How to Throw a Bake Sale

Organize & Promote

• Post a sign with the name of the organization or how the proceeds will be used.
• Turn your bake sale into a social event with live music, craft and food demonstrations and games.
• Schedule a bake day to prepare for the event. Spacious school and church kitchens are particularly helpful.
• Arrange a telephone committee to contact each organization member to solicit baked goods.
• Promote your bake sale any way you can—via email, social media, radio, TV and your local newspaper. (Sending a sample box of goodies along with a flyer announcing the event to the local radio or TV station probably wouldn’t hurt!)
• Include a thank-you note with purchases.
• Find a business that will match or double your profits.
• Sell a recipe booklet that includes all bake-sale recipes.

• Offer small samples for tasting, as well as water and coffee, and customers will likely stick around longer.
• Bake and sell small treats like doughnuts and mini muffins while the sale is in full swing.
• Be sure to include everything from decadent chocolate treats to items for special diets.
• Offer a variety of sizes—from single servings to full cakes and pies—and sell individual cookies and bars.
• Have a variety of prices, but keep prices simple for adding and making change by pricing in increments of 25 cents.
• Don’t forget to keep things simple and also offer items that don’t require baking.

• Explore dollar stores and bargain bins at national discount retailers for inexpensive containers for your baked treats. Think small galvanized buckets, take-out containers, cellophane bags, fabric bags and gift boxes.
• Purchase cute, inexpensive plastic plates and place your treats on them. Wrapped with clear wrap and tied with a pretty ribbon, they look gift-worthy and give the buyer the perk of a free plate!
• Search sites like Etsy for adorable sale tags that you can affix to packages with the name of the treat.
• Beautiful ribbon can be purchased for a song at craft stores. Or pick up fabric in punchy colors and graphic patterns, and cut your own strands of ribbon to tie up cellophane bags or adorn gift boxes.
• For extra-easy transportation, package cupcakes in clear punch cups, covered in cellophane and tied with a bow and nametag.

• Bring bags, a cash box with plenty of change, price stickers and marking pens.
• Make it easy for customers to carry bake-sale items home. Furnish bags big enough to encourage the purchase of more than one product and a few for the freezer.
• Have recipes printed and available for people to take. This is especially important for people who need to know the ingredients because of special diets or allergies.