I was totally surprised when my son brought home the info for his school bake sale.
Obviously, everything has to be homemade.
But it also specifically says NO BOX MIXES
I am assuming that this would be because of allergies?!?
I am making that guess since they also want a list of ingredients...
They may find themselves short on donations as I doubt a ton of people will scratch bake for them. I would think if allergies were a consideration, they could REQUEST no box mixes, but simply ask contributors to CLEARLY label anything that IS a box mix (or even have a separate display table for box mix items and one for scratch items). This would allow all contributions, yet keep those with allergies safe from consuming something that is unsafe for them. JMHO
wow! what would I do?!???! 
I would think using commercial suplies would be best since it has all the ingredients listed right there-you could cut that panel out and tape it to the goodies.
unless its a "home cooking' type of bake sale.....
Tara
jadak - that would make a lot of sense. But it simply says NO BOX MIXES
I am just frustrated since I was planning on baking and decorating a few things. But since we're also having a party for my son's first birthday that weekend I was going to save myself some time by doing box mix cupcakes for the sale.
If I can't do that now, I don't know if I will have the time to donate anything to the sale...unless I make them ahead and freeze them.
Unless it specifically asks you to place an ingrediant list on the packaging...how in the world will anyone know if it is a box or a scratch cake? Do they have a pannel of judges sitting in a secret room, testing all the goods before its set out for sale? I mean come on, give me a break!
I would think that if it were an allergy issue, they would also ban anything with nuts or peanut butter. I would agree that they may find their contributions to the sale considerably less than in previous years! I've also run across some moms who were in charge of school events who would arbitrarily decide things like this. PITA's!
I would call and find out, just to satisfy my own curiousity.
There's a difference between 'scratch' and 'homemade'. A lot of folks think "anything made by mom" is considered "homemade".
If I open the box of Betty Crocker, bake it myself, then it's "homemade" because I DIDN'T buy it from a bakery. It's not scratch ..... but it IS "homemade".
It's so much more than nuts now... people have issues with glutens, etc. Soon, bake sales will be a thing of the past because of the regulations! I noticed the original post did say that they require an ingredient list. What is the school going to do with the items donated that were picked up the night before at Walmart? Don't tell me those are "scratch." 
what has gotten in these schools? Bake sales, please box mixes was the thing. Because of the convenience and cost. I would call and talk to who is in charge. It may be just that one teacher who happens to love scratch baking. She is going to have a rude awakening, because many moms work nowadays have no time for made from scratch baking.
I am glad that I am not the only one that was pretty surprised by this! Whew!
We do have to include the "recipe and/or ingredient list"
and it states that "all items must be homemade. No store bought items, please."
I've got an email of the person in charge of the bake sale...maybe I will look into it a little more.
I was just really surprised by this. And I am glad that I am not alone.
Thanks!
....it states that "all items must be homemade. No store bought items, please."
There ya go. Just like I said above. "Homemade" should not be construed as "made from scratch". They are two different things.
So now I'm confused .... did it say "must be homemade" or did it say "no boxed mixes" or did it say both? 
Penny, please keep us posted as I'm very curious as what their thinking is.
I'm betting their donations will be down with these rules. If I had rec'd this during the days of being a 9-5 working mom, I'd say "screw 'em, I'm not making anything."
I am a SAHM and I'd say, "Screw 'Em." Very few people have time to just whip out some delicious scratch baked goods to donate. I am all about supporting my DD's school and I send things in EVERY time I am asked, but this type of request might put a stop to it unless there was a REALLY REALLY good reason. Even with a good reason, I'd probably have to bow out. If all of their regular contributors do not contribute due to the restrictions, they won't have much of a bake-sale. Hopefully the coordinator will re-think this decision and make a few modifications in order to ensure that she receives some baked goods. 
I'd hate to see the sale be a total flop when it's the kids who probably ultimately benefit from the proceeds.
My daughter has severe food allergies and I would be CRAZY to allow her to eat anything at a bake sale even if I saw ingredients. There is too much risk for things like cross contamination or mistakes.
I also let my 11 year old daughter make brownies and cakes (with a mix) for things like bake sales and I have since she was 9. I just do the part that involves the oven. She has also taken the first Wilton class.
There have also been times when I intended to bake, I was at the store, it was a crazy week, and I saw the buy one get one free cupcakes. Guess what I got for the bake sale?
If I saw no mixes, I would guess that didn't want anything from me.
My daughter has severe food allergies and I would be CRAZY to allow her to eat anything at a bake sale even if I saw ingredients. There is too much risk for things like cross contamination or mistakes.
