OXO's Tips & Tricks on Hosting a Bake Sale

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Use the list below to find out some great Tips & Tricks from OXO.

Art & Music Festivals Host your bake sale in a public place where you'll have natural people traffic. A group of OXOnians held a recent bake sale at the Hoboken Art & Music Festival, an annual event that features 300 artists, sculptors, craftspeople and live music. Visitors were in great need of a sweet treat by the time they got to the OXO Cookies for Kids' Cancer booth!

Holiday Weekends Long weekends and holiday weekends are great times to host bake sales, when people are in a relaxed, giving mood. OXOnians that live in Montclair, New Jersey hosted a successful bake sale on Mother's Day weekend and gave kids the chance to make cards for their moms while enjoying a cookie.

Online Giving Page Create an Online Giving Page so friends and family from near and far can make donations to your event. Visit www.cookiesforkidscancer.org and click on "Create or Find a Giving Page."

Facebook and Twitter Go Social! Promote your bake sale on Facebook and Twitter! For extra oomph, tag OXO (@OXO on Facebook; @OXO and #OXO on Twitter) and Cookies for Kids' Cancer (@Cookiesforkidscancer on Facebook; @Cookies4kids and #beagoodcookie on Twitter). You'll be reaching people interested in spreading your message even further!

Press Release Promote your bake sale ahead of time! Download a sample press release here and send to your local newspapers, radio stations and bloggers. OXO and Cookies for Kids' Cancer work with Macaroni Kid, a great local resource for moms to find out what's going on in the area around them. They'd love to hear from you!

Neighborhood Get your neighborhood involved! Kate from our Sales Team rallied the other moms in her neighborhood to help out. As a side benefit, Kate was new to the area and got to know a lot of fellow moms she might not have met otherwise.

School Event Host a school event! For school bake sales, make it an assignment. Karla, Director of our Tot brand, helped organize a bake sale at her son Luke's school where each parent was asked to send their child to school with a $2 donation. Kids were able to choose their own sweets and parents were sent home with literature on Cookies for Kids' Cancer.

Raffle A raffle is always a great draw. See if you can secure product donations from local retailers in exchange for some free advertising at the bake sale!

Craft Tables Plan for kids. Cookie-decorating stations or craft tables are a great way to engage children at your bake sale and keep visitors around long enough to fully understand the mission of Cookies for Kids' Cancer.

Personal Story Share your inspiration. It is always meaningful to share a personal story or connection with supporters of your bake sale. Are you hosting a bake sale in honor of a local child you know? Share the story - it will mean so much to supporters. At OXO's Cookies for Kids' Cancer bake sales, we often talk of Liam and how his battle touched each and every one of us.

Promote Recruit local bakeries to help. OXOnians canvas all of New York City, from the Lower East Side to Harlem, and ask for donations from bakeries and restaurants. Hang a sign and offer business cards to promote these local businesses.

Make it a party! Make it a party! The week before every bake sale, OXOnians get together for baking parties either at home or in our Test Kitchen.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Make sure you have plenty of chocolate chip cookies! Regardless of what time of year or time of day, chocolate chip cookies are always king. Make sure you have them in abundance!

Label Label, label, label! Sometimes Toffee, Macadamia Nut and Peanut Butter cookies start to look the same. Label your baked goods so visitors know what they're purchasing. You can purchase labels from various office superstores and download printing instructions online so your labels are professional-looking (and readable!). Click here for marketing materials.

Personalize your treats Personalize your treats! Sheila, mommy to OXO Tots Oona and Shea told us that a fellow mom wrote "Heavenly Chocolate Cupcakes Baked During Charlie's Nap" on her goodies. Visitors got a huge kick out of it! Michelle, Category Director of our Tools & Gadgets team, puts a little icon on each of her baked goods. For example, a pumpkin illustrates her delectable Pumpkin Chocolate Walnut bread.

Gluten Free Offer treats for every taste bud. Sweets are great, but consider offering breads, granola, spiced nuts and other treats for Good Cookies that don't have a sweet tooth. Consider including a Gluten free option, too, for those with restricted diets. And don't forget 4-legged friends! Offer doggie treats, too!

Mini Muffins Small is sweet. Gretchen, OXO's Public Relations Director and founder of Cookies for Kids' Cancer says mini muffins, cupcakes and cookies are always a hit. Visitors can satisfy a sweet tooth without feeling guilty.

Sampling If you have broken cookies, don't snack or throw them away - use them as samples! Sampling is a great way to draw people in that might not be sure what to purchase.

Get kids involved in selling! Get kids involved in selling! Hand them craft paper and chalk, crayons or magic markers to make signs, then take them to local shops to distribute.

Give them a choice! Have a good mix of bagged and open cookies with napkins. Some folks will want to gobble up baked goods right away and others will want to stash them away for later. Give them a choice!

Canopy Tent Beat the heat and the cold with a tent! If you're hosting a bake sale outside, consider using a canopy tent to keep melty treats out of the heat in summer or to keep volunteers warm in winter.

Offer something to drink Whet the whistle - offer something to drink. Morning bake sale? Offer coffee and juice. Holiday bake sale? Offer hot cider. Summertime bake sale? Offer bottled water for the people and even keep out a water bowl to tempt four-legged friends. Then chat their owners up and make a sale!

Donate the leftovers Be prepared for leftovers. Despite raising over $10,000 for Cookies for Kids' Cancer, OXOnians had a slew of leftovers after our 2009 bake sale. We donated ours to another local bake sale benefiting Cookies for Kids' Cancer that was happening the next day. Another great idea is to donate the leftovers to a local food bank.