Daughter wants to do a cake stall aibu to say no?

I agree with this.

Why not let her help make a cake - and that will have to include stopping her doing all the fun bits, like dipping finger in for a taste - and then take a slice round (or an individual small cake) to a neighbour as a gift.

That sounds like a great!

OP could stipulate that the cost of materials would have to be deducted.

she’ll need to calculate the cost, how much she’ll sell a slice / cupcake for etc. That might be a valuable lesson.

Ha! Yes. Cake sale economics are wonderfully nonsensical.
Your child has a bake sale at school, so you spend 3hours of your time, 7€ of ingredients plus some electricity and perhaps petrol to get to the supermarket making a cake that is cut into 10 pieces and sold for 1€ each to the same families who also spent about 10€ and 3 hours getting a cake to the event. It would be more efficient to just ask for 10€ and we wouldn’t all be down 3 hours or unpaid labour.
Fine for creating community spirit. Nonsense in terms of making money.

I think it sounds like a great idea, although I must confess I don't think I would buy a cake made by a five year old for hygiene reasons.

Yes, this!

Good old cake sale economics, where the ingredients, the energy and the usually female time are magically free.

OK, maybe leave out the message on female labour being undervalued.
Unless she's closer to 6, in which case, hammer it home.

Have you never heard of the concept of a bake sale? Kids at school, nursery, brownies, guides or any random club make cakes (often at home and bring them in) and sell them for charity. Or the Macmillan coffee mornings in workplaces?

I guarantee you not one of those people joining in got a food hygiene certificate before baking some cupcakes to donate.

Then don't take the risk.

But there's no need to be so bloody miserable towards a 5yo who just wants to sell some cornflake cakes to her pals.

I think you're massively overthinking it, lol.

She's a kid who wants to bake some cakes and sell them to her friends. She'll probably make about a fiver after ingredients. It's hardly profiteering and most kids would love to buy a little cornflake cake off their friends.

@JurassicClark voting seems to suggest quite a lot of people have reservations and don’t think it is a great idea.

it’s not a 100% go for it this is a great idea

food hygiene regulations exist for a reason, and I think the exception for cake sales for charity and fundraising to reduce the requirements for the bakers to reach a certain minimum standard of hygiene and food safety seems reasonable, it is also quite scary and not a risk a lot of us voting on this thread would be prepared to take.

Found the fun police

This is actually a very good idea, my eldest is 11 now so it might be a good learning opportunity for her. We were thinking this summer instead of a cake sale we'd do a play dough sale, making our own. It might be interesting to do an analysis of the profit difference between types of product.

My kids often do this. As do other local kids. Last summer mine baked a variety of items and designed posters, a 3 day project really. They raised money for a children's charity. Some kids do it for themselves. Whenever we see a stall going up we make sure to go support them, it's a nice thing to do..although sometimes it's ridiculous. My kids paid 50p for a drink of watery cordial one time and someone spent 1.50 on a broken fidget spinner. All part of growing up and learning. I can't understand the reticence here, this should not just be tolerated, its something that should be really encouraged.

Yep, OP needs to get the smarts. I sold plums at the bottom of our garden when I was a kid convinced it was going towards "the puppy fund". That was a tough conversation.

Well, if the 5 year old was selling items containing the infected bagged salad that caused the outbreak, yes, we should be concerned.

But as she’s selling bloody cakes, no, we shouldn’t worry.

Almost everyone on this thread has been perfectly sensible. Then there’s this nonsense.

I’m just deeply uncomfortable with the idea of a 5yr old selling things to their friends. It’s not a viable business model in any way shape or form so why pretend it is? I also dislike kids selling each other pokemon cards or marbles or whatever. As soon as you put real money into the equation it just opens the door to trouble in my experience. I’m fine with the PTA bake sale or whatever because it’s just an excuse for socializing plus donating some money to the school. But small kids actually trying to make money off each other is problematic.

Don’t be so ridiculous. You are talking out of your backside.

If they were selling cakes to the public regularly, yes, registering as a food business and food hygiene rules would apply. But they aren’t.

The sort of thing OP is talking about comes under bake sales, fundraisers, charity events. No insurance, no food hygiene regulations beyond “wash your hands and practice good hygiene.” Not even a legal requirement to list allergens as they aren’t pre-packaged so Natasha’s Law doesn’t apply.

OP, go for it. Children have been doing this for decades, it’s a nice and a fun activity, and I’m sure her mates will love buying cornflake cakes or whatever she makes.

I'm not quite sure whether you're serious or not, lol.

But again, she's five. None of these "rules and regulations" apply to her.

I do love a cake sale, but I would encourage you to properly cost them and do PROFITS to charity (or your daughter - don't see why it can't just be for her) and ensure you cover at least the material costs first.
I know it's not the point but do make sure it's not costing you £10 to go to the effort of making cakes that you then sell for £5!

Sounds adorable and will create lovely memories for you both ❤️

Voting seems quite even, at 40/60 ;)

Mine had to do it for charity because it turned out she was plotting to buy a hamster with the proceeds. I was just about comfortable with neighbours/friends chipping in for charity, but not charging 50p for the illicit hamster fund.

Actually no she can’t. She’s too young to work the oven by herself.
Too young to price a cake up properly.
Potentially too young to count the money properly.

What a lovely idea - good on her!

As for all the health scary stuff - cakes for sale in village halls happens all the time. Let's not get too precious.

She can make proper cakes and sell them if she wants - she doesn't need to worry about environmental health or food hygiene because she's a five year old, not a business owner

Because she's a girl and girls should always put others first.

However, I do think she'd get more customers if it was for charity.