Is your Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) or Parent Teacher Association (PTA) considering hosting a bake sale?
A bake sale is a classic school fundraiser that most people associate with school parent groups.
Don’t underestimate the potential for this fundraiser, especially when you time the bake sale right.
One Title 1 Elementary school PTA made over $1500 on their bake sale fundraiser.
That’s incredible amount of money to raise in one day!
I’m sure you’re wondering how they managed to do that so you too can hold a bake sale that rakes in the money to fund all of your PTO’s wonderful program, events for your school community.
You’re in the right place since this post is serving up all of the bake sale fundraiser ideas you need for a successful fundraising, including the best place and time to hold a bake sale, bakes sale items guaranteed to sell out, bake sale pricing tips, and more!
Where and When to Hold a School Bake Sale: Timing Your Fundraiser
Before we get into talking about what items to offer at your next school bake sale, let’s talk about when to hold your school PTO bake sale.
Because the results will drastically differ when you strategically plan and time your bake sale fundraiser versus holding the bake sale on a random Friday.
Holding a bake sale along with another event is a smart way to take advantage of a crowd since you can leverage the crowd size to make more than if you held a bake sale as a stand alone event.
In the case of the $1500 bake sale, the elementary PTA held their bake sale on Election Day 2023 in the lobby of the local community center the site for a large voting precinct.
The November 2023 election was an on-cycle election, meaning voters were casting a ballot for the U.S. President and turnout was huge.
This meant hundreds of voters passed by the bake sale table creating hundreds of sale opportunities!
You don’t have to wait for a presidential election for your next PTO bake sale fundraiser.
Smaller events can also turnout a large enough crowd for your fundraiser to to be worthwhile.
One high school Orchestra Booster group paired a bake sale with the winter concert, asking for donations from parents and guardians of orchestra students.
They arranged for a few volunteers to staff a table outside the concert auditorium and opened sales before the concert started and during the intermission.
It wasn’t as big of a money maker as the Election Day bake sale, but it brought in a few hundred dollars that the group put to good use.
There are many other school events where a bake sale table can bring in some money for your school parent group.
Think:
- Home Days festival
- Open House night
- Parent conference day/night
- New student orientation night
- New family orientations
- Concerts
- Plays
- Meet the Teacher night
- Back to school orientations
- Mandatory parent meetings
The bottom line is take advantage of when there will be many potential bake sale customers.
Look for opportunities that include customers beyond just students and school staff.
Community members and even those without current students will be very happy to support your fundraiser.
The Best Bake Sale Items
When it comes to school bake sales, the goal is to balance maximum appeal with minimum mess.
People will be eating on the go, so hand held items are best.
Here are some of the best, time tested items that set the stage for a successful school bake sale:
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Sugar cookies (Plain or cut outs iced with royal icing)
- Snickerdoodle cookies
- Oatmeal raisin cookies
- Peanut butter cookies
- Muffins
- Cinnamon rolls
- Rice Krispie treats
- Brownies
- Blondies
- Dessert bars
- Brookies
- Puppy chow
- Chocolate covered anything (pretzel rods, popcorn, potato chips, Oreos)
- Cupcakes
- Donuts
- Mini cakes
- Fruit kabobs
Seasonal Bake Sale Fundraiser Ideas: Items that Sell Out
Also consider adding seasonal treats into the mix to add unique bake sale item offerings.
Anything pumpkin flavored rules supplement in October and November.
Grinch Trees are a fun no bake treat to offer.
Use candy melts to “glue” a half pretzel rod inside a sugar ice cream cone, then cover the outside of the cone in the same candy melt, and finish off with a heavy handed dose of sprinkles.
The presentation is super cute and eye catching!
If you’re holding a bake sale in February, cue up heart shaped treats to easily add the seasonal flair.
Break out the shamrock cookie cutter for March bake sale blondies, brownies and cookies.
Opt for bunny shapes in April and flower shaped treats in May.
Offer Bake Sale Items for Special Diets
Don’t forget to have vegan, plus gluten and nut free options too.
Label everything accordingly, so that all can enjoy a treat.
Beverages
Offering drinks alongside the sweet treats is a smart way to boost the profit level of the bake sale fundraiser.
You don’t have to offer a full assortment of drinks these basics are enough to make an impact.
Offer one or a few of the following beverages for sale:
- Water
- Sport drinks
- Juice boxes (especially for the elementary school crowd)
- Coffee (Bring in a Keurig for on demand java or ask for a local coffee shop to donate a box of regular and decaf coffee).
Securing Bake Sale Items
The easiest way to get items for the bake sale fundraiser is to ask for donations from parents and guardians.
Parents who aren’t regular volunteers may want to give some goods to sell, especially if they’re home bakers.
Don’t limit your ask to only the regular PTO volunteers.
This is an opportunity for a wider swath of parents to help out in an approachable way that feels very low time commitment.
This can set the stage for more parent involvement later on once they see that volunteering once doesn’t mean they’re pulled into a blackhole of volunteer expectations.
