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

[Lilacbluewaters]

dd and I love baking together and now at school they do cake sales which she now wants to do her own on the green outside our house for neighbours/children that play here.
i feel a bit awkward with the idea of it, should I say no?

It sounds fab but don't let her keep the money. Help her choose a good cause to give it to.

Love the bat shittery on this thread. Please keep them coming.

OP, sounds great and some good tips from the sane folk.

Why on earth shouldn't she keep the money?

Is it more acceptable if it’s for charity? I’m all for encouraging budding entrepreneurs but charity has been mentioned several times already. Am I missing a social nuance (again)?

@isthewashingdryyet

You make Debbie Downer look relaxed & fun!

@Lilacbluewaters

will you be with her at the stall? My main concern would be very young kids buying them unsupervised & any allergies.

can she not bake for & help at the school one??

She’s 5? Make 1 cake together. Or a batch of cupcakes Set up a tiny table or toy kitchen in either your front or back garden. Invite some friends/neighbours kids over for afternoon cake. Give them play money and whatever fake food you might have in the toy box to keep the game going. No actual sales means no environmental health issues.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Voting seems quite even, at 40/60 ;)

Sounds adorable and will create lovely memories for you both ❤️

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!

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Found the fun police

@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.

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.

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.