What are the best items for a silent auction?

Make up Theme baskets. People love pet items, Spa items and food themes usually are a big hit too

Wine is always good, especially if it comes from a local winery (donated!). Gift certificates for product and/or services are nice. Any type of symbiotic relationship you can develop will be of benefit to you in years to come. Remember, it never hurts to ask. Even a small donation can be combined with some other "orphans" to create an exciting themed basket.

A silent auction can be a great money maker. You need to know your audience. The timing of your event also has lots to do with what people are looking for... (day, evening, indoors, outside, etc.). Are families coming? Is it semi-formal?

In the end, please DO NOT forget to send out Thank You notes to all donors!

We generally have the smaller/less expensive items as "raffle" items (i.e. where they purchase raffle tickets) and the larger items as silent auction items. Gift certificates are often easy to get, but alot of people forget that services like a consultation with an attorney (e.g. to draft a will) or a couple hours of babysitting are often very popular. Think of people and businesses you and your board know, then ask them what they'd be willing to donate. It makes a huge differencec if the business has some connectivity to your organization.

I think a good variety of items like gift certificates, bottles of wine, travel and especially breed specific pet items are a must. Also having a good range of prices makes it affordable for everyone to participate. Good luck!!

Any autographed sports items (jerseys, hockey sticks etc...) and sports tickets do really well for your local teams. We live in a huge football and hockey town, so those do best. Most of the players will sign and donate items if you can contact someone for the national leagues of the teams you want to use.