Holidays of a lifetime are going under the hammer for literally pennies in a new travel auction run by international water charity Just a Drop and The Sun newspaper.

The Sun Big Charity Auction is offering more than £200,000 of holiday prizes for potentially less than the loose change in your pocket.

It works as a reverse auction – so it is the opposite of a tradition eBay-style auction where the highest bid wins. Here the lowest unique bid wins.

For example, if two or more bidders place bids of 2p but only one bidder only places a bid of 3p then they win.

Holiday prizes up for grabs include trips to Brazil, Cuba, Disneyland Paris, Innsbruck, Las Vegas, Reykjavik, Austria and Turkey. So you could find yourself topping up your tan on Copacabana Beach this winter for the price of a bag of sweets.

It costs just 50p per bid to enter, and the auction runs till 23 December. All proceeds go to Just a Drop, a charity that aim to combat child mortality in developing countries caused by unsafe water. It builds wells and manages sanitation and health education programmes.

Fiona Jeffery, founder and chairman of Just a Drop, said: “Given the harsh economic climate we adopted ‘a gift in kind’ strategy and The Sun and Bidclever immediately both offered to give their support for free. Then travel & tourism companies from around the world rallied together to donate over 30 fabulous holiday prizes.”

For more information on The Sun Big Charity Auction in aid of Just a Drop and details on some of the prizes on offer visit www.sunholidayauctions.co.uk