Tips for A Successful Auction Night

The annual Dan Mills' Spring Auction and Art Show night is upon us this week! We thought we'd share a few tips with you so you can have an easy and enjoyable evening.

1. Pre-Register for a Bidder Number.

You can register at the event the evening of the auction, but there will also be a line.  Take less than a minute to pre-register for your bidder number now, and you’ll have everything you need to walk into the auction and start bidding on the items you want! 

2. Volunteer!

Lots of volunteers are needed to help run a successful auction. So please consider signing up for just a short shift. Volunteering is a way to give back to Dan Mills, and your time is greatly appreciated. Sign up to volunteer here!

3. Come Hungry!

D’s & J BBQ, Steaming Goat and That’s My Dawg food trucks will be open in the front drive starting at 4:30.  The bake sale team will also have goodies for sale in the cafeteria.

4. Pay for your item and take it home when the auction ends.

Checkout tables will be set up to make checkout easy and quick! By paying for and taking home your winnings at the close of the auction, it will prevent you from having to come in later to claim your item.

5. Sign up for Venmo if you haven’t already.

Winners will be able to pay with cash, check, Venmo, or credit card. Cash, check and Venmo will be the fastest ways to pay.  There are no fees that are charged through Venmo…so that’ll ultimately be more money that goes back to Dan Mills.

6. Have fun!

There will be lots of great items at this year’s auction!  Know that your money will be used to help fund enhanced school safety and to compensate for budget cuts, so bid enthusiastically on something that you’ll enjoy!

What Is It About All This Spring Auction Talk?

No doubt you're aware that our annual Dan Mills' Spring Auction and Art Show is coming up NEXT WEEK, Thursday, April 19. (And if you don't know what I'm talking about, let me help you out and direct you to our webpage on it here.) So the question to answer for you now is "why should you care?" 

My answer is two-fold: (1) The spring auction portion is a BIG fundraiser for the PTO and our school and, with the MNPS budget cuts and recent security concerns, the money we earn is of great importance. And, (2) We have some awesome items up for auction this year in all kinds of categories - health & fitness, jewelry & art, food & dining, music & entertainment, home services, fashion & beauty, teacher experiences and more! You just never know what you'll stumble across at the auction that you have yet to find the right opportunity to purchase. <wink, wink>

Check out the gallery below for a preview of some of the items to be auctioned.

And don't forget! We're using bidder numbers this year to streamline the bidding and checkout process. Bidder numbers can be obtained by getting a FREE ticket. You only need one ticket per family. Pre-register today to get your FREE ticket!

You can make an entire evening out of this event ... there'll be food trucks for dinner (starting at 4:30pm), 1st & 2nd grade musical performances and the annual art show where all the students' artwork from the year will be on display throughout the school.

More details on the event, including the schedule and volunteer opportunities, can be found on our Spring Auction webpage.

You Got It? We'll Take It!! A Call For Auction Items.

Do you own a business? Do you provide a service? Do you have a talent? Do you know someone else who has any of these? Do you have access to cool people - artists, musicians, etc.? Do you not have any inhibitions and can ask people for anything?

If you answered yes to any of the the above, then by golly tell us! The PTO is still collecting auction items for our Annual Spring Auction. It can be a gift card to a restaurant, teaching guitar lessons, providing electrical work, really cool memorabilia (you know, for anyone who is tied to the music business ... wink, wink), babysitting services, or anything you can think of that people might want. We also need volunteers who can go door to door to local businesses and ask for donations.

We're determined to make this auction the best one yet! Proceeds from this fundraiser will hopefully go towards security measures AND help offset yet more budget cuts at Dan Mills.

If you have items to donate to the auction or want to help solicit more auction items, contact Jen McCarter.