Sold! Snip goes for bargain price

There was no shortage of eager female bidders for the voucher. Photo / Thinkstock

An unsuspecting Kiwi dad could find a painful surprise waiting for him underneath the tree this Christmas.

A vasectomy voucher was auctioned at a Wellington playcentre yesterday -- and there was no shortage of eager female bidders.

The Island Bay Playcentre offered the item, worth $400, at its fundraising gala day and an unidentified local mum paid $350 for it.

"We are thrilled a lucky local family will benefit from this, but dad might not be so pleased when he finds out," auction organiser Sonja Parigger said.

"The bidding got off to a slow start then there was flurry of interest from a number of different women.

"Towards the end the bidding got quite heated."

The voucher raised $40 more than a Hobbit book signed by Sir Peter Jackson and fetched seven times the amount paid for a U2 CD autographed by Bono.

"It was one of those novelty items that could have gone for $10 or $1000 but in the end we were delighted to get $350," Parigger added.

Several centre parents are doctors. Local GP Tim Jefferies had the idea and volunteered colleague Shane Dunphy to perform the snip.

The voucher includes pre-operative consultation, the procedure and post-operative care, but makes it clear no frozen peas will be included, something commonly used by patients to reduce swelling.