Dave,

While the grab bag is as much a fun thing for the convention as a fundraiser (the best ideas are multi taskers), there is another potential issue with mailing out or reserving bags for people:

The items vary (really great to mundane), and it is somewhat luck of the draw. All the bags are placed on the table, and you pays your money and takes your pick. They all look about the same.

If someone involved in the fundraiser picked for a third party, then if he got mundane he may be disappointed, if he got really good, others may be disappointed. You've been around long enough to know that there is invariably someone who would suggest devious motives to the what is essentially a random item.

Adding extra responsibility, time, an opportunity for conflict seems a lot to ask somebody who is donating their time. That does not mean that if somebody wanted to do a grab bag for persons who couldn't make the convention, or buy for them, that they couldn't.

Debbie and I are friends (I am also a big fan of her work). I asked Debbie last year to hold a bag for me. I use the scooter, and the item having been such a success the first year, and with all the positive comments on the chip board, I was concerned that they may all be gone before I had a chance to get there. I certainly didn't want to be crashing over people to get there first.

Debbie declined, saying it had to be first come first served to be fair (and I understood). Fortunately I was able to get one, even though I was a little late.