X-posted in Cupcakes.
I had an idea late last night while lying in bed and now I'm trying to figure out how to pull it off.
My DAR chapter has a table at this particular street festival to try to raise money for our current project. (Happens to be preserving a 1 room schoolhouse).
Last year I made 600 cake pops that were "free with donation". We couldn't outright sell last year because we didn't have proper permits. I don't have the time for cake pops this year and the ladies thought it would be a better idea to have a general bake sale. Yeah, this event is on Sunday and only 2 people have signed up to make cookies. I'm in a panic.
So, my idea was to have a cupcake decorating station. It would kind of advertise my business (cake decorating parties) and give us a lot of something to "sell" (free with donation). I can get plain cupcakes and BC from Sam's Clubs since there is such short notice. I'm thinking I would display 3 designs, have all the supplies, and show people how to DIY, which is essentially the basis of my decorating business anyway.
So now I'm thinking about the food handling safety aspect of it. People are handling their own cupcakes. The issue would be the buttercream. I can either stick in piping bags and then teach them how to use, or pre-fill into little portion cups and they can use a knife.
I was originally just planning to make apple cupcakes to go with the school theme, but that's easy enough to show them. If I really did a DIY cupcake stand, I would also do hamburgers, pumpkins, maybe spaghetti & meatballs, maybe cherry pies...
I would be wearing gloves. Should I make the "customer" also wear gloves if they are handling a communal piping bag, or should that not even be option to handle anything communal... just give pre-filled portion cups or I can pipe?
Since the goal of this is to raise as much money as possible, am I overthinking this? Since it is quick and easy, and relatively cheap to do a simple BC swirl on a few hundred cupcakes, is this the best way? Do you think donations would be higher with cuter cupcakes that I'm doing myself? Or that I'm showing others how to do? I have added expense with getting all the supplies to make cute designs, not to mention fillings.
Does anyone have any thoughts to share?
I had an idea late last night while lying in bed and now I'm trying to figure out how to pull it off.
My DAR chapter has a table at this particular street festival to try to raise money for our current project. (Happens to be preserving a 1 room schoolhouse).
Last year I made 600 cake pops that were "free with donation". We couldn't outright sell last year because we didn't have proper permits. I don't have the time for cake pops this year and the ladies thought it would be a better idea to have a general bake sale. Yeah, this event is on Sunday and only 2 people have signed up to make cookies. I'm in a panic.
So, my idea was to have a cupcake decorating station. It would kind of advertise my business (cake decorating parties) and give us a lot of something to "sell" (free with donation). I can get plain cupcakes and BC from Sam's Clubs since there is such short notice. I'm thinking I would display 3 designs, have all the supplies, and show people how to DIY, which is essentially the basis of my decorating business anyway.
So now I'm thinking about the food handling safety aspect of it. People are handling their own cupcakes. The issue would be the buttercream. I can either stick in piping bags and then teach them how to use, or pre-fill into little portion cups and they can use a knife.
I was originally just planning to make apple cupcakes to go with the school theme, but that's easy enough to show them. If I really did a DIY cupcake stand, I would also do hamburgers, pumpkins, maybe spaghetti & meatballs, maybe cherry pies...
I would be wearing gloves. Should I make the "customer" also wear gloves if they are handling a communal piping bag, or should that not even be option to handle anything communal... just give pre-filled portion cups or I can pipe?
Since the goal of this is to raise as much money as possible, am I overthinking this? Since it is quick and easy, and relatively cheap to do a simple BC swirl on a few hundred cupcakes, is this the best way? Do you think donations would be higher with cuter cupcakes that I'm doing myself? Or that I'm showing others how to do? I have added expense with getting all the supplies to make cute designs, not to mention fillings.
Does anyone have any thoughts to share?
Kelly G.
Kelly G.
