Every year, Abby’s school does a basket raffle to raise money for the school association every year. They mention that it’s a popular event at the orientation meeting, but you don’t really get a sense of why until you actually see the basket contents.

They sent home a green packet and an envelope with Abby one day. In the envelope were ten raffle tickets, which we had the option to buy at $1 per ticket. The greet packet of paper described the contents of the baskets. There are 21 baskets in all, and a ticket must be purchased for a specific basket (you write the number on the ticket when you return it with payment).

To give you a general idea of what’s so amazing about this thing, I’ll reproduce the list of contents for basket #21, “Ocean Getaway”:

• Polaroid 5.0 megapixel Digital Camera i533
• Clompus, Reto, & Halscheld Vision Assoc. Eye exam and Glasses ($375 value)
• $50 gift certificate courtesy of Carey Burke, Silpada Designs Jewelry
• 5 Admission tickets to Brandywine River Museum ($30 value)
• $25 TGI Friday's gift card
• Brown, microfiber duffel bag with removable shoulder strap (24"L×12"H×9"D)
• Adult-size umbrella courtesy of ABC News WPVI TV-6
• $10 gift card courtesy of Super Wok
• $5 gift card courtesy of Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robbins, Rte 113
• Sudoku puzzle book AND Crossword puzzle book AND Puzzle fun book
• Two red leather luggage tags
• Four canvas zippered travel bags
• Travel combination lock
• Large and mini photo albums (holds 320 + 40 photographs)
• Old Virginia soy candle - "Soft Cotton"
• 2 canisters full of Fuji apple chips
• Ladder picture frame (holds three 3×3 photos)
• Picture frame (2×3)
• Two picture frames (4×6)
• Sunscreen/toiletries
• Avon manicure-pedicure kit
• Avon Skin-So-Soft bug guard spray
• Rand McNally 2007 Road Atlas
• Two black passport holders
• Telephone/Address book and travel journal
• Vera Bradley cosmetic bag
• Mini first aid kit
• Deck of cards

Yes, that’s one basket.

The other baskets are similarly filled. There are a couple of baskets with a Nintendo DS in them, there’s one with a DVD player, and one with a 30GB video iPod.

When Berta first gave me the list of basket contents and said, “I picked five, pick ones you like,” the first thing I saw in the list was the Green Machine. Yes, there is a giant bigwheel in the first basket. This is not surprising though, since one of the other baskets is a whole bicycle kit, including helmet, lights, lock, water bottle, and - oh, yeah - a Trek 220 mountain bike with 24" wheels.

It’s no wonder this is such a popular fundraiser. Some of these baskets are fantastic. There are a couple of kitchen-oriented baskets that include not just cookware (pans, utensils, appliances, you name it) but trips to these new meal-planning centers that Berta has been interested in. Two of the baskets include copies of Microsoft Vista and Office 2007, along with some tickets to a dinner theater.

These baskets are crazy!

After sifting through the list, it seemed important to know that additional raffle tickets were available for purchase in the school office.