Bake Sale

ReadWriteLearnLove

ReadWriteLearnLove

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My daughter and one of her teammates are trying to raise funds for their next season of team fees. They have tossed back and forth the idea of holding a bake sale. It's a great idea and they've done a decent amount of leg work. They've talked to the manager of a local restaurant who is willing to allow them to hold the sale at his location, but now they (we) need to figure out what the best way to go about choosing what to bake, how much to bake, and how much to charge for the actual sale.

Has anyone ever planned a bake sale before? I've baked a few things here and there in the past to contribute to a sale, but never actually organized one. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
 
I ran a few bake sales with school teams, mostly unsuccessful because we had to hold them on school grounds. Try to keep things simple and not over-bake. It can be tempting to make a ton of excess stock because you don't want to run out, but it's better to sell out of something popular than to spend way too much on ingredients! Also don't go for anything too exotic - it may seem like a great idea to make a fancy, healthy, pretty looking slice, but most people will say "oh that looks interesting" and then buy something "safe" instead. Chocolate brownies and banana or chocolate cakes are winners - you can make some massive cakes in a slow cooker with little effort and plenty of yield!
 
It sounds like you have gotten some good suggestions above. Prior to the sale if you see some of the individuals who are likely to buy you could try to find out what some of their favorite baked goods are...Gather some intelligence, if possible lol. Make sure that you plan the sale at a convenient time as well.
 
Location and timing is a big part of having success with a bake sale. They could make up a Facebook page advertising their event. People could then suggest what they would be interested in purchasing. Banana bread, cookies and fudge always seem to be big sellers. Cupcakes can be fun too because you can decorate them up different ways. I think it is a wonderful that they are doing this. Good luck to them and keep us updated.
 
I don't know if a bake sale is usually restricted to cakes and other sweet things, but I reckon it could be interesting to include a few savoury items, like sausage rolls, savoury tartlets etc. I used to make something like these cheesy pastries, back in the days of school sales - dead easy if you cheat and use bought puff pastry!

tart.jpg
 
I'd say individual items, such as brownies and cupcakes, would go over well. Also, maybe some pies and cakes, but those would be more likely to be purchased by adults than children/teens, so you'd be gearing the individually baked and wrapped items to children/teens/adults, and the larger items toward the adults. Think about how you'll be packaging items, and maximize the portability. Stores such as restaurant supply shops, as well as party shops and Hobby Lobby tend to carry individual boxes and wrappers. If you're going to be doing the sale around any holiday, I'd also consider buying some colored bags and/or boxes, and charging a little more for those, so they could be purchased and given as gifts. Just some things to consider. I'd look around online at local sales to get an idea of pricing.
 
I was just going to suggest googling bake sales and getting some ideas on how to make a successful bake sale.
There are some awesome ideas to make it fun and a hit in your neighbourhood. So many people don't bake now
so it is a treat from some kids to actually have a taste of some baked goods.
 
We've considered selling baked goods at our garage sales, but even though we live in the sticks, things are very tricky here as far as getting permits for garage sales (we don't), and especially when selling food products. We figured we're tempting fate already, and didn't want to attract anyone who might try to enforce the permit law. We considered just giving them away, but didn't want neighborhood folks just coming and hanging out for the free food, making a mess and detracting from paying customers. Good luck with your sale if you decide to proceed, I'm sure it'll be a hit. As @L_B mentioned, many don't bake these days, and good baked goods are always in demand.
 
Thank you all for the great suggestions. We are still in the early planning stages and haven't even pinpointed a date yet. Those of us trying to plan it just can't get our schedules coordinated where we all have baking time and selling time in the same week!
 
ReadWriteLearnLove said:
Thank you all for the great suggestions. We are still in the early planning stages and haven't even pinpointed a date yet. Those of us trying to plan it just can't get our schedules coordinated where we all have baking time and selling time in the same week!
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My sister had 3 in high school at the same time, and they were all involved in sports, cheering, dance, etc., so I can see how it's difficult for y'all to coordinate your schedules. I hope somehow you're able to pull it off.
 
We do a summer coffee morning in our garden for the local stars appeal at the hospital every year, and we did the largest coffee morning today at a hotel I frequent in Salisbury ,we just pre make some cakes and freeze and then fresh bake the day before,any left we plate up and sell at the end of the sale
 
Berties said:
We do a summer coffee morning in our garden for the local stars appeal at the hospital every year, and we did the largest coffee morning today at a hotel I frequent in Salisbury ,we just pre make some cakes and freeze and then fresh bake the day before,any left we plate up and sell at the end of the sale
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@Berties Do you sell coffee and tea as well as the sweets? That could actually bring in more money, since people seem willing to pay pretty high prices for those types of beverages, and most would probably buy a sweet to go with it.
 
ReadWriteLearnLove said:
Thank you all for the great suggestions. We are still in the early planning stages and haven't even pinpointed a date yet. Those of us trying to plan it just can't get our schedules coordinated where we all have baking time and selling time in the same week!
Click to expand...

Bear in mind sometimes it's best if you have a baking group and a selling group so that noone feels overworked :)
 
I organize school wide bake sales. My class raises fund for their grad shirts. I plan on everyone buying at least one baked good and have a few dozen extra baked things for teachers. I charge 50 cents for each item. I make sure if it's brownies or squares we cut them smaller so that there is enough. We usually sell cupcakes, cookies, squares, rice krispy squares, and brownies. There is one square that everyone loves. It's made from Mars bars and rice krispy cereal. Here is the recipe http://www.food.com/recipe/mars-bars-rice-krispies-squares-no-bake-72608
 
Diane Lane said:
@Berties Do you sell coffee and tea as well as the sweets? That could actually bring in more money, since people seem willing to pay pretty high prices for those types of beverages, and most would probably buy a sweet to go with it.
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Hot drink and cake suggested donation , we had plants stalls and raffles ,we raised£900 for a woman's dedicated cancer ward at our local hospital
 
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