Be sure to have a sign up sheet so you know what sort of items people will be donating so that you can have a wide variety of bake sale item offerings.
Also ask for donations from local vendors like grocery stores, donut shops and coffee shops.
If nothing else, your local grocery store bakery may be able to give you a bunch of cupcake liners or a few containers of sprinkles, which will help defray to costs to volunteers.
Setting up your Bake Sale Table
It’s important to set up your bake sale table in an organized and attractive way.
Setting up the items for sale in a visually appealing way will help them sell through faster, which will boost your bottom line and shorten the day for the bake sale volunteers.
Use the “visual height” trick by stowing small to medium sized crates or sturdy boxes under a tablecloth to create different heights on your table.
It makes the spread look more abundant and professional.
Plus, you can “feature” different items by placing them on the elevated area.
Individual Packaging
Wrap everything individually in plastic wrap or cellophane bags.
Clear packaging is best so that the yummy items can shine on their own, uncluttered by stickers, boxes, etc.
Label Everything
Clearly mark items that are gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free or vegan.
You don’t want any one having to pull out their Epi-pen because of an undisclosed allergen.
That’s a really good way to get in the local news for the wrong reason and get banned from having future bakes sales.
Price in Simple Increments
When it comes to pricing bake sale items, stick to round numbers like $1, $2, or $5 increments.
Nobody wants to deal with nickels and dimes, especially when there’s a line.
Quick service and keeping lines minimized mean a bigger fundraiser result.
Pricing for items should start at $1 an item and go up depending on the size or quantity offered.
Offer the water, juice boxes, and coffee for $1, and $3 for sport drinks.
Accept Digital Payments
Be sure to have a method for accepting digital and credit card payments.
This is non-negotiable now that we’re living in an age when a lot of people don’t carry cash.
If you don’t have a physical point of sale card reader, print a QR code sign for your PTO’s for Venmo, CashApp, or Square.
If you plan to only accept cash at the bake sale, set your profit expectations much lower.
Non food items to have on hand for the bake sale
In addition other the treats and drinks for sale, you’ll want to be sure to have a few other things on hand to keep your volunteers happy and make your bake sale a success:
- Chairs for volunteers
- Table covering (a fabric tablecloth or disposable plastic tablecloth).
- Hand sanitizer
- Napkins
- Cashbox with plenty of small bills to make change (lots of $1s, $5s and $10s).
- Counterfeit detector pen (don’t count scammer on having shame enough to avoid targeting your bake sale fundraiser)
- Trash can
Bake Sale Volunteer Management
If your bake sale will span more than a few hours, create volunteer time slots and recruit at least two volunteers per slot.
Adults should be in charge of accepting payment, making change, and managing the cash box.
Student helpers can help sell times, restock the table.
Bake Sale Publicity
Be sure to let the public know that you’ll be holding a fundraiser so they can come prepared to support you!
Make a flyer and post on social media a few times in advance of the bake sale and on the day of too.
The Secret to a Massively Profitable School Bake Sale Fundraiser
I’m sure you plan to have the most delicious and scrumptious treats at your bake sale fundraiser, but there’s one element that you literally can’t afford to skip.
The bulk of the Election Day bake sale funds came from donations made by passersby, not from sales of cookies, brownies and other treats.
Yes, you read that right!
The PTA President thought to make a sign with a QR code that made it very simple to donate money directly to the group.
Be sure to set out a physical donation jar and a have a way to accept digital donations from those who don’t carry cash.
The treats will draw them over and the easy way to donate to your PTO will leave them feeling good about supporting your school and PTO’s mission.
It’s the combination that is the clear winer here and absolutely something any PTO can replicate.
Bake Sale Wrap Up
When it’s time to wrap up the bake sale, there are a few details to tie up the loose ends.
Consider giving leftover items to school teachers and staff for an impromptu teacher appreciation treat.
Stash in the teacher’s lounge and ask the school’s front office administrator to let teachers and staff know.
Fill out a cash box return and deposit form and give the completed forms and the cash box back to the treasurer the same day of the sale.
Thank all volunteers for their time and talents and contributions to the success of the event.
Send thank you notes to all businesses that made donations or lended support.
Over to You
Holding a school bake sale fundraiser requires smart timing, a strategic offering of bake sale items, thoughtful presentation and an easy way for people to make donations.
I hope you take these bake sale fundraising ideas that netted one PTA over $1500 and do the very same thing or better!
Resources for Successful School Fundraising
Ready to dive more into the work of PTO and school fundraising, but wish you could have a plan of action ready at your fingertips?
Time to learn more about the Fundraising Success Kit!
It’s never been easier to hold highly profitable school fundraisers using these customizable strategies and step by step plans that work for every type of parent group, and any type of fundraiser, from a traditional catalog to A-thon Fundraisers and everything in between.
This resource is guidance plus a complete plan walking through the entire process of fundraising for your school, including a publicity plan, templates, forms and a planner kit to help you get outrageously organized in a snap!
