Thanks for not mentioning any Oh to die for! and So sinfully rich!
4
If it takes you $10 to bake 18 cupcakes, I don't want ANY of your recipes. Where are you SHOPPING?
9
In that old quote on many a peace sctivist’s shirt as “It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber”.
52
The very archetype of the First World Problem.
20
Our school district doesn't even allow home baked goods on school campus. So that ends that debate.
17
If the children are 9 years or so, they can bake their own cookies. It's not hard. WHY, oh why, do parents let them NOT do this sort of thing?
Also, why are bake sales even needed? The cheer squad does NOT need to attend a tourney just to boost their egos.
14
I hate baking. I LOVE bake sales! A nice gooey chocolate brownie, home baked, no clean up for me, what could be better? For 25¢ no less. Buying them helps the schools, and helps the kiddos. I buy them in quantity and freeze them. Can't wait for the mid-term elections!
8
Thanks Deb. Are current American national politics entirely about pretence, and denials of reality? If so, our coming generations are in trouble, and they will curse us. Robert
2
The number of people on here talking about their demanding jobs and all the time "transporting" their offspring. Get real, Netflix doesn't make billions watching itself. People (men, women, caretakers) DO have time to bake a pile of un-fancy bake sale sweets. Doesn't take hours in planning, production or shopping. It takes 30 mins. with your kid- working for the greater good. You don't have to, most parents do not- but it certainly will not break the bank or make you have to cut back hours at work.
19
The economics just don't hold up. Essentially, the mom (or baker) is making a $15 donation while the person who buys the baked goods is donating $10.
The baker can donate $20 in cash and the project makes an extra $10. No fuss, no mess, no kids eating badly. Done!
33
Oh my goodness, relax! There are many of us amateur bakers - male and female - who love to make something for the school bake sale and who are happy to give our labor in the kitchen to raise money for schools, especially our underfunded public schools. And if you'd rather just give $25 to the school, that's okay, too. We have much bigger things to worry about.
19
I am one of those people "who has the radical hope that our taxes should fully cover education, classroom supplies and other necessary enrichments."
Further, we should not be teaching our children that selling things - especially things made by other people (their moms, and occasionally dads) - at a ridiculous mark-up is the key to success.
Better they should spend their time writing postcards to the miserly politicians who don't see value in their education.
I know. Not happening, but I can dream.
Save the cakes for school celebrations where it can be shared, not sold.
47
Sorry to spoil the fun but I don't think these bake sales are good for the kids. Many parents don't want their kids to learn to like these super sweet desserts but they don't have a choice. My kids had enough change, or their friends did, to buy sugar laden cup cakes, etc. We know so much sugar is not good for you. And it is this training at an early age that makes them crave it all their lives. The same people who preach about healthy eating condone these bake sales.
Isn't this some sort of entrapment of the young? Why not just make a donation to the school without the the cookie in return?
21
Deb, I’m delighted to read you in this paper, expanding on your thoughts and opinions we get a little taste of in your books and website, and look forward to future pieces. For the record- as a retired teacher and veteran of many bake sales, couldn’t agree more!
20
Or, we could just fund schools with adequate tax dollars.
49
In my son's elementary school in Belmont MA, 40 years ago, some wise person invited us to a bake-less bake sale. We donated the money we would have spent buying ingredients, and then buying baked goods. It was wonderful, guilt free, and raised an equal amount of money without over sugaring our kids.
36
I love to bake and once made an array of fine chocolate desserts made with high end ingredients. I put them together in chocolate sampler plates and was appalled when I showed up at the school carnival to see each plate priced at $2.00. After that, I stuck to Rice Krispie treats and brownies. You need to know your audience.
27
In my native Germany, village fairs come along with bake sales of often thirty varieties of cake, baked by local women. The cakes are not only visually beautiful, but are also delicious. There are traditional cakes, and more contemporary ones. Here in the states, most baked goods are too similar, too sugary, done without much love. Why bother, when no one has time or passion to bake, nor the time to sit down and eat leisurely. Too bad.
34
My sympathies to parents unwilling to stir fudge or scorch cookies to raise money for band uniforms and zoo outings, but even worse are the littles (and their shanghaied parents) selling tasteless waxy $4 chocolate bars and all manner of over-priced gewgaws. (And, either my tastebuds have green sedated or Girl Scout cookies are no longer the delicious treats I remember from years past.) PTAs, principals or whoever else is in charge should realize they’d bring in more cash if they bought tchotchkes from the dollar store, added decoration made by kids and sold everything for $5 - or headed to a local printer with some student art. I’d happily buy holiday cards, decorated pumpkins, stickers, calendars, tote bags, note pads, picture frames, etc. if those were made by the school’s students. I don’t need or want a $28 turkey-shaped, butterscotch-scented candle.
