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33+ Raffle Basket Ideas to Wow the Crowd & Win Support
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A raffle is an easy way to increase fundraising revenue and engage supporters at events. The trick to hosting a successful raffle is ensuring that the raffle baskets and prizes you offer are enticing enough to encourage scores of ticket sales.
In this guide, we’ll review the most effective raffle basket ideas in the following sections:
- Raffle basket FAQs
- Food and beverage raffle basket ideas
- Sports and leisure raffle prizes
- Raffle basket ideas for kids and families
- Seasonal raffle basket ideas
- Inexpensive raffle prize ideas
- Tech raffle prize ideas
Choosing the right raffle prizes for your audience will help add extra value to your nonprofit events, encouraging supporters to continue participating in your fundraising initiatives. Let’s start by answering a few frequently asked questions to understand how raffles function.
Raffle basket FAQs
How does a raffle work?
Supporters purchase raffle tickets, typically for a low fee. Each ticket purchase equals one entry into the raffle. At the end of the event or raffle entry period, one or more winners are chosen depending on how many prizes are offered.
Raffles often take place at fundraising events like galas or auctions. They can also be held virtually, and supporters can purchase tickets online.
Important note: Raffles are considered “games of chance” or a form of gambling, which is illegal in many states. Check your state’s gambling regulations, and consult with your legal team to ensure you can legally host your raffle. You may need to secure a permit or license and follow specific regulations for hosting and handling income made at the raffle.
Where can you get raffle baskets or prizes?
Connect with corporate partners and individual donors to ask if they’d be willing to donate raffle prizes to your fundraiser. Corporate partners are often happy to help out because of the benefits they receive from charitable involvement. For example, 77% of consumers want to purchase from companies with corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs.
Emphasize the positive publicity that corporate sponsors and individual donors can receive from donating raffle prizes to your event. Your nonprofit can publicly thank these donors using your social media, email, blog posts, and other event marketing materials.
How can you simplify the raffle planning process?
Hosting a fundraising event with a raffle can quickly get complicated as your nonprofit juggles event planning, invitations, and prize procurement. Stay organized with Bloomerang’s online giving and event management tools.
Bloomerang’s solutions make it easy to find item donors, register attendees, provide a simple checkout process for raffle winners, and follow up with event attendees to strengthen relationships.
Now, let’s dive into some of the most compelling raffle basket ideas to help engage your event audience and sell more tickets.
Food and beverage raffle basket ideas
Foodies will be thrilled to participate in your raffle when they can receive an amazing food or beverage basket as a prize. Here are a few delicious ideas for food-related raffle prizes:
- Wine basket. Fill a basket with a variety of fine wines, including whites, reds, and everything in between! Search for valuable vintage bottles or unique varieties donors may not have tried yet.
- Charcuterie basket. Charcuterie boards are flat surfaces covered with meats, cheese, nuts, jams, crackers, and other appetizer snacks. Include all of these items in a charcuterie basket to help one lucky winner host their best dinner party yet.
- Pastry basket. Partner with a local bakery to create a basket of fresh pastries, such as donuts, croissants, cookies, and muffins.
- Gourmet chocolate basket. Appeal to the chocolate lovers at your event with a basket featuring unique or artisan chocolates.
- Coffee basket. Include several coffee varieties, along with cute mugs, to impress the coffee connoisseurs in your audience. Consider also including gift cards to local coffee shops to allow the winner to try new spots in your community.
- Local goods basket. Partner with a variety of local businesses and restaurants to fill a local goods basket. You may receive items like artisan olive oil from a local shop, fresh bread from a bakery, and handmade candles from a nearby artist.
- Personal chef prize. This prize involves a free meal cooked by a local professional chef at the winner’s home. Connect with the head chef at a renowned local restaurant to ask if they’d be willing to donate their time to support your cause.
- Tea time basket. This package could include a variety of teas, along with mugs and jars of honey. Add an electric tea kettle or vintage teapot to make this prize even more valuable.
- Picnic basket. Provide everything supporters need to host a fun and relaxing picnic, including a blanket, tablecloth, plates, utensils, napkins, and flowers. Throw in a gift card to a local artisan grocery store so the winner can pick up food and drinks for their picnic.
Sports and leisure raffle prizes
The following sports and leisure-themed prizes make it easier for winners to participate in their favorite hobbies or relax and unwind after a stressful week:
- Spa basket. Include bath bombs, facemasks, lotions, a cozy robe, and a voucher for a free massage at a local spa.
- Sports-themed basket. Create different themed baskets for different sports. For example, a baseball basket could include a new glove, a baseball signed by a famous player, and tickets to a game.
- Personal trainer voucher. Help supporters meet their fitness goals with free personal training sessions.
- Autographed sports memorabilia. Offer a signed baseball glove, basketball, football, or jersey as an exciting prize for sports fanatics.
- Streaming service package. There are so many streaming platforms to choose from nowadays, and many are raising prices. Offer a year-long subscription bundle of several different platforms, such as Netflix, Max, and Disney+, to help one winner offset these costs.
