When you hand out the flyers or notices for food donations for the bake sale, it should be stated "homemade baked goods only please". Can't get any clearer than that!

I love to bake and DD brings it in her lunch. She always has friends asking if they could have a taste, so now she brings extra to share. When I make my banana cake (a favourite of two of her friends), I give them each a big piece in the morning while they wait for the bus in our yard.

I just recently told my daughter "Aren't you lucky to have a mom that bakes. Not too many mothers bake anymore!". Your post just proved it too! LOL

I'm not sure if the issue is having "enough time" but that people have become germ o phobics.

I know that the schools were discouraging at first and then not allowing home baked goods because of the liability factor.

I'm not saying I agree or disagree, because I remember school carnivals where the Cake Walk was huge fun. Mothers baked and donated cakes for that. And lots of other goodies were for sale.

It's the same with Halloween...would you let your child eat a popcorn ball from the lady two streets over now?

Surely you jest? Sigh. No, I don't doubt you. And I wish I could say I was surprised. But several years ago I watched someone pass of what I KNEW where store bought rolls at a county fair (won a ribbon with them, too), so nothing surprises me anymore.

I fully expect to find homemade goods at a fundraising bake sale. I don't buy otherwise. Why re-purchase something I could get during my regular shopping trip? And I think the fact that the homemade cookies were selling faster than the store-bought items just proves that other people want and expect homemade goods, too.

I agree with Khandi. State simply and politely that homemade baked goods are requested...then be just as clear with the customers that the goods are homemade. The customer can then decide if they want to take the "chance".

I guess it probably depends on the size of the town you live in. Our population is 2500 and when my kids were in school and I was involved in Bake Sales I would have people ask what I made because that is what they wanted to buy. I do know that homemade items sell much faster here or that did at that time.

I don't really think I would like to buy anything homemade if I didn't know personally who made it.

I agree - at a bake sale, items should be homemade.

My friend lives in FL and she told me that all public schools and daycares do not allow homemade treats -- must be store-bought.

Have you considered offering recipes along with the sign-up sheet? Sometimes it may be more of a "I don't know what to bring", or it may not be "worthy" of a sale.
Jar cakes are terrific if samples were given out...because of the novelty, you might need to show how moist they are, and that they can be saved for later. Maybe with a card attached with a frosting recipe?
Just a thought

Due to so many kids with allergies, especially peanut, many schools disallow homebaked goods to be distributed in the schools. We're not allowed to bring in cupcakes for birthdays, but you can order them from the school cafeteria.
Most bake sales (churches, etc) around here still have lots of homebaked goods.

Jo

But how many people today actually KNOW how to bake? I know a lot of women (and men) who have never baked anything from scratch, and many who don't even use mixes. It's rare to find anyone--at least around here--who knows how to bake bread at all.

Then there is the health/sanitation/liability question. I haven't bought anything from bake sales for at least 15 years, and before that, I only bought if I knew the person who made the product well enough to know how clean their kitchen was, and how sanitary their baking practices were. I NEVER buy homemade baked goods made by a stranger--too risky.

I think, if you're running a bake sale, you'd be cutting off your nose to spite your face to require that all contributions be home-baked. Maybe the homemade stuff goes first in some situations, but once it's gone, the other stuff will sell, too. And when folks are willing to contribute, it's only right to graciously accept what they offer--be it homemade from scratch, a boxed mix or a purchased donation.

And keep in mind, if you have an assortment (homemade and purchased) treats, you're likely to sell more in the end, because there are some folks (like me) who maybe won't buy if it's only homemade stuff but who will buy a cake from a known bakery.

I NEVER buy homemade baked goods made by a stranger--too risky.

azzalea - I am curious what you think might happen to you? With a baked good, my thought is the worse thing you may encounter is a hair in your cupcake (gross, I know - sorry). I have never heard of anyone getting sick or dying from a brownie or cookie.

