I ask for 3 dozen or a batch...or a jelly roll pan of bars.
I cut the bars small....about 1 1/2 inches by 1 1/2...I get 24 out of a pan.
With kids I figure 1 1/2 cookies per....maybe more....cookies freeze and it would be sad to run out of cookies!
I would ask for donations from 5 people.
Some will make 36 cookies....some will make a pan of 24 bars....you should come out about right...maybe ask for a sheet cake....can't find all my recipes for different kinds of sheet cakes...

If it were me, I'd ask for 6 people to make 2 dozen each. That amount falls within most single batch amounts.

Are you going to request certain types of cookies or allow the volunteers to choose? I think you'll get more volunteers if you ask them to bring a cookie of their choice.

/tricia (add a couple extra for me! lol)

lol

Obviously I make my cookies larger than Linda. :)

/tricia

Ah, I was wondering about this in the other thread! Is it going to be OK for someone to buy some bakery cookies as their donation? I'd suggest it would be fine as long as they're decent quality.

As said, I don't question Lindac on loaves and fishes but the cookies at first sounded low to me but I'll bow to her better judgment. But thinking about it, I imagine the watermelon in there too would cut the cookie consumption so I'd feel less nervous about it (though I might just have some extras in the wings until I was more experienced). Then again, I tend to overfigure on food so I'd probably do it then go yep, she was right! :D

Forgot about the watermelon...
I always let people choose what they want to bring....unless the first 3 say...'I'll bring chocolate chip..OK?"....then I say something not chocolate please.
Most cookie recipes I have say they make 3 dozen...and for something like this...2 smaller cookies work better than 1 big.

What frosts my hide though is someone who brings a dozen giant cookies from the grocery store bakery....and those always are the last chosen. I have had some I have frozen because they were left over and put out again....and finally put out for the birds.
Kids are not dumb....they know home made is best...

I agree that homemade is best, but having been involved in some of these escapades in the past makes me suggest taking a couple bags of Oreos, Lorna Doones, or something of that ilk to hide in reserve in case of no-show bakers or extra-hungry band kids. Also, take some containers and/or wrapping materials in the unlikely case there are leftovers. Good luck, Jeri, you're a good band parent!

Cookies / Bars will be the volunteers choice. And, if someone has more money than time I will gladly accept store bought. I believe that people really want to help, but don't always have the time to give. But I also agree that those will probably be the last to go. :-)

I'd be happy to plan for 3 cookies per kid - I was just worried about my responsibility toward their healthy nutrition.

Great tip about a bag of cookies just in case!

Linda - your Fresh Orange Cookie recipe is what got me thinking - it looks easy and makes 6 dozen. As mentioned, I'm not a baker, so I didn't know if 6 dozen was typical or not! :-)

You guys are the best!

Jeri

I remember one time I chaired a mother daughter and or grandmother aunt...whatever...little girl and older girl...tea for Mothers' day.
I put out a call for donations of tea sandwiches and small dainty cookies.
I got all sorts of stuff...one woman and her daughter brought the most beautiful tea sandwiches with sprigs of herbs and tiny flower petals cut from red pepper and carrot...and all sorts of cookies and small tart-lets....and one woman brought a big bag of those "sugar wafers" that come in pink and tan with a cream filling.
I swallowed hard and put them on the trays with the lovely things.....and all the little girls rushed for those icky things and they were gone before the beau7tiful cream cheese and pimento sandwiches were.
No accounting for kids' taste.

One method I have used with success is to draw up a sheet with enough "2 dozen" spaces to total up to the required amount. Then invite parents to sign up in the spaces they want to. So someone who just wants to make 2 dozen can sign up for one slot, the overachievers (like me) who have recipes that make 6 or 8 dozen can sign up for 3 or 4 slots.
If you want a variety you can fine tune it by subdividing them into classes "2 doz choc chip", "2 doz shortbread type" 2 doz bars" "2 doz molasses" "2 doz "other"(please specify)" etc.

I don't often make cookes, although I LOVE them, it's just
that I'm just too lazy.
But, to ask someone to bake 6 dozen, is OVER THE TOP.
Dear Lord, they are a LOT of work, regardless of what
the cookie is. Plain 'Ol Chocolate Chip Cookies take
up your entire life, for an entire afternoon, and
that's if you only make a couple of dozen. I would
rather make an apple pie than bake a dozen cookies,
(JMHO). If you do get someone to donate 6 dozen
cookies, then give them a million dollars, and call it
a day.

Really...it's not that hard....I regularly have people donate 6 dozen...'

I'm with lbpod on this one. I could never get one person to donate six dozen cookies and if they did surprise me and agree - for sure they would be from the grocery store's bakery. Nope, 2-3 dozen are plenty for one person, at least if you want them to volunteer more than once. lol

/tricia

I guarantee you, the majority of people who sign up to bring cookies will go to their local grocery store bakery and pick up cookies. My kid is in the band and we feed the kids before the home games. Most parents now are both working and homemade baked goods are not a priority. Having said that, I agree that asking one person to provide six dozen cookies is too much, even if it's just purchasing them. Plus, asking for a lesser amount from more parents will give you a greater variety. Best of luck!

