Bake sales are a great way to raise money for a cause. If a group of people come together and donate a batch of cookies or platter of brownies, or even a cake, the profit margin can be really great. But you need the best bake sale ideas to grab people's attention. You want to make people want to stop and spend money, rather than look at the table of goodies and think, "Eh, my Girl Scout cookies at home are more appealing."
Fortunately, it's not that much more effort to add some excitement and visual appeal to the desserts on your bake sale table! Grab a notepad and jot down the ingredients you need to grab from the store for your next bake sale donation to ensure the platter you bring comes back completely empty, save for a few crumbs. It's going to involve a lot of rainbow sprinkles, just fyi. Grabbing people's attention involves showing them things they may not see on a daily basis, which often means over-the-top looking desserts that have that extra touch, like sprinkles, vivid colors, splashes of sanding sugar, and swirls of flavor mixed throughout.
All of these recipes are very portable, so it's easy to package them up to take to a bake sale, even the night before so it can be a grab and go morning, as most mornings are! These are the best bake sale ideas to make big sales, by appealing to the visual side of people.
Funfetti Madeleines
Madeleines are little cake-like cookies from France, and are much easier to make than they look, which means they are the perfect bake sale item. People will ooh and ahh at this delicate shell-shaped dessert, made more festive with rainbow sprinkles inside and out. Just be sure to read the recipe and follow the butter and flouring instructions and each madeleine will fall right out of the shell-shaped cavity with ease. Then give them the double sprinkle treatment to have everyone grabbing for one or two of these funfetti madeleines.
Bundt King Cake
It doesn't have to be Mardi Gras to bust out a bundt king cake! And the sprinkled colors on top don't even have to be the traditional purple, green, and yellow. Sell this cake whole, or by the slice. Pound cake is very easy to slice, but I recommend keeping the cake whole on the table and slicing off pieces by request to keep the cake moist and to keep the visual effect of the cake intact. Put it on a pedestal cake stand with a glass dome lid for the most dramatic and clean visual effect.
Red Velvet Cookies
For ease of creation, these red velvet cookies from Just A Taste are made with a cake mix, but they are really delicious cookies! Also if you want to totally freak people out, grab the blue velvet cake mix. They taste the same but are a jolting shade of bright blue! People go nuts over them, red or blue — but traditionalists do prefer the red, while kids tend prefer the blue. These mix and bake up very quickly, making them something you can do the night before with no problem.
Tiger Butter
Meow, these swirled fudge squares look like absolute art, but are easy to swirl together with a butter knife. Tiger butter brings together the best flavors that can co-exist: peanut butter and chocolate. Cut these squares up small, as this is a rich fudge. Pro tip: You can add food coloring to make the white chocolate/peanut butter a different color. I made it pink for Valentine's Day recently and it was so cute! Snag the recipe from Butter with a Side of Bread.
Tangy Meyer Lemon Sugar Cookies
Cookies are the go-to bake sale item because they are already in individual servings, are easy to eat on the go, and everyone just loves a cookie. But not just any old cookie will do when you want a bangin' bake sale. A lemon addition to your offerings will brighten up the palate and will bring a sunny yellow splash of color to the visual display. These meyer lemon sugar cookies are from Hummingbird High, one of my favorite baked goods sites!
Sprinkle Colored Pretzel Sticks
This one falls under super colorful and super easy, as it involves no more heating anything up than melting chocolate (which can be done in the microwave!). Customize these sprinkle covered pretzel sticks to whatever holiday, school colors, or occasion that you like. These chocolate and sprinkle covered pretzel sticks are sure to be a hit, and probably messy to eat too, a kid's favorite thing.
A Successful Bake Sale
As you can see, they keys to a great bake sale table are in adding color, height, and a variety of portable options for everyone. Some are cookie people, some are chocolate haters, and some just love bright colors. Having items that look like things people wouldn't make for themselves is the biggest thing you can do to ensure great bake sale numbers. Have all of the utensils, napkins, and plastic baggies on hand too to encourage people to grab a treat no matter where they are going next.
Be sure to send this link to anyone you may be about to ask to donate to your bake sale as a helpful hint hint. Happy fundraising!
