Cake sales: a recipe for success!
Cake stalls or bake sales don't take much organisation,
and are always a popular fundraising activity with both charities
and supporters! If you're running a cake stall and want to increase
profits, read our tips for success...
Publicise your cake sale
A bake sale isn't something that supporters need to prepare for,
so plan your marketing to begin far enough in advance to pique
interest, but not too early that people will have forgotten about
it by the time the date arrives! Decide on the date and location of
your sale, and think about drawing up some marketing material. How
long will it last? What refreshments will be available?
Once the date and format are agreed, start telling people about
it! Depending on the scale of your event, place posters in local
nursery schools, GP surgeries, supermarkets, businesses and shops.
Order cake sale posters from Charity Print
Shop, and pay £9.95 for 10 A3 posters! Posters will arrive
within three working days. Explain what you're raising money
for, so that supporters know the impact their contribution will
have.
Use your website, Facebook page, Twitter page, email and any
other social media to tell people about your sale. Send out
reminders as the event gets closer, using language that implies a
growing sense of urgency: 'NEXT Friday, come and eat cake!'.

Request cake donations
To ensure maximum profit on the day, try to get as many cakes
donated as possible. Appeal to supporters of your charity - mums,
dads, grandparents, children, and your neighbours. Don't ask for
too much, if everyone supplies ten cupcakes each, you'll be well on
the way. Ask donors to provide a list of ingredients along with
their cakes. For the competitive bakers out there, you could
introduce a bake-off style competition, with local celebrities
judging the best cakes in different categories, such as 'cupcake
connoisseur' or 'brilliant bread'!
To pull in potential donors, use our cake poem examples - stick the poems on a plate
or advertise it across social media/on posters to grab their
attention.
Pricing
You don't want to empty people's pockets, but remember you're
there to raise money. Price cakes according to size and intricacy
bake. For a rough guide, 30p for small cupcakes decorated by
children, 75p for a large slice of cake, £1 for fancy cupcakes.
Consider running a pop-up cafe, selling tea and coffee too. You
could also have a cake decorating table for children, with plain
fairy cakes, different coloured icing in squeezy bottles and a
choice of toppings from silver balls to dolly mixtures.
Display
Make your display look as enticing as possible... Seek out a
variety of different cake stands of varying heights - not only does
this make it easier to fit more on the table, but people will also
be drawn in by all your mouth-watering goodies as they
approach!
Try to label your cakes, making it easier for visitors to choose
- this won't take long, just some cut-up card and a marker pen to
make some stand-up labels.
Give your sale a vintage twist by sourcing old-fashioned cups
and saucers from charity shops, popping a moist muffin in the cup,
and wrapping these in cellophane. Your price can increase to cover
the cost of the crockery!
Having material/posters detailing your cause, and anything
specific you are raising money for will remind people who are
donating or buying where their money will be going! You never know,
it might make them dig a little deeper into their pockets!
Timings
Inform donors where and when they need to deliver their cakes.
Set up your stall at least an hour before the sale starts. Run the
cake sale for between one-to-two hours, or shorter if the cakes go
fast, and allow some time to clean up afterwards.
Cake sale success story:
Cherylee Holley, secretary, Friends of Cwmafan School,
Wales: 'Our cake sales are a huge success. Two weeks
before the sale, we display posters around the school, in our local
library, post office, chemist, health centre, and Co-op. We send
out flyers asking for cake donations. Many people use the
opportunity to show off their cooking skills! We always ask parents
to provide a list of ingredients to ensure the buyer can see what
they are purchasing. We keep our prices low: 30p for a small cake,
50p for a large and 50p for tea and coffee. The children assist us
in serving the cakes. Prior to the event, we bombard local
companies requesting donations - Warburtons Bakery and Tesco have
been amazing at supporting us in the past. Between the main core of
parent helpers, we provide the coffee, teabags, sugar, and squash.
The cake sale is short and sweet, from 3.30-4.30pm. It is a very
busy hour but everyone loves it and there are never many leftover
cakes (see pictured)! We usually raise around £350.'

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