Thank you all for the great insight and ideas.

I am new to all of this this year too, our event is on March 30th, we are in panic mode doing follow-ups now.

Here are some of our out of the box ideas:

We have local furniture stores that donate $300-400 gift certificates. Purchase a nice blanket and candle and you have a home remodeling basket.

I am a fitness instructor and my *new* idea for a basket this year "Fitness Fanatics", I have local gyms to donate several months membership, massages, reflexology, pilates sessions, waterbottles, running gear, nutritional drinks, etc. Also do not forget about your local zumba instructor, ask them to donate a "zumba party" for 10-15 friends. We are really excited about this basket.

Hope this helps a bit.

I received an email from Stampin Up. They seem to be great to work with. I am expecting the package in the next week or 2. really excited about the few I have gotten that are out side of our local businesses.

I have added the auto dealers to the list to ask if they have anyone contacting them. Next monday we will be having a meeting to go over our donations. I am excited I get to bring in some awesome ones from this thread!!

one thing I was reading Disney you have to have 60 days not 6 months and since our PTO isn't 501c we are able to have the principle submit it under because we are a public school. Since we are past our 60 days we decided to wait so we could try it next year and he is more then willng to take the time to fill it out for us. They had NO idea that these types of things were available to us.

Does anyone have any information about Bradford Renaissance Portraits in White Plains, NY? They just donated a gift certificate valued at $5,000 to our silent auction but want to make sure they are legitimate.

@kristina

Who did you contact for Huntington Learning Center? Your local company or the corporate office?

How did you approach the dealerships? Was there some wording that worked better or differently than what would be used for a different company? I just kind of want to nicely up gauge with the dealerships to see what they are willing to give. I am totally not a marketer or have fundraising experience so I want to make sure I say the right thing to a car dealer!
thanks

Glad to see some new ideas posted, today I received 3 more no's. I feel like I'm striking out more left and right!

We received a YES from:

-Harry & Davids, they are donating a gift basket to match our dinner theme (sent a letter to the local outlet store)
-Lightning McQueen Fathead (submitted the email to customer service, they reply with a form you have to fill out).