too.

. . . And a harmonica.

In my church we have a gift basket raffle ie gardening basket, childrens, travel, health and beauty, kitchen , games and so on hope this will help. Good luck

How about a basket with things that recipes frequently call for (gourmet cooking ingredients), but one may not want to buy?

Extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, peppercorns and a pepper grinder/mill,

Or special ingredients for Holiday baking - chocolate chips, coconut, nuts, cinnamon, recipe book -

Add the movie, Hocus Pocus, with Bette Midler! Halloween basket is a great idea. We do this at our church every fall and it is difficult to come up with a theme. I saw an idea where they used a small sled and filled it with snow related items such as hot chocolate (you could put a cider mix in your basket!), small fleece blanket, ice scraper, etc....

I thought same thing as far as movie musical.