to wonder what the point is in the school cake sale...?

[Ladyanonymous]

Three kids at three schools.

All have numerous "cake sales" throughout the year where we - the parent - are sent a paper plate with a little note on it from the plate itself requesting that we - the parent - fill the little plate with cakes and send it back to school to be sold at the "cake sale".

We are then requested to either take time out of work or whatever one afternoon to attend the "cake sale" or send our child in with some money to buy these cakes back.

Can we bake these cakes with our darling DCs at minumum cost to ourselves? Of course not, its against "health and safety" regs apparently.

So AIBU to think I would just rather cut out the middle man and donate the amount of money its cost me - to buy the cakes and buy them back again for the umpteenth time - to the school - either by a regular monthly direct debit (and while I'm at it lump in the total of every other "voluntary donation" in that sum too). Than go through the facade of the bloody "cake sale".

[Acinonyx]

Are you serious - in that your schools won't allow you to bake your own cakes??? Never heard of that before.

[potplant]

I've just paid £6 to purchase a picture my DS painted at home! They were supposed to do them at school but he was off sick so they sent it home. And I helped him. And it cost me 6 bloody quid.

[thisisyesterday]

tell them that then!

i'm sick of the stupid attempts at raising money already, and ds1 is only in reception.

last time was sending him home with a packet of smarties and telling him to fill it with money and bring it back

well, i have so many problems with this i won't even go into it. suffice to say he will be taking in a small donation, and i'll be telling the teacher why i think it's a bloody stupid idea and why he is not bringing it in a smarties tube

[Ladyanonymous]

No we are not allowed they said its H&S regs - although there could be other reasons .

All three say the same though...and yes they are that unimaginative

Although I have never been on the PTA to be fair but thats because it would be tricky to fit in with work etc.

[Ladyanonymous]

We had the Smarties too they wanted us to fill it with 20ps, which would have been about £40 .

I accept they need to raise money but I would honestly just pay w regular amount every month and opt out.

I always pay my "voluntary donations" even when I have barely had any money.

[amidaiwish]

i think the cake sale set up in our school is good
on the first tuesday of each month, each year group is in charge of bringing in cakes (homemade is positively encouraged). each parent in the year is asked to bake 20 cakes approx.

we give our kids 20p
at break time they get to choose a cake and pay 20p

so it is exciting and nice for them
plus it is only once a year per child so not a big hassle for the parents.
any left over cakes are sold at hometime at the gate

why don't you suggest that? do they expect all parents to produce bought cakes each time and parents to come along and buy? seriously?

[overmydeadbody]

This is why I never bake cakes or bring in food for PTA events, because DS will only want me to spend money buying him cake and food, so why would I also spend money buying cake and food to donate? I'd rahter just give some money to the PTA, without going through the stupid thing of pretending to have a sale to raise the money.

[GrungeBlobPrimpants]

I don't get your problem

You don't HAVE to make a cake
You don't HAVE to take time out to buy them if you don't want to .... surely?

We do one cake sale a term, straight after school. I never make cakes (hate cake making) but I do buy some. Or send ds in with some loose change. It costs about 30p to buy a lovely cake, kid happy and PTA happy. One of simplest, happiest events.

[BeenBeta]

Ladyanonymous/overmydeadbody - completely and totally agree. Indeed we wrote to our DSs school to suggest that the PTA just cut out the middle man and get the school to add £25/term to the bill per child (a private school) and the PTA then focus its energy on polling parents on what to spend the money on and implementing that. Lest just say, we were not popular for making that suggestion - at all.

I just do not get it. Our DSs go to a fee paying school. We pay money already. Just bung it on the bill - why do fund raising?

If it is a local authority school I do not get it either. The school is free and funded by the LEA so why do fund raising?

The time and effort baking cakes the total faff of giving kids money to buy them and the whole dubious dietery message. Does my head in.

