It’s become a summer tradition that my girls and I plan a lemonade stand / snow cone stand / bake sale to benefit The Confetti Foundation. It gives us a fun activity to work on together and helps fill their summer free time. Last summer, we chose a beach theme for our bake sale.
So why a beach theme? It wasn’t a burst of creativity — it was because one year, the girls wanted a beach themed birthday party, so I bought decor for that party, and then they changed their minds about their theme. I was determined to put at least some of the beach towels and beach balls I’d purchased to work!
Bake Sale Menu
- Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes – Baked by Rachel
- Rice Krispies Treats
- Mini Apple Pies – based on my grandma’s recipe
- Homemade Brownie Bites
- Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars – Five Heart Home (These were great in the heat. No melting!)
- Magic Cookie Bars
- Lemonade
- Snow Cones
How We Decorated
I put two tables together: a 4-foot folding table that stands 3-feet high. In front of that, I placed a card table. Both tables were draped in white tablecloths and then pink and white striped beach towels used as table runners.
I used my pipe and drape system as a support for the balloon and beach ball garland.
- Here’s how to make a PVC pipe and drape system.
- Here’s how to make a balloon garland. The beach balls were easy to add by pushing the ball plug through the balloon strip holes. I attached the balloon garland to the pipe and drape system with zip ties.
Finally, I placed more beach balls at the base of the tables. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out “Confetti Foundation” in black vinyl and we added those to two of the beach balls.
Tips for Hosting a Bake Sale
I pulled together my best tips for hosting a bake sale in this post. One tip I’d add is using these mesh tents to keep flies away from our treats.
As usual, we hand-delivered bake sale invitations to our neighbors the day before the bake sale. I loved our invitations and signage from Oh Be Joyful. We also advertised on our subdivision’s Facebook page. That worked perfectly for us — we even sold out before the advertised end time.
What We Learned
- Homemade buttercream frosting is just not going to last in the heat. The store-bought cupcakes we’d served the prior year held up much better.
- Balloon garlands also may not last in the heat. You see balloon garlands outside all the time, but they can be tricky. By hour two of our bake sale in the full June sun, balloons would just start randomly popping. Balloon Coach advises using lighter color balloons outside; they withstand the sun better. Also, she recommends under-inflating the balloons.
- I made the balloon garland in advance, and there were quite a few beach balls worked in. But once I hung the garland on my pipe and drape system, the beach balls shifted to the back and you really couldn’t see most of them. If I’d had more time, I would have twisted and taped the garland into a more pleasing arrangement. (I also would have used white mini balloons instead of yellow mini balloons.)
- We repainted paper mache letters we already had that spelled BAKE SALE and hung those from the pipe and drape system. The BAKE letters kept twisting in the wind, so if that would bother you, then skip this idea. Hanging the letters was easy: just apply 3M Command Strip hooks to the backs of the letters and then hang them using thin ribbon on each letter (that’s what we did for BAKE) or from a 7/8″ ribbon (what we did for SALE).
The Confetti Foundation
If you’re not familiar with The Confetti Foundation, they provide birthday party kits to children who are in the hospital on their birthday. The Party Teacher supports The Confetti Foundation and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital; you can read why here and link out to both organizations.
At this beachy bake sale, we were proud to sell $379, which The Party Teacher matched for a total donation of $758 to The Confetti Foundation.
You can see our prior years’ stands using these links:
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