While I always bake lots of things when there's a bake sale because I love to bake, most people do bring store bought baked goods.

Bottom line - it's a fundraiser - for a good cause - and I always appreciate that people do what they can to support the cause, whether it's homemade or store bought.

Bonnie

I live in Central Florida, and there are no restrictions on my sons' school as to homemade items being brought in for birthdays. It was the same when I lived in South Florida, the teachers were thrilled when someone sent in something homemade for all to enjoy. I have worked at bake sales, and while it's my personal policy to contribute something homemade, because I love to bake, some people can't or don't bake, in which case the package of decorated sugar cookies from the local Publix supermarket is gratefully accepted. I always wrap individually each cookie or cupcake or brownie that I contribute. At our elementary school bake sales, we ask that all contributors wrap their goodies that way too. It just seems cleaner. I have cringed though, when I see kids going from one platter to another, touching things, picking up and putting down several items before they decide. One boy recently picked up a frosted brownie, unwrapped it, SNIFFED IT, then attempted to put it back. Yuck. Thankfully, his mom made him take it, or we would have had to toss it.

I love bake sales, and I agree with what Bonnie said, they're usually fundraisers for a good cause. I've seen a mix of homemade and store bought here in this area. There are lots of convenience products in grocery stores that help create the illusion of homemade, i.e, pre-portioned cookie dough, sheets of rolled out gingerbread dough, etc. But it all seems to get eaten, especially when kids are involved.
DONNA

Also on the flyer handout I would state that homemade bake goods sell better then store bought. It is a fund raiser after all, a Bake Sale. Not a store sale. Let them know what raises the most money. I have always home baked for school and town events/fund raisers. The first things to go are home made. Some of the store bought items don't even sell at the end of the day so they are brought to our local food pantry. NancyLouise

I remember as a kid, at our school carnival I entered the Cake Walk and won a coconut cake! I was totally excited!

Our elementary school does not allow anything homemade. Well actually our school won't even allow store bought cupcakes or cakes, etc., in the school at all now. Heck, parents aren't even allowed in our school for security reasons.

I belong to a mothers club and we have socials and get togethers where everyone brings something; a dessert or appetizer. I always make something homemade, and the rest is all store bought. They arrive with a grocery store bag with a plastic container from the bakery and just put the container on the table.

Hey anyone remember the fresh fruit and dip the one mom brought to my house?

Times have changed.

Our school sometimes has a "No Bake Sale". You send in $5 and you don't have to bake a cake :-)

We had a pot-luck dinner not to long ago and I was impressed that one young single guy brought a Caesar salad. Then he took a lot of ribbing because someone had seen him in the front of our house mixing it up in the back of his pick-up truck from a salad kit from the grocery. I was really touched that he had gone to that much effort.

I think not many people cook or sew much these days. I was in the middle of a project and had the sewing maching set up on the breakfast room table. A twenty something young man came over to look at it, "Yeah, I remember my grandmother had one of those." lol

Our children are all in their twenties and early thirties and I can tell their friends are impressed whenever we have bread or jams that are homemade. Both of my daughters are excellent cooks and enjoy it a lot so I think they will be the ones bringing the only homemade items on the bake sale table.

Could it be partly a generational thing? I'm late fifties and was a young adult in the seventies and still have a sort of earth mother mentality.

I am a child of the 70's and 80's and even though my mom cooked and made dinner every night, she never made a cake from scratch-always used a mix. She did however make her own frosting. I have lots of friends around my age whom I know for a fact have never made a cake from scratch. I was the same way until the last few years. I finally found an easy chocolate cake recipe. Now I'm on the hunt for a great yellow cake recipe.

Oh, and I can't sew at all except to maybe put a button back on.

Tracey

I sew, I will do most of my own cooking and baking, and am 50, so maybe it's my generation. When pressed for time, convenience foods are nice, but I don't think I've ever brought anything to a potluck or bakesale that was direct-from-store. (Except one thing: for a potato-bake one time, I contributed the fat-free sour cream and light margarine - which, btw, were also the first to be emptied.)