[NickOfTime]

we make our own. mostly.

the cake sale is hilarious - acres of cakes, from 'mummy spent hours on each cup cake' to 'i left the kids in the kitchen for 20 seconds and someone got hold of the blue food colouring' to 'oh bum, was that today, what's on special at the garage round the corner?'

the children love it. it is so popular it has been adopted by the brownies as well .

the financial aspects make no sense, obviously, but the kids get so much more out of it. baking, creating, ...

i loathe the smarties tube thing. awful. that's just asking for money. having to bake can be a pita, but the sale itself is always a roaring success.

ours does a 'mix and match' on the morning, so you buy a plate of cakes, but you get six different lovingly made (or not) lopsided multicolour creations for your money. there's none of this 'mrs jones' cakes are worth more than mrs smith's' nonsense.

[5Foot5]

I just cannot understand why anyone would buy "shop" cakes from a school cake sale. Surely if you want one of these you might as well go to the shop and buy it - probably for less.

Home-made on the other hand gives you a chance to try something perhaps a bit special.

Have there ever been any cases of people getting ill from home-made cakes bought at a school cake stall?

I suspect this is yet another of these cases where organizations are just hiding behind H&S because they are terrified of something happening and them being sued. Occasionally I have heard representative from the Health and Safety council being interviewed on the Today programme and they always sound eminently sensible individuals who insist that the most outrageous "Health and Safety gorn mad" stories have nothing to do with them and are people over-reacting and being over-cautious.

[Hassled]

Health and Safety usually = there is a child or children in the school with a nut allergy. They can't assume that no parent will bake a cake with no nuts in it. Some schools seem to adopt this policy, others don't.

I agree a cake sale of shop bought cakes (and is anyone actually checking the ingredient list?) is pointless. But your bog standard normal cake sale is usually quite fun, and a relatively labour-free way of earning money for the PTA.

And BeenBeta - the LA funding is not exactly generous. No scope for any extras whatsoever - if you want football strips, a well-stocked library, decent playground equipment, then you need your PTA.

[PeedOffWithNits]

SOME events organised by PTAs are not just about fund raising though, they are about fostering a sense of community and getting people invloved.

if you dont like it dont do it.

and another at no home made cakes - what a nonsense - the ones at our school are gorgeous!!

[FiveOrangePips]

Our school pta raises funds to pay for interactive whiteboards, we cannot get them any other way, they are not "essential", but the children and teachers really like them... it is a very slow/painful process raising nearly £3k for each board.

We fund raise in different ways all the time(pub quiz,sponsored activity once a year,summer fair, fashion show, spa night...), but there are always some miserable moaning people who complain, no matter what we do.

We don't do cake sales though.

[Ladyanonymous]

I am loathed to say it but I think its because some of the families in the catchment area are minging possibly unlikely to be the most hygenic people you have ever met

Sorry.....I'll give myself a

[Ladyanonymous]

Its not about not going though, its about your child being the only one to turn up empty handed and how that might make them feel - so you feel obliged to provide them with a donation.

I rarely go as I refuse to take time off work too - as well as provide the cakes.

[seeker]

We do a cake sale every second Friday after school. All home made. Anyone who tells you you can't sell home made cakes at school is wrong - apply to me for chapter and verse We maek £1000 profit a year.

That's a lot of trips, scooters, visitors, tricycles, discos, parties, workshops, pot plants....... - the stuff that helps to make school fun and for which there is no spare money.

[BeenBeta]

BeerTricks/Hassled - I know the LEA does not fund things like library books that what gets on wick.

State school is free. End of. What is school fund raising like in really run down area where a lot of families are on benefits or minimum wage? I bet it doesn't happen and nor should it. Do LEAs allocate more funds to those areas and then starve funds from middle class areas knowing they will do fund raising. Its a complete shell game.

I dont know why I am bothered, I pay for schooling but I guess its just the whole charade of fundraising. Money is money. Lets stop the messing about.

Oh and the whole 'its fun for the kids and promotes a sense of community'. We had that one thrown at us by the PTA after our letter. I just think comunity and fun does not mean having to do fund raising.

[BeenBeta]

EDIT: ..thats what gets on mywick.