Family-friendly auction items

Plenty of children's charity events are family events: a fun day, a fete, a carnival, a family dinner. Running an auction at one is straightforward as long as the catalogue and the mechanics are designed for the room rather than borrowed from a gala.

What belongs in the catalogue

• Experiences the whole family uses: days out, activity seasons, a hosted party
• Things a child can be excited about seeing won — a bicycle, a big toy, a treehouse build, a season pass
• Low-value lots children can bid on themselves with a parent's agreement
• Anything with a visible object on the table, because a family browses by looking

What does not

• Alcohol, tobacco or gaming-related lots at an event children attend
• Adult-only experiences: spa days framed for couples, casino nights, nightclub tables
• High-value items that make the room feel like it was not meant for most of the families in it
• Anything requiring a bidder to leave a child unattended to participate

The third one is the judgement call. One or two headline lots are fine and give the auction a ceiling. A catalogue that is mostly out of reach tells the families present that the event was designed around somebody else.

Mechanics for a family room

• Online bidding from a phone, so a parent can bid while supervising a child
• Display sheets with a large QR code — a family reads the table, not a phone
• Close bidding before the room's energy drops, not at the very end of the day
• Announce the close twice, briefly, and never over a children's activity
• Have one volunteer helping people bid, and one keeping the table safe from a three-year-old with a felt pen

Printable sheets come from the items you have already entered: bid sheets and templates and display sheets.

Children bidding

Children love bidding and it is worth allowing, with two rules published in advance: a parent or guardian is responsible for any winning bid placed on their account, and there is a stated cap on what a child-operated bid can be. Both prevent the conversation nobody wants to have at checkout.

Photographs at the event

A family event produces photographs, and some of the children present are yours and some are guests. Post signage about photography, brief whoever is shooting, and default to images that do not identify a child. This is the same rule the whole campaign runs on: what you publish about children.