I teach piano lessons. All summer the kids earn auction bucks and save them in our Love Notes Bank ( a shoe box full of labeled baggies). Each student has their own bank account (a baggie with their name on it).
Basically I pay the kids exhorbitant amounts of play money for practicing, learning new songs, and stuff like that. We start in May and end in September. Most kids have more free time in the summer, but less motivation, and no routine. I find that having an auction helps them have a more productive musical summer
Every student will bring two items for the auction, plus I have been stocking up. I hang out at the dollar store and I have been known to visit garage sales. My good friend plays auctioneer. One of the older students takes care of the bank, and everyone has a blast. We usually have quite an assortment of auction items. There is a fair amount of candy. Toys and games are big sellers too. Our biggest seller ever was a package of bubble tape. As I remember it sold for $19,000.00.
Most of the kids this year have somewhere between $6,000 and $10,000, so they would have to get together to spend that much. If it's the last item on the auction block and they have money left in their bank accounts, it could happen.
Once I had a Grandma come to help her grandson spend his money. He had several thousand dollars, but she held him back on the bidding. She wouldn't let him buy anything. I was getting worried. The auction was nearly over and he hadn't bought anything. We had to have a little talk.
This year I have six teenage boys. They are really great piano players. Teenagers are insanely busy, but somehow they still find time for piano. I'm not sure what they are going to bid on. Of course they'll bring interesting stuff, but what can I add for them. Teenagers are tricky, but I'm thinking about auctioning off a big plate of my incredible brownies, and maybe an I-Tunes gift card.
But just in case, do they still make Bubble Tape? Where can I get some?
Linda Garner
2 comments:
LOL, I used to do something like this in my classroom. And yes, they still sell bubble tape.
You can usually get it at the Dollar Tree store.
I'd go for the iTunes with teenagers, though.
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