It's the type of drawing/auction where you display each item with a container (jar, lunch bag, box). People buy tickets and place them in the containers in which they have the most interest. The more tickets they put in any one container, the more chance they have to win.
It has several names. Ours tend to be called a "Bag Auction" (when the ticket container is a colorful lunch size bag) or "Chance Auction" (because you each ticket is a chance to win). An older name is "Chinese Auction", but many avoid that as it can be seen as a derogatory term.
For elementary PTO, we created our own paper tickets with name, phone, and teacher lines using a business card template (so 10 per page). For another group I'm in, they sell the double rolls of carnival tickets. Half the ticket is placed in the bag, you keep the other, and they call out numbers.
Personally, I prefer writing the name on the tickets.
It can be scaled to any size. I've been involved in ones where this is simply an "extra" - maybe 4-6 items - that are profiled with a silent auction to ones where there are tables and tables (80-100) of items. Someone posted awhile back that their annual Bag Auction has 400 items and nets $30,000.
Bag Auctions are pretty simple to close out. It's much like a door prize drawing. No bid sheets, no payment lines. You close the auction, shoo everyone away from the tables and just start going down the line. Pickup up a bag (container), draw a name, call out the winner, and hand the person their prize.
If it's an event where lots of other things are going on and not everyone is present in the auction area, you may need a place to post winners who don't pick up their prize immediately. If it's a "must be present to win", then if somone doesn't respond - you just go to the next ticket.
