Hello BrickPickers...

It's that time of year again.  Time to raise money for my son Max's school, St. Paul School in Burlington, NJ.  After a very...VERY...successful first BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE in which we raised over $62,000.00 for the school, it is time to start thinking about this year's version.  

The money we raised last year literally kept the school open...which is a great thing.  It's a special school that once again was voted BEST Private School in Burlington County, NJ by The Burlington County Times, along with numerous other awards.  We picked up 25 new children this year, which is great news as well.  

This year, Jeff and I will be chipping in some sets (UCS 10221 Super Star Destroyer comes to mind) and the school's PTA will be donating some items as well.  As always, I will accept donations from members that we can raffle off.  We got some really good stuff from members last year that helped sell a lot of tickets.  

Last year we had ELEVEN separate LEGO raffles and winners from around the world.  Surprisingly, the raffles all were pretty much equal in tickets sold, with the 10188 Death Star being the most popular and the Friends themed lot being the least popular.  Regardless, the Friends lot still help bring in thousands of dollars, which was wonderful.  

I am here today asking the community is there anything else that would interest people?  It has to be something I can buy and drop ship for ease and cost factors.  How about an Apple IPad or similar electronic device?  How about gift cards?  How about watches?  You let me know.  I want to sell tickets and I really don't care if there are some non-LEGO items mixed in.  I'm looking for ideas, because I have to address the school PTA on October 3rd to see how much we will be raffling off.  

I will put up a simple poll to get some feedback.  You can also respond with some ideas that will give me some direction.  Thanks for your responses ahead of time and I am looking forward to raising even more money this year.  

Ed Mack

I think we need to be reasonable here folks.

2 minutes ago, Lordoflego said:

I think we need to be reasonable here folks.

Exactly what I was thinking, SMDH!

I agree with the reasonable. I hope people will contribute even if a Grand Carousel or Green Grocer doesn't get included.

I'd like to see some smaller groups, say the most recent SW Microfighters series, or the newest set of Speed Champions.

I would be all for 4 or 5 groups of sets that are low cost. It spreads the winning out a bit.

43 minutes ago, Lordoflego said:

I think we need to be reasonable here folks.

What really got the raffle going last year was the chance to win some sets that you might have missed out on. In that vein I provided my suggestions. I'm not saying: put a 10179 in there (or a comparable "golden" LEGO set). But it is true that to a lot of us who are in-touch with current deals the true appeal of the raffle prizes would be items that are no longer available at retail. What that is is of course up to those who donate the sets. I've given suggestions for items I'd love to see.

This doesn't mean there are no interesting pairings of relatively recent sets that people would like to win, and especially "collections" would be great, i.e. a Scooby Doo bundle, or a Speed Champions 1st wave bundle, or a JW bundle (though that RE starts becoming a "golden" set) ....

I'd think even a T1 or BWE or AROCS might get people bidding.

So yes, by all means be reasonable (Taj Mahal - out of the question, ditto for Grand Carousel or UCS MF). But one or more "grand" prizes of sets that have already appreciated will definitely pay back in terms of donations.

I'm sure Ed has the numbers on what kind of packages were the most lucrative last year. I'd say, mirror those.

in a hypothetical scenario , the " lets be real about these  " sets can be auctioned to those who buy XXX amount of raffle tickets .  

On 9/25/2016 at 9:20 AM, jaisonline said:

Hi Folks. 

I'll do the same as last year (copying Mos' original idea) to support the children of NJ's St. Paul School.  

For each "LIKE" THIS SPECIFIC post gets, I'll put $1 toward the raffle.

Thanks,
JA Is Online
 

Let's not forget this from first page.

Edited November 18, 20169 yr by Lordoflego

oh how about some signed books from the Macs

In the way of new sets, what would people want.

2 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

In the way of new sets, what would people want.

Cars. E.g. Caterham, Beetle, perhaps combined with smaller sized cars from Speed Champions or City, or even a Technic car.

In the realm of expensive: Technic Porsche

If someone from the UK can help source one: 40197 Mosaic set

just to name a few.

26 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

In the way of new sets, what would people want.

You'd never go wrong with a Star Wars bundle. 

33 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

In the way of new sets, what would people want.

The new batman movie sets would be nice.