That's what I was thinking. They said no box mixes, but didn't say no nuts, so you can make a boat load of peanut butter cookies that could kill an army of kids -- as long as they're made from scratch??? My son has a peanut and dairy allergy and I'd take no offense if the school decided to have a bake sale with whatever was donated - scratch or not - even if it was peanut related. What these people (PTA, etc ...) don't realize is that someone could make something from scratch that doesn't contain nuts, but if they were eating nuts in the kitchen and there was something airborne or if a counter/bowl they made it on/in wasn't washed/sterillized thouroughly, they could have traces of the nuts in their scratch cake and not even know it. I'd buy stuff for the rest of our family, but provide something else for my son to be on the safe side .... but don't make everyone else follow a hypoallergenic diet! Rediculous! I swear some people have too much time on their hands to think this stuff up! 
Why don't they just make it easier on everybody and just ask for cash donations ... and spray the money with lysol as it comes in, 'cause you just never know.....
Well in my district, they go so far as to say that nothing homemade can be brought to school. Needless to say, we won't be having any bakesales any time soon. They say this is because of allergies. Any time the kids have a party or something, we have to take in store bought items which are labeled with the ingredients and every teacher has a list of the children with allergies and what they are allergic to.
Wow -- definitely keep us updated on this one! If it's allergy-related, then they are way off base. If it's snobbery-related, they are way off base, hey....in ANY case they are way off base to ask people to DONATE something to a BAKE sale and then not allow people to do what they are able. So people who want to help, but who can't bake can't get some cake from whereever? This is too much!
I like the idea of having separate tables for things...
Good luck with this one!
S.
Well in my district, they go so far as to say that nothing homemade can be brought to school. Needless to say, we won't be having any bakesales any time soon. They say this is because of allergies. Any time the kids have a party or something, we have to take in store bought items which are labeled with the ingredients and every teacher has a list of the children with allergies and what they are allergic to.
Honestly, that at least makes more sense than what seems to be happening here.
For my son's birthday I went crazy trying to find something that he could bring in that everyone could eat. I talked with the teacher about which allergies to be aware of and in the end he brought in Jello Jigglers in the shape of race cars.
At snack, the children with allergies still ate their special treats their parents had provided. Which I do TOTALLY understand. Better to be safe than sorry. But if the teacher would have just told me that they would be eating the food that were supplied by their parents then I wouldn't have tried so hard to make something that everyone could have.
I don't have a problem with being sensitive to children with allergies...there are so many families that have to deal with them now. But this way doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense to me.
I doubt seriously that the "no box" rule is due to someone who just prefers scratch over homemade. More likely than not, they want to be able to have a specific list of ingredients due to liability issues.
Don't blame the schools...blame those people who want to sue them for every little thing that happens. The school is only protecting themselves and in turn, OUR tax dollars.
We're not allowed to have home baked goods of any kind brought to school anymore. Any food has to be in it's original, sealed container. I can't even sneak a cookie out of a package before I bring it in!
It's too bad, but I completely understand the school's reasoning these days.
Don't blame the schools...blame those people who want to sue them for every little thing that happens. The school is only protecting themselves and in turn, OUR tax dollars.
We're not allowed to have home baked goods of any kind brought to school anymore. Any food has to be in it's original, sealed container. I can't even sneak a cookie out of a package before I bring it in!
It's too bad, but I completely understand the school's reasoning these days.
I totally agree. And it's not just the allergy issues. You never know how clean someone is when they cook plus they worry about spreading sickness and disease. We cannot have any homemade items sent to school either. Has to be individually packaged.
Diane
Wow...I didn't realize that many schools ban all homemade goodies now. I am CONSTANTLY sending in cookies, brownies, cupcakes...whatever. This week alone I sent in 24 sugar cookies and 24 brownies for DD's class.
When I was a teacher, we obviously had to be very sensitive to kids' allergies, but goodies were (and still are) allowed where I live.
I am wondering if a Bake Sale is the best way to go to try and raise money anymore. Like someone else said, maybe monetary donations would make more sense.
WOW when I was young, we never had issues about allergies on this or that in school. Too much paranoia nowadays. But sadly when some of these kids get older , they do drugs, smoke, drive drunk and the parents cannot do anything about it... BUT OH MY God !!! NO cake mixes !!! God forbid!!! It's the end of the world !! OMG !! Please no nuts or preservatives !! OMG !!
so go figure !! 
I am wondering if a Bake Sale is the best way to go to try and raise money anymore.
Since taking the Food Safety Course, my family is not allowed to buy anything from a bake sale anymore.
fondantgirl, thanks for my laugh of the day!!
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