Our schools do allow homemade goods for parties and birthdays. But all volunteers in the classrooms or anywhere around school must be fingerprinted AND have a TB test every 3 years. They also must never be alone in a room with a child (which is a good rule for us teachers, too).

Teachers who have a child with an allergy are encouraged to let the other parents know, "This room has a child with an allergy to (x), so please mark your contribution if it includes (x)." Most kids are very good about not eating something if they know they're allergic to it.

I think the annotation on a flyer "homemade goodies sell the best" is a good idea.

Thanks for the ideas, ladies (and gents).

DonnaR/CA

The thing too when it's a school fundraiser, it's mostly the parents of the kids attending that school that donate the goods. So, in a way, it's not TOTAL strangers!

Whenever I see a thread like this about bake sales or potluck dinners with a bunch of store-bought items, I fault the Ways and Means chairperson of the organization for their failure to recognize that neither is an effective fund raiser for the 21st century.

The combination of people who don't make homemade items due to lack of knowledge, inclination or time and the potential customers who won't buy homemade because the ingredients aren't listed or they don't know the cleanliness of the kitchens where they're made or personal hygiene habits of the bakers equals a recipe for disappointment.

Why don't the organizations use a little bit of creativity and contemporary thinking and do something different?

Apologies if this has already been addressed, but I didn't have time for more than a quick skim of the thread. But here's what doesn't make sense to me:

If a contribution is a $10 store bought cake, then why would I, or anyone else, pay more than $10 for it? I know I wouldn't! So cut out the middle man and hassle and ask for monetary donations instead.

But I'd gladly spend $10 for a cake someone made with $3 worth of ingredients. In this instance someone has contributed $3 and some effort to raise $10 for the cause. That makes sense.

One comment on the allergy situation: homemade goods are less likely to have the added dyes and taste enhancers in them than the store-bought goods to which many are allergic. My middle GS has a severe allergy to the spice Annatto, which is considered a "Natural" dye/additive in many commercial products, especially the natural and organic ones... because it is just that, and so is "legal".

However, I wouldn't even know where to buy it if I wanted to make my cookies more golden.... or yellow dye #4 either.

I don't make these goodies anymore like I use to, but I do send some of the Forum's best sounding recipes on to an Aunt who does a lot of baking for funerals, bake sales, cake walks, etc. She lets me know which the "folks" liked best. (The latest kudos were for Tracey's Cranberry Bliss Bars.)

Why don't the organizations use a little bit of creativity and contemporary thinking and do something different?

What would you suggest?

Seems that the schools, etc., have done so many fundraisers that's it's always the same things... cookie doughs, chocolate bars, bake sales.

I remember when my daughter was in elementary school, they had an annual barbecue with a penny sale table and bake sale table. Every year, there was this elderly gentleman who would buy practically half of the baked goods to freeze because he couldn't bake and didn't like store bought baked goods.

I guess you can't please everyone! The thing with our area is because it's a small town, everyone knows the "good" bakers and their items disappear so quickly that there's not enough for everyone. LOL

I was reading this post to my DH is an administrator at our local school. Our home town is 555 people and we have bake sales for every home game where they raffle off goodies, I have to take snacks 2 time a month and most of the time will make homemade goodies. I recently was at a bake sale where there were a lot of bought goodies, they didn't go over well at all. Also they sell homemade goodies at the games in the concession stand as a money maker, cheeper than buying extra candies.

As for those who don't feel like they can make thier ownhomemade goodies, the best seller at our school is chex mix, puppy chow and carmel corn all homemade. They are either packaged in snack sizes or gallons. Luckily we have some awesome cookes and each raffle their are at least 4 dozen homemade cinnamon rolls and breads and homemade noodles.

Stacie