22
I agree that bake sales can be a fun, community-building event for those who enjoy them (like my kids), but I agree that they are not efficient fundraisers. At my kids' school, there's always a lot left over. Not infrequently, one kid or the other will come home with goodies that didn't sell and were just being given away at the end. Once it was an entire banana bread, and that was after an armload had been dropped off in the teachers' lounge.
From this I learned not to spend too much time or money on my baked donations. Box brownies and cheap and fast, and they always sell.
8
I would have been happy if the moms at my kids’ elementary school were only expected to contribute to a bake sale. Every year two women spent the amount of time equal to a job, planning an In Style magazine-worthy fundraiser to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for a campaign of dubious educational benefit. Meanwhile the public schools in our community were trying to raise money to pay teachers, or cannot afford to fundraise at all. We were at the same school for 7 years, and it was always moms who ran the fundraiser, and the majority of the other school events. The standards were set so high, everyone was burned out by the end. The working moms would take time off work to volunteer. What a great message to be sending to our kids - volunteering is women’s work.
24
Why not just volunteer to help instead.
5
Or, take a tip from another organization - I will pay you $10.00 to leave me alone.
19
Oh, come, on, people! Is there no issue so harmless, fun and voluntary that you party poopers can't worry about cat hairs in the innocent Rice Krispies Treats? Really?
As the gentile winner (in the traditional category) of our Jewish Museum's recent Chicken Soup Cooking Contest, I can tell you that there is no satisfaction on earth quite like that of feeding people something you cooked/baked that tastes really, really good - and then getting recognized for your efforts! My competitors in that event did Asian Fusion Chicken Soup, Vegetarian, & many other varieties. Good food bridges a whole lot of gaps - always has and I hope always will.
Bake sales, grassroots chili cook-offs and all the rest that employ down-home skills and offer personal interaction and fun are more needed than ever in our screen-obsessed, workaholic culture. They have my vote for preservation.
And I'm not sure about buying a tart or a cookbook from someone who appears to view baking as so much trouble. To me, it's an art form - available to be practiced by anyone, to varying effects, for varying audiences, for varying purposes. Viva la bakers. You will pry our rolling pins from our cold, floury hands.
12
Really??? What a lot of words signifying??? Just go the bake sale then and buy something...or not. And MEN BAKE,T00!
9
Other commenters said all I have to say, particularly Jrb. All I can say is that this article is the exact reason the feminist movement is so hated. It has become a movement that seeks to turn anything and everything into a situation where they are the victim.
18
progressive political discourse has officially jumped the shark.
10
Could not agree more. the mere idea that education has to resort to bake sales for funding is absolutely disgusting. And although it seems harsh, I feel the same about those nickel and dime cups at the 7-11 checkout counter for someone I don't know to get healthcare.. This is NO WAY for healthcare to be funded for anyone!! Bake sales, IMHO, used to be sort of silly fun, for the bored ladies and the kids who wanted something home-cooked and tasty - but they have become the source for school funding..that is disgraceful, for out society.
13
Exactly. And they are unhealthy for the kids
2
"Bake sales can, unintentionally, perpetuate some deeply seated sexist stereotypes, the same ones that compel us to ask potential first ladies and female candidates for their favorite cookie recipe. Because all women have a signature baked good!"
That prompted me to do a bit of online research about real and might-have-been First Ladies and female politicians. My first thought was, how old is Deb Perelman, because she doesn't seem to remember anything before the cookie flap with Hillary Clinton in 1992. So I researched these women from Bess Truman (First Lady during the postwar return to domesticity) to Rosalynn Carter.
All actual First Ladies in that period have had recipes - even cookbooks - associated with them. Might-have-been First Ladies, not as much. And not always cookies. Mamie Eisenhower's signature recipe was for fudge; Lady Bird Johnson's, for chili.
