Keepsake and class art items

A canvas with every child's handprint on it will outdraw anything else in a preschool catalogue, because there is exactly one and a parent's own child is in it. That scarcity is what makes it work and it is also the source of every problem on this page.

One per class, not one per school

A single school-wide piece has one winner and thirty-nine disappointed families, and the bidding is between parents who see each other at pickup.

One per class solves most of it at once. Each has a natural audience, the classes do not compete, more families go home with something, and you have four headline lots instead of one.

Better still, make it divisible

Where the format allows, produce several pieces from the same class activity so that more than one family wins:

• A set of stepping stones rather than one path
• Individually painted tiles, sold separately, with the full mosaic photographed
• A quilt for the headline lot, plus framed individual squares
• A canvas for auction, plus a printed reproduction available to every family at cost

That last arrangement is the one to reach for. The original is a real auction lot with real bidding, and no family is left with nothing — which is the outcome that matters in a room this small.

Consent, and whose child appears

A class piece contains every child, so every family has an interest in it.

• Ask before the activity, not after the artwork exists and the awkwardness is expensive
• Say plainly what is being made, that it will be auctioned, and where it will be photographed
• Offer a family the option of their child taking part without appearing — a handprint without a name beneath it, or contributing to a piece rather than a portrait
• Do not put children's full names on a public auction page. First names or no names
• Check what your enrolment paperwork actually permits; a public indexed page is a different use from a class app

A family who does not want their child's work sold is not being difficult. Some have reasons they do not owe anybody, and a school that makes opting out easy and invisible is doing this correctly.

When two parents want the same piece

This happens and it is worth deciding in advance rather than in the room.

• Online bidding with a clear close time, so it is a mechanism rather than a confrontation across a hall
• No live outbid announcements naming bidders, ever
• A stated maximum, if your community would be better for one — some small schools set a cap on keepsake lots deliberately
• The reproduction option above, so the losing bidder is not going home empty

A bidding war between two parents at a gala is entertainment. Between two parents who will stand next to each other at pickup on Monday, it is something else, and the committee is responsible for not engineering one.

Families who cannot bid

In most preschools some families cannot participate at any price, and they know which lot their child's handprint is in.

The reproduction-at-cost arrangement handles this quietly, and "at cost" can mean free where the school chooses. Do not create a visible assistance process around a keepsake; make the reproduction available to everybody by default and the problem does not arise.

Make it well

• A real canvas, a proper frame, a fired tile — presentation is most of the value
• Photograph it properly against a plain wall in daylight
• Include the class year and the teacher's name; it is what makes it an heirloom
• Have it finished and framed two weeks before bidding opens, not the night before

General information, not tax or legal advice for your school. Whether a payment is deductible depends on the receiving entity's status and on what the payer received — check with your own adviser before telling families anything about it.