Tracey

People must be different in the mid-west...or perhaps it's just church members who are different.
This year the demand has been slack, but for a few years I begged cookies from 6 to 8 people about 12 to 14 times a year. Not always the same people. Of those donors, I can only think of perhaps 4 times that I got bakery cookies. There were more than a few Duncan Heinz brownies but they were "home made".
I never ask for 6 dozen...I ask for "a batch"...if someone asks how many I say would 3 dozen be to many? And at least every time I ask, someone says would you like me to make 2 batches?
6 dozen is a double batch of chocolate chips from the Toll house chip bag...plus some left over for the family!

Now when there is a funeral...people will call before I ask and say"do you need cookies",

And all the cookies don' have to be donated by the parents of the band kids.....grand parents can bake too.

I always am amazed at people who are too busy to cook. My daughter has 4 kids...one special needs, so he needs more attention than the other 3. She's a teacher with something like 20 sections of Spanish....translates to about 180 students...all of whom need their papers corrected. She volunteers at church has dinner out with her DH, attends the sports events of all the kids...including Special Olympics....and she bakes cookies for school functions, casseroles for swim breakfasts.
But then she's my daughter....

Gosh, I would donate 6 dozen in a heartbeat! I have a spritz recipe that makes 8 dozen and a raisin cookie recipe that makes 8 dozen and I'd probably do both just in case some pikers showed up with just one dozen and they were short.
Once the mixture is ready (half an hour tops) it takes 15 minutes to bake 2 dozen in a regular oven on two sheets so 8 dozen only takes an hour. I have a really big oven that can take 4 dozen at a shot.
When DD was in grade school her class went on camp and they asked for cookie donations for morning snacks. I sent DD off with about 20 dozen cookies because I knew some of the other parents wouldn't bother (grr sadly I was right). They were very much appreciated.

What watermelon?

I can't imagine it taking a whole afternoon to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I have made a complicated recipe for chocolate chip cookies that took all day, but that's the exception. Yes, they were worth it!

Linda, When I was a child, I loved those wafer cookies you talked about! I haven't had any in years, but I bet I'd still love them. Pimiento cheese, meh. Never cared for that, no matter how much work the people put into them. I bet they were beautiful and tasted better than the pimiento cheese sandwiches I had to eat as a child, though.

If asked, I'd bring whatever amount I was asked for. The one thing about being asked to bring 2 or 3 dozen, as opposed to 6, is that you can leave some of the batch of cookies at home for the family, rather than taking them all to the event.

Sally

I hate to be the doomsayer here but have you thought about allergies like peanut or milk or chocolate allergy? When my son was in school, we couldn't bring in anything that was home baked because the school was afraid of being sued. It had to be something with a list of ingredients. Even if you brought in the recipe it still wasn't allowed because you might have changed the recipe and not made note of it.

And I would go with the 2 dozen per person. That's not a lot to make.
Clare

People with chocolate allergies will stay away from chocolate cookies, those with wheat allergies won't be eating any cookies unless they say "gluten free" and any one with a severe peanut allergy won't be eating any cookies in the event that one of the ingredients was processed in a factory that also processed peanuts. This is not part of the "school lunch" program and these are young adults.
I have been offering cookies to people at a community or church meal for 6 years and it's never been a problem....but for once when I fed a travelling troop of 50 college singers....some of whom were allergic to everything!..Pork, onions, wheat, chocolate, eggs, MSG....and some needed low fat others were glucose intolerant, others needed low salt and others said they couldn't eat anything spicy. I fixed a pasta ground beef, onion, green pepper tomato and cheese casserole, with garlic oregano and basil, tossed salad with dijon balsamic vinaigrette, french bread and as sorted cookies...AND I cooked 2 pounds of pinto beans without any seasonings and offered some greens without dressing....and salt pepper olive oil and vinegar. Almost everyone ate the casserole...I think only 2 ate beans exclusively. And there was another singing group form another college, I didn't feed them, but they asked for vegan cookies....and those that were made were awful!

I'm sorry, but a cookie, to me, is no less than 4 inches
in diameter. I'll stick by my original statement, that
it would take 'forever' to make 6 dozen. Even if you aren't
a church member, (please God forgive me for making such
an 'off the wall' statement, ((please forgive me Lindac,
as I know not what I do)).

If you want your cookie to be 4 inches in diameter, then you only get one.
As for taking "forever" to bake 6 dozen cookies....I am guessing you have never made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies....sure doesn't take forever. If you make 2 1/2 inch cookies, they bake in 12 minutes and in that 2 minutes you prepare another 2 cookie sheets pop them into the oven. Remove the cookies from the first sheets and allow them to cool while you wash the beaters and put away the flour, remove the second sheets and fill the first 2 sheets and pop them into the oven....
That will be 6 dozen but if you have made a double batch you still have at least 2 more dozen to cook to keep for your family..
But it doesn't matter because you obviously haven't made cookies.

wow!

I'm sorry Lindac, did I say 'forever'???? I mispoke,
I meant to say: 'FO-EVAH', (being from NYC, Dcarch understands this language). Please don't hate me
Lindac, I hate people that hate me,(blush, blush),
(SMILE !!!, Wink).