Joan Mondale wanted to keep recipes out of her husband's campaign, but under pressure from her husband's political opponents she released a cookbook.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Mondale
Female politicians are a different story. See this NYT story from 1995:
https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/05/garden/far-from-politics-in-the-holiday-kitchen.html
2
This discussion reminds me of an episode of the Gilmore Girls. The quirky town of Stars Hollow is raising money with a knit-a-thon. The whole town is out there knitting, complaining about knitting and wondering when they will have raised enough money. So rich guy Christopher donates all the money they need for their cause and they tell everybody to go home. And, surprise, they're all sad to give up their communal knitting. I have often wondered whether it's really worth my time to bake for school and church sales, but I think there's something beyond the baking itself. There's the idea of adding value beyond money into your community. I feel good when I work at a book sale, bake for a school or help kids paint pumpkins at a fall festival. Sure, dollar for dollar it's not worth my hourly wage, but there's something else to be gained. And like the gentleman who mentioned the value of spending time with your children, I think there's an example to be set for your kids as well. Giving money is often not as fulfilling as giving of yourself.
15
If you are up until 1 AM baking brownies, you must have started after midnight. Let's stop exaggerating. Baking is the easiest form of meal or desert prep. It requires mere minutes of assembly and then you plop whatever it is into the oven to bake whilst you go and do something else. By the time your children are school-age, baking is something they can and should learn how to do. Yes, Bake! Cook with your children the food that your grandparents would recognize. Pass down the cultural, ethnic and religious traditions in the kitchen to your children. And let them proudly bring those goodies to share via bake sales at their school or club fundraisers.
10
Three words-
good quality mix
five words-
teach the kids to bake
9
I've never liked cupcakes all that much. It's hard to understand the craze for cupcake stores. Cupcakes are a messy eat. I prefer some of the Tastycake products. I'm sure kids aren't all that discriminating nowadays. Parents may object to Tastycake butterscotch crimpets, but not kids. Cheaper than home-baked, too.
That comment about cat hair in the baked item rings true. You never know what you're getting from the home-based kitchen. I have friends whose cats walk all over the kitchen countertops while they're cooking. They never seem to think anything of it. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for everybody else. The cats won't leave anything untouched, either. Gross.
How many licked fingers go into all of this baking and food handling? There are people who love to put their fingers into everything. If they haven't handled the food and eaten bits of it along the way, they're just not satisfied.
Also, does anybody wash their hands? There's no board of health in the kitchen.
10
Amazing. I am constantly surprised how such an innocent and traditional practice as a bake sale is demonized as "sexist." Ms. Perelman moans too much work for too little time, and why should we have bake sales at all in the first place, shouldn't taxes be enough? Well, as far as taxes go, if it weren't for the NY State STAR exemption, what we pay in school taxes alone would exceed what we pay the city and county for ALL other municipal services COMBINED. If anything, the taxes are too high as it is, in my opinion. So if some discretionary items need to be funded by people who are actually using the educational system, why not?
I get Ms. Perelman's argument about time if baking something from scratch, and the "tackiness" of bringing something already baked at the store. There is a middle ground of using a cake mix or pre-made cookies from the dairy section. Slice, put in oven and bake. On the other hand one can use the time with one's kids to pass down family recipes from one's own parents and bake together. Such would be good bonding time to do something creative with your kids, as well as give them confidence in cooking as well. Add that it's for a good cause and I think the good will far outweigh any burnt odor of sexism or other absurdist outrage that Ms. Perelman is creating off this overdone and scorched article.
8
You can bake a couple of days in advance of the sale, or even a few weeks ahead and freeze it. No need to stay up thru 1am.
$10 to bake 18 cupcakes?? Really?
8
I think this is about more than the issue of raising funds.
I remember the anxiety of not thinking my baking was good enough, and the pressure to meet expectations.
This stressed me out more than the time and cost involved in baking.
It's fun to be appreciated for our tasty cakes, but if the stress is too much, donate money and hang feeling guilty about it!
4
Sometimes, in this busy world of our own making, it is simply wonderful to attend and support a bake sale just to see how truly creative people are. It is a chance to sample goodies from other cultures, to learn, taste and appreciate. Appreciate that everyone else's time is also precious, appreciate the effort, appreciate and enjoy talking with others and learning, looking, smelling, watching the interactions. I feel no pressure to buy even by the little salespeople. Children learn skills at the bake sale too. They learn to assess people, along with conversation skills, respect, team work, working towards a goal, confidence, pride, happiness, they are not in their devices while counting money, making change, smiling, thanking others. Here is a toast to bake sales, craft sales and participants all over the country.
10
To everyone saying "bake or don't bake, no one cares": you're missing a critical point of the article—the fact that people DO care. Sure, the concept of selling bake goods isn't inherently bad (although it's rarely a cost-effective way to fundraise), it can be a lot of fun for kids and a good way for parents to bake with their kids if they have the time/money. But not all parents have the time or money, and there can be a culture in some schools that parenting is a competition, and the amount of time you're putting into this bake sale is a measurement of how well you're parenting your kid. And that's unfair and wrong.
