12th Annual Auction
Save the date!! Our 12th Annual Dinner and Auction will be held at Aurora Country Club on Saturday, March 6th. We are looking for volunteers, donations and ideas. Please let us know if you can help!
This annual benefit is our largest gathering each year. Parents, alumni, and friends of the school meet for a nice social evening where we have both live and silent auctions, as well as a 50/50 raffle and more. Proceeds from this event benefit long term maintenance to the building as well as teacher professional development and other non-daily operating expenses. In conjunction with this benefit, we also put on a sock hop at the school for the children, where we have a raffle of baskets full of goodies for kids.
In past years, the money we raised helped in paving our parking lot, repairing the roof, landscaping the front of the building, trimming the trees, painting classrooms and the gymnasium and more.
Donations
To solicit donations for our annual auction, please download these two documents - a donation letter and a receipt for the donation you acquire. When you are in your favorite restaurant, retail shop or museum, ask if they are willing to donate to the Fox Valley Montessori benefit. When you make arrangements to stay at your neighbor's Aspen condo over spring break, ask if they might donate a week's stay for our school's auction. No donation is too small or too large. We can package it with one of our silent auction baskets or present it as a live auction item. We may be able to use the item(s) in the creation of our classroom projects. All donations are tax deductible. We'd truly appreciate your help.
Silent Auction Baskets
You may be asking yourself, "What can I do for the auction? I want to help, but have never gone to this fun event before…" Well, you can create or contribute to one of our silent auction baskets! Some of our ideas for themes follow below:
1. Family Night In - Chocolate bars, marshmallows and graham crackers & directions for making s'mores using the oven or microwave, family game like Yahtzee, Monopoly, Life, etc., snacks, movie rental coupon.
2. Family Night Out - Dinner coupons to kids' favorite restaurants &/or ice cream parlors, bowling, mini golf, tokens for arcade, movie theatre passes.
3. Memory Maker - Scrap book with edging scissors, punches, stickers, pens, scrap book paper with various themes, all in a scrapbook bag with gift certificates from Hobby Lobby Jo-Ann Fabrics or Michaels.
4. Kids Krafts - Fun foam, beads, pipe cleaners, felt, buttons, sequins, wood shape cut outs, paints, glue, scissors, wood frames, feathers, wiggle eyes, craft sticks, magnets, craft book.
5. Book Bonanza - Book bag, books, book marker, gift certificate for book store, book covers, book light, book on tape, special trip planned for downtown Chicago library.
6. Tool time - Everything you need to construct a bird house: hammer, nails, wood glue, paint, wood kit or pre-made bird house from craft store, bird book, bird seed (for feeder). This idea can be extrapolated to address tool boxes, jewelry boxes, doll houses and any other item the handy (wo)man and child can construct together.
7. Par for the Course - Gift card for a bucket of balls at a range, all the essentials like balls, tees, golf towel, golf umbrella, round of golf at a country club.
8. I-Tunes Card Tree - I-Tunes gift cards on a tree (as many as can fit on one tree).
9. Car Wash Basket - Towels, soap, wax, scrub brushes, Armor-All, gift certificates for detailing service.
10. Tea Lovers - Assortment of teas, tea ball, tea pot, gourmet tea biscuits
11. Coffee Lovers - Assortment of coffee, coffee mugs, gourmet coffee cake
12. It's in the Cards! - Decks of cards, scratch pads, chips, Texas Hold'em supplies, cribbage board.
13. Gardner's Deluxe - Everything a gardener would need in a terra cotta pot -- gloves, hand rake, vegetable and flower seed assortment, gardening book, magazine, gift cards to Home Depot or Lowe's or another garden center.