A few days ago I wrote about the Great American Bake Sale. It is one of the charities that our little Lemonade Stand will support this summer. If one other reader decides that they too will hold a bake sale this year, I’m happy. You can read more about what to do and how to do it at The Great American Bake Sale Website. (If you want a free lemonade stand, check out Sunkist’s give away. We generally combine the lemonade stand with the bake sale to maximize our efforts.
While I’ll be the first to admit that running a bake sale is a lot of hard work, it is a great way to give kids practice in cooking, in handling money and in dealing with the public. (And yes, I consider it absolutely essential to involve the kids!) Over the next several weeks, I will share our recipe winners–the recipes that we baked that had people coming back and buying seconds and thirds and sometimes even fourths! I’ll also share some tips on how to run a really successful bake sale.
Location, Location, Location
Planning the right location for your event is essential. You need to be where there is a lot of traffic and so doing it at the end of your drive way might not be the ideal place. Consider asking a store if you can partner with them and sell goodies to those who are coming in or leaving. If the proceeds are going to charity, they might consider it. Look in your local community and you are bound to find a good location with lots of traffic.
What to Sell
It is much better to find items that are portable, such as brownies or cookies, than it is to serve something that is fancy but requires plates, forks and napkins. Don’t forget too that stand by favorites probably became favorites at bake sales. While you might be dying to try those orange flavored pecan tassies–your bake sale is probably not the place to do it. On the other hand, one newer recipe along with tried and true favorites can result in a new discovery that will become the new cookie jar favorite.
Letting Kids Help
Letting your kids help you is a great idea. However, it’s really important to have a ‘bake sale primer’ before you get to doing the real thing. Depending on how young your kids are, you might want to consider role playing various scenarios. However, in our experience it’s important to point out the following:
*remind your kids what charity you are supporting and what the charity does (having flyers never hurts)
*remind your kids to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to each person
*remind your kids that they have to keep a close eye on the money
Look soon for more bake sale recipe favorites and even more tips to have a successful bake sale. If you’re planning on hosting a Great American Bake Sale–let me know–I’d love to hear from you!
Valorie Delp shares recipes and kitchen tips in the food blog, solves breastfeeding problems, shares parenting tips, and current research in the baby blog, and insight, resources and ideas as a regular guest blogger in the homeschooling blog. To read more articles by Valorie Delp, click here.
Are you subscribed to the Families.com Food Blog? With the click of a button, you can receive an email notification anytime a new blog is posted in the Families.com Food Blog! Just look to the right of this blog and find the subscription center (it looks just like this picture). Click on “Subscribe via Email”. You’ll be instantly subscribed and the email address that you registered at Families.com with will receive an instant notification whenever we post a new Food Blog! Don’t miss a thing – subscribe now!