Single parents, families with multiple children and two working parents, parents working multiple jobs—there's so many family situations where time for home baking can be tight. I see commenters saying that they work full time and still have time to bake with their children: that's awesome! I'm so glad that you do. But not everyone does, and by saying "if I work all this time and still have the time/resources to bake, why can't you?" only perpetuates that unfair guilt that parents who don't have that time aren't parenting well enough.
If you think bake sales are fun, then have them! But also acknowledge—and work to dissipate—the cultural idea (especially among women) that the amount of time and love in your brownies are the metric by which your parenting skills should be judged. Simply asking for donations is frequently a far better way to raise money for kids
22
Parents who are worried about being judged for not bringing homemade treats to a bake sale are in for a rude awakening come high school.
4
You know what day bake sales are a good idea for a school? Election Day, when people come to schools to vote. You’ll make a huge amount from grownups who by and large have no allergies and are waiting in line for a long time bored out of their mind. A spoonful of sugar is appreciated. Put the goodies on trays and walk up and down the waiting line and offer them goodies for a buck. Buy it or bake it, it hardly matters.
23
In my area of Northern NJ there bake sales are not allowed due to concern and liability for children's allergies and contamination of food.
7
Thank you. My kids have grown beyond the bake sale age and I am relieved. But, I hated bake sales because of the all the sugary food consumption that it promoted. Anyone going on school campus today will be concerned to see all the overweight kids struggling with their eating habits. And, bake sales just promote unhealthy eating.
13
@Loren Norquist Yes, I agree, same with the TIRED idea that the good boss brings donuts to meetings..No-one in my department, which is Maintenance at a state DOT (You can imagine the amount of morbid obesity we have - quite a lot.) needs work time donuts.. The best boss I have ever had, the boss I have now, never bothers with the baked treats.. We can all survive a three hour meeting without donuts, thank you very much..
7
My mom worked full time. She loved baked sales. It was her way to contribute to our school day when she couldn't take off to be a trip chaperone or attend a play. And, if the bake sale happened around a holiday or St. something Day, even better. She would show off her decorating skills. I will never forget the St. Patty's Day cupcakes. I was a hit for bringing in green cupcakes!
She always baked 3 dozen cupcakes. Duncan Hines cake mix, icing, food coloring and sprinkles.
Then times changed. She was disappointed when she couldn't bake for my niece's bake sales. Only packaged goods. I told her that her almost 40 y.o. would gladly accept a care package of those Duncan Hines cupcakes.
8
When I was a kid in the 1950s, my mother worked as a bookkeeper and when she was a single woman in her 30s (yes, she got married "late") worked on Wall Street in a stock brokerage.
She couldn't cook very well and she certainly couldn't bake, but so what? She told me that she was glad she made enough money to contribute to the household -- which gave her an equal voice when she and my father discussed household finances -- and to be able to afford to buy baked goods from a professional who knew how to bake them.
The woman was ahead of her time, and I was lucky to have her as a mom. As a result, I have never felt guilty about not baking for a bake sale. Usually I don't bake and just bring a storebought baked good, if I feel like it I bake something, and a few times I have just given the bake sale coordinator a check as a contribution. All work for me.
16
Why is it so hard to accept that we all derive pleasure from different sets of activities? Many people love to bake, and many others don't. For the latter group, a bake sale is an annoying chore. But the former group assumes that everyone enjoys it like they do.
I hate shopping. I would rather clean the bathroom than go to a mall. So for me, the approaching end-of-year period looms as a dreaded season each year. Soon I'll be expected to think of just the perfect gift for each of a long list of people - me, who doesn't even like receiving gifts. Then I must find, buy, wrap and deliver all of them, none of which brings me joy. In return I'll receive numerous plates of homemade cookies and candy, which will go in the trash when I get home, as I don't eat sugar. Instead of a gift exchange, I'd rather spend an evening with my loved ones discussing which charity we'd like to benefit with the money we didn't spend on gifts.
18
It's lots of fun. Kids like to bring their family's stuff. You don'thave to do it all the time. Or at all. Chill out.
7
So were is the recipe for your Mom's Towering Apple Cake?
11
@Edwin Cohen On her blog, smitten kitchen.com
1
If it’s time for ppl to ‘get over’ bake sales, it’s also time for Ms. Perelman to get over herself. But seriously, thank you for demonstrating the pejorative “curmudgeon” is not just applicable to males.