- Pet parent basket. 66% of U.S. households own a pet, making a pet-focused basket the perfect raffle prize for your next event. Include pet toys, beds, leashes, and a voucher for a customizable collar.
Raffle basket ideas for kids and families
These family-friendly raffle prizes are perfect for school fundraising events or nonprofits that serve a youth population:
- Board game basket. Create a bundle with popular board games like Yahtzee, Monopoly, Settlers of Catan, and Sorry!, as well as card and dice games.
- Theme park passes. For the thrill-seekers in your audience, offer four to five theme park passes to a local amusement or water park.
- Movie night basket. Bundle together gift cards for streaming services, popcorn, candy, and sodas to create the perfect movie night basket.
- Craft kit. Inspire creativity among your audience by offering everything needed for a craft activity, including glue, construction paper, markers, watercolor paints, and other supplies.
- Zoo or aquarium tickets. A day out at the zoo or aquarium is a useful gift for families with young children. Ask if your local zoo or aquarium would be willing to donate free tickets to your raffle.
Seasonal raffle basket ideas
If your raffle is held during a seasonal event, such as a back-to-school block party or holiday market, it makes sense to offer seasonal prizes as well. Here are a few ideas for seasonal prizes at different times of the year:
- Gardening basket. When spring rolls around, supporters will appreciate a gardening basket with vegetable and flower seeds, gardening gloves, and tools. You can also include a gift card to your local gardening store or Home Depot so the prize winner can pick up any additional items they need.
- Fourth of July basket. Celebrate America’s founding with a Fourth of July basket that features marshmallows, beach towels, sidewalk chalk, patriotic lawn decor, and party poppers.
- Back to school basket. Take some stress off parents’ shoulders by creating a back-to-school basket with notebooks, pencils, pens, a calculator, folders, and other school supplies.
- Autumn harvest basket. Welcome the fall season with a harvest basket that includes seasonal produce like pumpkins and apples, along with decorative items like glass gem corn and Halloween decor.
- Thanksgiving feast basket. Empower one lucky supporter to make this Turkey Day the best one yet with cans of cranberry sauce, charcuterie board items, sparkling cider, and a voucher for a free Thanksgiving turkey.
- Hot chocolate basket. Help supporters stay warm in the chilly winter months with a hot chocolate basket with different flavors, marshmallows, mugs, and stirring sticks.
- Ski trip. If you want to offer one big-ticket prize item, a ski trip is an enticing option! Secure ski passes and all-inclusive lodging to go along with this prize.
Inexpensive raffle prize ideas
If you’re on a tight budget, these inexpensive raffle ideas will help you save money while still providing valuable prizes for winners:
- Gift cards. Let your local businesses shine by gathering several gift cards from around the community, such as gift cards for restaurants, gyms, clothing stores, and gift stores.
- Movie tickets. Purchase movie tickets for an upcoming summer blockbuster. Bonus points if you can access an early screening of a new movie!
- Lottery tickets. Allow supporters to try their luck with a lottery ticket basket with different ticket types.
- Pro-bono services package. Connect with a local handyman, car detailing company, or lawn service to see if they’d be willing to donate their services as a raffle prize.
Tech raffle prize ideas
New technology devices are released all the time, and your tech-savvy supporters may be thrilled to see that your raffle prize is a tech item like one of the following:
- New TV. Set one lucky winner up with a sleek new TV. You can even throw in TV mounting services so the winner can install their new device effectively and safely in their home.
- Smart home device. Amazon Echo, Google Nest, Ring Doorbell Cameras, and other smart home devices are revolutionizing the way people protect and manage their homes. A new smart home device can be a great prize for any household looking to up their technology game.
- Video gaming system. The global pandemic, along with a worldwide chip shortage, made video game consoles like the PlayStation 5 extremely hard to come by. Because of these issues, many gamers still may not have access to the new systems they want. Offering a video game system like a PS5 can be enticing for supporters.
- Noise-canceling headphones. Help supporters drown out excessive noise and be more productive with noise-canceling headphones.
- Tablet. Apple iPads, Samsung Galaxy Tab, and Amazon Fire are a few of the most popular tablet varieties to consider for your raffle prize.
Wrapping Up
Hosting a raffle is an effective way to add more excitement to your fundraising events and give supporters the chance to win a valuable prize in exchange for their support. All of these raffle ideas will help boost ticket sales and secure more revenue for your cause.
And if you’re ready to take your event planning to the next level with user-friendly software to manage fundraising, Bloomerang is here to help. Contact us for support ahead of your next event.
Looking for more information to host a successful event? Start with these additional resources:
- How to Run a Silent Auction: 10 Steps for Success. Nonprofits commonly hold raffles during other fundraising events, like silent auctions. This guide will help plan an engaging and successful silent auction event.
- 40+ Unforgettable Live Auction Items that Sell Well. Interested in hosting a live auction, or looking for more fundraising event prize ideas? Check out this guide to effective live auction items and packages.
- Bloomerang + Qgiv. Learn about Bloomerang’s partnership with Qgiv and how you can leverage these platforms to plan well-organized events and raffles.
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