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Article:
What are chinese auctions, penny socials and penny sales, anyway?
Whatever you call them, they're benefit
auctions with a raffle twist.
Chinese auctions, penny socials and penny
sales are enduringly popular special event fund-raisers that combine the elements
of both an auction and a raffle. What you call them and how you define them depends,
in large part, on where you live. There are as many different ways to run these
events as there are different names for them!
The one thing most of the variations have
in common, though, is that the bidding is done by ticket. Each participant buys
a certain number of tickets for a set price, then uses those tickets to "bid"
on a variety of donated items on "auction." They can bid as many tickets
as they wish on each item they're interested in, usually by depositing the tickets
in a container assigned to that item. Rather than going to the highest bidder, though,
as it would at a regular auction, the item goes to the person whose ticket is drawn,
at random, from the container.
It doesn't take long to figure out, of
course, that the more tickets you bid on an item, the better your chances are of
winning it. And as anyone who's ever bid a lot of tickets on a "must-have"
item can tell you, that's what makes these events so much fun. It's also what makes
chinese auctions, penny socials and penny sales good money-makers for the groups
that run them!
How they work
Sometimes all of the auction items are
displayed on tables, with a corresponding ticket box next to each item. Bidders
walk around and browse all the wares, bidding their tickets on favored items as
they go. At the end of the event, a winning ticket is drawn from each container.
This is a popular way to run one of these auctions when it's part of another larger
event, such as a craft show, that's going on at the same time.
Another variation, which can be more exciting
and more profitable, is to run the auction as its own event. The bidders are seated
for this one and one item is brought up for auction at a time. As the auctioneer
describes the item, workers pass through the crowd collecting the tickets people
are bidding on it. If participants see a lot of tickets being bid and they really,
really want the item, they may decide to drop in even more tickets to up their chances
of winning. As a result, enthusiastic bidders often use up their original ticket
supply pretty quickly, and event workers are on hand to gladly sell them more.
A third variation, which we've seen used
successfully year after year by a local women's organization, is to have everyone
deposit all of their tickets in one big drum. After a special dinner, items
are brought out one at a time, and a winning ticket for each is drawn from the drum.
No one has any control over which prize they may win, and everyone has a chance
at winning more than one. To spice things up and raise more money from the event,
five or six high-priced items are auctioned separately during the evening. People
who wish to bid on those purchase additional tickets.
What kind of items?
Chinese auction, penny social or penny
sale items can run the gamut from inexpensive, trinket-type things all the way up
to items worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Tickets might be priced at
25 for $2.50 or $5 for the first type of auction, and priced as high as 25 for $50
or $100 at a high-end event. That's a far cry from years ago when, in New England
at least, tickets were sold for a penny each. (Hence the name penny sale or penny
social.)
What you'll charge for tickets at your
event depends on the size and type of crowd your auction will attract, and on the
value of items being auctioned. In either case, the more items the better. And those
are donated items, of course!
Gift certificates and merchandise from
local businesses are the types of donations most commonly sought by clubs organizing
these events, but there are many other possibilities as well. Autographed baseballs,
dinner with a local celebrity, a pie-a-month baked by a club member, a backstage
tour of a television studio . . . The kind of auction donations you go after is
really only limited by your imagination -- and whether or not you plan to design
your event around a special theme.
Some groups have very good luck with theme
auctions. They might go with a gardening theme in early spring, for example, offering
everything from gift certificates for yard cleanup, landscape design or pool maintenance
to garden ornaments, flats of plants and gardening tools.
If a whole themed auction seems too difficult
to pull off, you might try a few themed "fantasy" packages instead. Made
up of a number of related items, these can be a hugely popular addition to a general
auction. One group we read about recently offered a "guy's prom package"
and a "girl's prom package" -- including everything from tuxedo rental
and prom dress to flowers, hair design, manicure and limousine. Fantasy packages
can be themed for almost any rite of passage or popular activity -- weddings, new
baby, retirement, golf, sailing, auto racing and travel, just to name a few.
Sometimes it doesn't really matter what
kind of items a chinese auction, penny social or penny sale offers. One nonprofit
organization we know of goes all out disguising its items in elaborately trimmed
wrappings. People are so busy admiring and bidding on the beautiful, creative packaging
that they really don't even care what's inside!
However you decide to structure your event,
and whatever you call it, the most important thing is that it offers something for
everyone -- and that it's fun for all involved.
Click here to
order our perforated ticket sheets for your next chinese auction, penny social or
penny sale.
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All rights reserved.
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