Bake sales are a lot of fun! Whenever my company or office had a bake sale, you could always count on me to bring something.

One particular year, I committed to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Little did I know that I had to raise $1,800 in order to participate in the walk. I thought that there was NO way I would be able to raise that much money. I was given the option of 1) if I meet the fundraising goal, I get to walk 2) If I fail to meet my goal, I don’t get to walk, but also am not responsible for the full amount. Luckily, it worked out for me, and I have no regrets knowing that it was for a good cause.

The Game Plan:
I racked my brain to come up with some funds and came up with bake sale. Baking was something I am good at. My colleagues loved my sugar cookies and it seemed like a hit at the last bake sale – why not?

I knew I had to:
1) Advertise early via email
2) Advertise with eye catching signs
3) Bring in some information about the walk and show statistics
4) Decorate the heck out of the table for attention
5) Enlist help from fellow bakers

Enlist Help:
I had pitched the idea to my admin friend about the bake sale. She was so gracious and asked if she wanted me to ask fellow bakers she knew would help contribute to the bake sale. Of course I said YES! Boy was I glad I did, these were seasoned bakers: magic cookie bars, lemon pound cakes, baklava, brownies, and flourless chocolate chip cookies. Here are my sugar cookies 🙂 below:

The 411 (Information):
With the upcoming Avon Walk date approaching, I noticed the registration pack was filled with information about the walk, where the money was going to, and exactly how it was being spent. I created an eye catching information board with the help of Word.doc.

Faith-Policy:
Post-it notes are so cool. I printed out the website where people could donate on the post-it notes. That way, they could easily take the paper back with them to their desk. I spruced up the other side of the info-board for some eye catching decor. It was a way for someone who wanted to eat the lovely cookies but didn’t have money on them at the time of the bake sale, but allowed them to contribute to later on. I just had to have faith that they would pay since it was for an admirable charity.

Spread the Word:
I was able to draft up an email to let the people within the building know that there would be an upcoming bake sale for a cause.

Further, I created some eye catching fliers that I stuck to each of elevators for a reminder. I must say, it’s pretty in pink and reddish-purple. Gotta love Microsoft Word, when I don’t have Adobe Photoshop at my disposal.

The Decor:
This is my other favorite thing to do: make the table look pretty. I brought in the balloons, framed the list of baked items, garlands swag, fluffed up the baked goods with doilies and pink ribbon galore. The result, people raving about how classy and neat it looked at a bake sale, and the hope that people would help spread the word about their favorite baked item.

The result? I managed to raise $432! With the help from my company that does price donation match, that was basically $864 raised on the event alone.