10
I agree with you.
5
The credit for saving me from the guilt-inspired insanity of baking at midnight for a school event goes to my husband. He unplugged the mixer and vowed to buy cupcakes at the store first thing in the morning. I was instantly cured of that nonsense! (But I still made the Halloween costumes.)
9
"They feel like a holdover from a time when many moms didn’t work"??
A woman actually wrote those words?
7
@Bill Harshaw
Sounds like that business mentality that says it's not work unless you get paid for it.
So what did housewives do in the mid-20th century? Watch TV all day?
1
@Bill Harshaw why do you question this? It’s true
-a woman
6
YES!!!!
Bake sales = asking busy moms (few dads are foolish enough to feel guilted enough to do this) to bake trays for other people’s kids to buy, and the school only earns a few dollars for it. It is so economically stupid and wasteful - just dollars spent by one family to bake goods, and a few dollars spent by another family to buy those goods. If everyone just gave the $$ to the school, we would all come out ahead. And yet if a busy mom (yes, mom) doesn’t bake, she feels guilty for not being enough of a traditional “mom” and ruining the fun. Bake sales are as anachronistic and unfun as someone calling you Mrs John Smith.
Our current school has no bake sales, and I love it. I will volunteer for anything and give money any time - and will even bake cookies for events where everyone can eat them for free. Just keep the bake sales away!!
17
This is much angst over nothing. If you don't want to bake, don't bake. Others may judge; that's what people people do. I might add the tone of this piece is itself pretty judgmental, and I doubt you speak for most people, but many.
Everyone has the same twenty four hours in a day. When people say they don't have time for something, they mean it's not a priority to them worth making time for. That's fine. That you 'feel' pressured to comply because you're a baker is something only you can control: It is your emotional reaction to what you think others expect.
I worked sixty-plus hours a week, midnights, raising kids alone. I baked for us and for the extended family. Baked goods were welcome Christmas gifts because nobody else in the family baked. My kids, nieces and nephews baked with me, sleeping over for bake-a-thons. When you're low income, these are the affordable memory-makers and gifts. Crafting also brings in school money and provides gifts. It's not obligatory.
There is an entire world of people who still do this, and for their schools, and not out of "expectations of women". I made coffee for our entire shift every night, because the line I ran was closest to the coffeemakers; it was my idea. I arranged/cooked for shift lunches, to make hard factory work more enjoyable and to build cohesiveness between groups. It was as self-serving as not.
I was a feminist long before you were born. Bake, don't bake. However one chooses to help...helps.
245
Before I read this, I was watching the nyc marathon and trying to inspire citizens to share their thoughts about voting on poster board, hoping to engage our future voters, Kids. Yesterday, a few neighbors tried to do the same and to hold a rally to GOTV. Children I teach are holding bake sales and teachers are supervising and encouraging all parents to donate baked goods for such sales.Can we please retire this tradition? What do children or students take away from a bake sale? A huge consumption of sugar. An idea that proceeds from bake sales really are the right way to go about funding schools? That real change is not a remote possibility and that just short-term ones are? Please let’s spend our energies on learning civic lessons to grow a community of informed, educated adults to lead this country. These are desperate times. Let’s get our minds and that of our youth around ideas and action that matters. The Right to Vote is one of the touchstones of this country. And is being eroded as this is written. Let’s engage and teach our students about Civil Rights and civic duties. Btw: GOTV is one such worthwhile endeavor.
7
Thank you for speaking the truth. I've always been a working mom and bake sales were the death of me. Luckily my husband loves to bake, so he always pitched in. I love the volunteers who make the goodies from scratch, I just don't like the judgement felt for those moms and dads who brought store bought goodies. The end results, as you stated, are the same, - it sells.
Thanks for a great article.
91
@Linda Bake a pan of brownies, stick it in the freezer. Wait for the next bake sale. Thaw the night before the sale.
8
My women's club associated with a university here in Houston always had a winter bake sale. It was a big success with professors, staff, and students showing up to buy the goodies. Then one day the bean counters at the university told us (horrors) that we had to calculate and charge tax, and then report the tax to them. No more bake sale, lol.
46
Nonprofits are exempt from taxes.
6
I think they were referring to sales tax for consumable goods.
3
I ran an Election Day school bake sale once, about 10 years ago, and a lot of the baked goods were made by dads. About half the volunteers that ran the table were men too. Any fundraising effort takes time. Some people have more time than money to give, others have more money than time—at the time I had more time than money and the $5 I spent on muffins and a day I had off from work anyway were how I could contribute.
