My first experience with being involved in the creation of an auction basket was last year, for the preschool fundraiser. I really just dipped my toe in the water -- was present for the selection of the theme, and okay-ed decisions made by my more pro-active co-room mom. It all went very smoothly.
This year, I am the more experienced of the room moms in terms of how this all works. Our theme last year, "cooking" went over well, (two baskets, one for pretend cooking, one for real cooking). I suggested we nab the theme. We have less money to use this year, which is just as well; one thing that drove me crazy, even from the sidelines, was the amount of work that went into these baskets (driving around, time spent hunting online, wrapping the things for presentation). The baskets only went for the purchase price at auction, if we were lucky! A strange tradition.
Anyway, when I was at Ikea, having spent all the money in the budget on a handful of great play kitchen items, I confessed to the employee who helped me carry the heavy piece that I felt a little guilty about how easy it was this time, copying an idea, and doing one-stop shopping. His response was surprisingly pithy: "Work smarter, not harder." The Tao of Ikea?
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