
Every Spring the PTA at the elementary school has a basket raffle. Each grade is asked to make a basket to donate. The classes in that grade choose a theme (a book, a college, etc.) and then ask the parents of the students to donate items going along with the theme. For 2 weeks the baskets are in the hallway on a table. Each student in the school gets one free ticket to put in the jar for the basket they want to win. Then each ticket thereafter is 25 cents.
In the past, Ethan has begged me to send extra money with him so he could get more raffle tickets and he has never won. This year he didn't even ask, so I didn't bother sending money with Courtney either because I figured she wouldn't win. And, they had their free ticket, so I thought their chances were fine.
Today, while running errands, my friend (who works at the school) sent me a text saying that Courtney had won the BYU raffle basket! I about died! I was on my way to the school to help with Courtney's class Easter egg hunt so I quickly turned the van toward the school. When I showed up Courtney and her teacher were super excited. It was hilarious!
After the egg hunt, Courtney and I went to the office to get her basket. Since we weren't putting money in them, I hadn't paid much attention to the baskets in the hallway. Her basket was LOADED! They took her picture with it and then let us go. (The school secretary told me that just that morning a teacher had put $20 or $30 worth of tickets in to try and win the BYU basket. They were happy that Courtney won with her free ticket.)
When we arrived home Courtney had to open her basket. It was really deceiving. It had A LOT more stuff in it than I realized. She got a BYU t-shirt (size Large so she gave it to Ethan), 6 packs of crayons, 3 notebooks, 2 packs of colored pencils, 40 regular pencils, 2 sets of markers, 2 drawing pads, 8 books, 2 big bags of candy, a basketball, a playground ball, 6 BYU folders, 3 BYU book covers, a calculator, a Santa Clara Reads shirt, some Girl Scout thin mints, 10 glue sticks, a ruler, safety scissors, a roll of Otter Pops, and a puzzle book. (I think that was it.)
I kept telling her not to brag to Ethan when he got home and she decided that she would put some of her loot on his bed so then he would be a winner too and she wouldn't be able to brag. Smart girl! So he got her BYU t-shirt, a couple BYU folders and a BYU book cover. He may get more out of her, but I'm pretty excited that I have most of her school supplies for next year!
Lucky girl!