Thank you for the information. Who did you write to for the cookbook?

We did get 2 signed books from Kevin Henkes. The address I sent a request to is:

Kevin Henkes
HarperCollins Children's Books
1350 Avenue of the Americas
New York NY 10019

I did send requests to other publishing houses/authors but didn't get any other children's books.

Highlights Magazine will send you some goodies (free subscriptions and other games/activity books) - we got enough to make 2 baskets.

We also got a signed cookbook from Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa on Food Network) and made a nice cooking basket with it.

Has anyone had any luck requesting books from children's authors or any unique donations?

Any free "gifts" for signing up on an website that could be used as a gift?

Response has been somewhat slow to our requests so far.

Thanks

jmlsocha;150534 wrote: Would you mind sharing the ones that said yes?

The majority of my yes letters have been from local attractions and businesses.

It's a lot of work soliciting national donations! I did a ton of research using this board and google... which helped me formulate a letter and put together a list of names. It's too early to tell how successful we were.

Would you mind sharing the ones that said yes?

I have gotten a lot of good information off this board-thank you.

mconnery;150528 wrote: There will be lots of companies you won't hear from. A few sent me postcards or letters saying they won't or can't donate, but many of them just won't reply. For those that do donate, expect packages to just start showing up (which is always fun)! I got a couple of e-mails saying to expect something soon but, for the most part, it was always a surprise to see what the mailman brought that day.

That's what I figured -- thanks! Our event is in 5 weeks, I'm hopeful things will pick up soon.

I sent around 75 letters, split between national companies and regional attractions. So far, I've gotten 14 replies. 9 yes and 5 no. For anyone following this thread .. some of the no letters came from: American Girl Kodak, Nikon, and Nintendo.