Going once, going twice...

We had our daughter's Preschool's Open House tonight, which includes dinner and a Silent Auction/fund-raiser for the Preschool. Last year we bid on and won a pair of Two for One Admissions to Legoland, only to discover we'd actually bought "Two For One" coupons. I tried to console Liz by telling her the money we'd paid helped support the Preschool so it was for a good cause, but she was still pissed that someone would "donate" coupons that they probably got for free from a hotel lobby. The Two For One Coupons were back again this year, but I think people learned their lesson last year and there weren't many bidding on them.

I noticed a nice, silver pendant in the shape of the pink Breast Cancer ribbon, it was valued at $15 but the minimum bid was just $7. As I looked at it I noticed a young girl hovering around me. I think I was staring at the pendant for too long and she could sense I was intending to bid on it.

"Is that your bid?" I asked her, and she confirmed what I'd suspected. Her relief was obvious when I told her I wouldn't bid on it and went back to perusing the other auctions.

When I found Liz I mentioned the pendant to her and told her about the girl who I'd chosen not to outbid. Guess who had no such qualms about doing so? I returned to the pendant and looked at the bidding sheet, and there beneath the girl's name was my wife's name and a current winning bid of $9.

Apparently the girl's father had told her she could only spend $7 on the pendant (valued at $15). "Too bad for her," said Liz gleefully, clutching her new pendant. "It's mine now. Mwah hah ha!" Ok, my wife isn't that bad, but when she wants something she's not one to let doe-eyed little children stand in her way.

The big drawcard was the Live Auction where various keepsakes involving the children's art work were up for bid. There was a quilt made up of silk-screened squares of drawings from one class, an apron with handprints of all the kids from another class, a serving tray with several hand & footprints permanently printed on it. The apron was from our daughter's class but the handprints weren't labeled. To the casual viewer it could have passed for a simple apron upon which some children have wiped their paint-covered hands. We decided not to bid on the apron but it went for far more than we'd have been prepared to pay anyway. Almost all of the keepsake items went for $100 or more, except for the serving tray which still sold for at least $50. Also up for bid were Front Row seats to the Christmas Pageant, and Front Row seats to the Graduation Ceremony (where your child graduates from Preschool). The Christmas Pageant seats sold for $30 or so, but one parent (or grandparent) bid $100 for the Graduation Ceremony Seats. As a Fund Raiser it sure beats trying to sell chocolates, or low-quality gifts that you're embarrassed to deliver to your coworkers.