2026 Oak Forest Elementary School Auction & Gala FAQs
What is Auction?
Our Auction is our annual gala fundraiser for the Oak Forest Elementary PTA! This is our chance to get together as parents and friends to have a great time and raise funds for our students. We always have a blast, and we love to support our school while doing it. Plan to come for dinner and dancing, a silent auction, and a fun live auction! Adults only, so plan your childcare accordingly.
What does Auction fund?
The money raised from Auction is critical for our school – it provides funding for the special programs and supplemental grants that our PTA sponsors, beyond the school’s budget from HISD. Examples of programs that are paid for with these funds include the Ready to Grow garden program, teacher grant requests (e.g., book clubs, comprehension kits, manipulatives, flexible seating, Handwriting Without Tears, etc.), professional development, teacher appreciation, and so much more. In addition, special projects have been supported, such as an outdoor classroom and science lab, instruments and music programming, and new library furniture and books. The supplemental funding provided by our PTA enables the OFE administration to use its budget for teacher and interventionist salaries.
What is a social?
A social is a fun event, party, or activity that raises money for our Bobcats. Socials can be for children, adults (moms, dads, or couples), or families. Socials fill up your calendar with fun and are the perfect way to strengthen relationships and make new friendships for both yourself and your children!
Tickets for these special events, hosted and paid for by OFE parents, administrators, or teachers, are sold at Auction. A parent, group of parents, or teachers offer to host and pay for these fun events on set dates for a limited number of guests. Examples include: grade level swim or bowling parties for the kids, a movie night at the school for the kids, kickball and cookie decorating for parents and kids to do together, and wine or bourbon tasting or karaoke parties for adults only. The list of socials will be available before the Auction so you can plan your purchases in advance!
Social tickets are sold at a fixed price and sell out VERY QUICKLY at Auction! The money from social ticket sales goes straight to the PTA. These are always fun events, and we’re thankful to our parents and staff who host!
What are pre-auction socials?
In 2025, we were excited to have two fun, ticketed social events to get everyone excited about Auction: the Dote on Your Daughter Dance and the Bobcat Boys’ Bash. These events function the same way as the socials sold during Auction, with costs fully covered by host families, and all ticket proceeds going to the PTA. Details on 2026 pre-auction socials will be released in the coming months.
How do we know what socials are being offered this year? Do we have a social shopping list/menu?
We will release a detailed list of socials available the week of Auction, with all the information needed to purchase. Our team worked hard to overhaul the Social buying process this year, thanks to partnership with a brand new software platform. Our hope is to eliminate lines and streamline your shopping experience. Important guidelines and menu were released. Please refer to the details sent via email and in a recent Sneak Peek.
What is a grade-level basket?
Grade-level baskets are silent auction baskets to which all classes from a particular grade level have an opportunity to contribute. Each grade level will be assigned a theme and have a curated Amazon wish list from which parents can purchase items or gift cards to donate in support of the auction. Details to come!
Tell me about the live auction.
Live auction is run by an auctioneer for 30 minutes in the middle of our event. Examples of live auction offerings include vacation homes, experiences (chef dinners, principal of the day, etc.), and our big board items. Don’t miss the excitement!
Do you have to attend the event to bid on an item?
No – remote bidding for most items is certainly encouraged for our Bobcat families who cannot attend the event.
When can we start bidding on items?
Most items in our silent auction (except socials) will be available for bidding the week of Auction. Our silent auction will close at a disclosed time on Saturday, February 21, 2026.
What happens if tickets sell out again this year?
Our Auction committee works hard to consider costs as we continue to try to expand our capacity to accommodate our growing community. Please know there is a lot of work that goes into hosting an event of this size (over 650 guests in 2025), and that amount of work and overall cost to hold the event increases along with extra capacity. As a volunteer-led committee tasked with leading our PTA’s key fundraiser, we hope to host a fun event that allows us to leverage the generosity of our community, while maintaining a focus on the primary goal: to fund the programs our PTA hopes to support in the coming year.
For additional questions, please contact