Everyone loves a bake sale!! Bake Sale tips and ideas.

Doesn't everyone love a good bake sale??  I know I do.  Resisting the temptation to load up on the attractively packaged, colorfully decorated and chocolate chip studded baked goods is hard for me to do.  I've baked for sales for years, however my baked goods are often not shown to their full potential with my lack of packaging ability.  For this sale we sat down and thought about some of the details that would make the sale more fun, and definitely more successful.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to participate in the San Diego Food Blogger Bake Sale to benefit Share Our Strength, and knowing that bloggers with more flair than I would be there with gorgeous goods in hand, I tried to step up my game.  A little internet research proved to be a valuable time saver (isn't it always??) and had me wrapping my Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats in simple and inexpensive plastic wrap, but dressing the treats with colorful ribbons and labels for a much nicer look!  A trip to a party supply store found colored "goodie" bags which worked ideally for my biscotti, highlighing our lemon flavors with a bright yellow bag.  Tying with another ribbon dressed up the bag and a label once again finished it off for a darn decent look.

Simple packaging seems to be best with uncluttered labels.  Kelsey, of Happy Yolks, had wonderful packaging for her Pumpkin Granola (which my husband has proclaimed better than any granola that I've ever made!) with a simple clear bag tied with a ribbon and labels identifying her product, her site and the price.  The little stick on labels identifying her web site added an adorable touch!

In years past, I've not really thought about what to place the baked goods on and just plopped them directly on the table.  This year, though, so many of our bloggers had such wonderful baskets and platters, cupcake trees and boxes - everything looked so nice and the tables were indeed festive.  Lori, The Recipe Girl, made the most adorable baseball cookies, wrapped beautifully in clear wrappers and tied with matching colorful curling ribbon.  Placed in a basket the cookies were featured on the table and kept neatly so that they were not damaged.

Cupcakes area always popular at bake sales!  With colorful frostings and tempting flavors these little guys always seem to catch your eye.  However, getting them to the bake sale without damaging the frosting is many times near impossible.  However!!  Jenny, of Jenny Wenny Cakes had the most wonderful idea to transport her cupcakes absolutely damage free in clear plastic beverage cups, providing the perfect "container" in an attractive package.  Nicely done!

Signs and samples were also part of our successful bake sale.  Got kids??  Then you've got signs!!  Toss them a few poster boards and some sharpie pens or paints and you will have creative, colorful signs in no time.  I took advantage of the creativity from some of Liv's dance friends during an hour break between dance classes and the girls did a fantastic job creating signs for our event.

And samples... to put them out or not?  We decided to place a plate of samples from our Peanut Butter Krispie Treats as well as the Lemon Limoncello Biscotti and a number of customers reached for a bag to purchase after taking a quick taste.  I have to admit that our favorite "sampler" of the day was the adorable Indigo, of Indigo's Sugar Spectrum.  She brought smiles all around with her adorable curls and personality, binging along an engaging smile of her own!

Indigo of Indigo's Sugar Spectrum samples the treats!

All in all, it was a wonderful day... not only did I discover that packaging can look good without costing a fortune and that yes, even I can make treats that look good, but I had the pleasure of finally meeting many of our local San Diego Bloggers.  Marie, of Meandering Eats, was our tireless organizer and had the entire event running flawlessly.  Not only did she set up the event, but she somehow scored us a spot on a local San Diego new show where Liv enjoyed a moment of "stardom" on tv along with 5 other Bloggers.  (Video below... taped on my husband's handheld camera let me apologize in advance for our less than perfect audio!)

San Diego truly has a thriving community of bloggers and I was lucky enough to meet many of them.  From Jenny of Vintage Sugarcube, to high school student Rachel of Bakerita to little Indigo of Indigo's Sugar Spectru, the pleasure was all mine!

Clockwise from the top left, we have the adorable Rachel, from Bakerita, Mr. and Mrs. Meandering Eats (Marie and Dan!), Me and Jenny (Vintage Sugarcube) and Kelly and Stephanie, from Sass and Veracity and Recipe Renovator.