dear jpianoflorida,
i respect your beliefs as well and enjoy your posts, too! i am of the same mind about positive experiences. i just went to one tonight. a penny auction. how can kids and parents get so excited that the people can't hear the auctioneer over penny items? there was so much enthusiasm that it sort of caught on. after a while - losing all your money meant nothing.
ok. let me explain. the middle school had this 'penny auction' where you can buy a envelope full of little cut up pieces of paper that have a number (your personal number) like 058. then, you go sit down along a train of lunchroom tables that circle around like a train track. people start passing things by you with a tin can - and you can bid as little or as much of your number as you want on any particular item that passes by you (on a cardboard tray). basically, some mom just went and bought out target's junk items. a whole three shelves of 'clearance' items.
back to the idea. then - when all the items and cans (1 item and 1 can per cardboard tray) come to the end of the table - the auctioneer grabs the can - pulls out a number - and tells the item and the number that won.
so...1/2 way through the thing - i'm straining to hear, like beethoven must have, amid a sort of squirrel rush on things by 6th 7th and 8th graders. the parents have to dig for more money once in a while to buy more tickets. the whole thing feeds on itself.
all in all - i don't think any parents left with any cash or change. but, it was fun while it lasted.