48
This is one more, albeit small, instance of the endless judging that people, here women, do to each other. Are we really lining up "good mothers and baking" with a further differentiation in worth between "from scratch vs mix" and "bad mothers and buying"?
While perhaps being unduly philosophical about baked goods, why must people judge each other about seemingly anything and everything? Isn't the purpose, which other readers point out is a problem in itself, to fund school activities? If it sells, it raises funds and that's the purpose?
How does that get overlayed with our beliefs and assessments about working and non-working parents, time availability and dedication to our kids schools and our personal cookie recipes? (It gets played out nationally too - remember Hillary Clinton "not staying home to bake cookies" and then giving her favourite chocolate chip recipe?)
It would really help our conversations and relationships, if we can think why we are even talking about this and what we are assuming.
37
@DianaID Actually, this article made me think of the old bumper sticker that said something to the effect of, "We'll know we have a good society [paraphrasing] when education is funded by taxes and we hold bake sales to fund the military."
31
@rms You said it girl!! It is NOT about sexism or baking..It is about school funding..Capice, DianaID?
6
It’s easy to hate school fundraisers including bake sales until you’ve actually served on the PTA of a NYC public school. Then you realize that the DOE doesn’t pay for the arts, music, foreign language, and camps programs that you value for your children. It is the PTA that does. And since that PTA must raise $100k each year to cover what the DOE doesn’t, you suddenly appreciate every $2 cupcake with a 100% profit margin. And you don’t care whether that cookie is homemade or not, all you care about is parents who participate and volunteer to support the school.
106
@Rene Z, it it isn’t a 100% profit margin, whether home baked or purchased. The “bakers” would do just as well to donate the cash they spent, and maybe the school could buy a few prizes you can sell raffles tickets for. Bake sales make little sense, economically.
27
Or better yet, instead of making the economic/political an issue of personal choice, we could insist that the wealthiest actors--corporations are people too no?--in society pay their share of civilization's price as opposed to having the least wealthy amongst us try to cover the deficit with such sales and donations of our already scarce time.
23
Let's end the practice of turning kids into little salespeople. So tired of the soft pressure tactics to buy useless magazines, cards, and baked goods. Worse are the assemblies where some motivational speaker fires up kids to sell so they can earn cheap junk. Tired of the indoctrination into free market capitalism. How about we give fewer taxes to the military (the epicenter of wasteful spending) and more to the schools?
268
@Liz Siler, I’ve never liked the idea of kids selling junk, either — whether it’s junk tchotchkes or junk food. When I was a young child (maybe third or fourth grade) my parochial school had us hawk a religious figurine to raise money for something. I lived in a largely Jewish neighborhood, so that was nice. Oy!
28
@Liz Siler
Yes, I refuse to let me kids participate.
17
Thank you! My sentiments exactly except that in the end, I gave up baking for our library book and bake sale for two reasons. First, more and more of the contributions seemed to be store bought items that were presented next to our homemade offerings as though they were of equal stature. And second, seeing the fruits of my labor that used quality ingredients so undervalued as to be sold for less than the cost of the ingredients was disheartening to say to say the least. I pointed out that our cookies, cupcakes, whatever should be priced at the very least at the same level people were used to paying for a snack at our local convenience stores, but that argument fell flat. I agree that it's time that we support our schools and libraries the way they should be supported, so we can dispense with bale sales, etc. Thank you for this article.
87
@Lou Anne Bulik
Thanks for pointing out that you spent more on the ingredients than the goods sold for. I did the same. Back in the sixties when I raised my kids, I used butter, etc. and wished I'd donated the money, but yes I knew how that would go over. I needed to sacrifice my time.
14
You recognize that the sale isn't actually about you, right?
8
My grandson's school did a fundraising drive every year to get donations with the promise that if they met their goals they wouldn't do the candy/wrapping paper/popcorn sales. When they reach their goal they have a big dance party for all the kids---meaning music and dancing, not money spent on props and DJs and so on.
It's great. Everyone gives whatever they can and 100% goes to the school instead of half going to a vending company or half going for baked goods or ingredients.
And, someday, the Pentagon will need fundraisers and bake sales and schools will be adequately (and equitably) funded.
119
I hated all fund raisers. The ones that required kids to sell wrapping paper and candy bars made more money for the companies than the PTA. We were not allowed bake sales because people were afraid of food contamination or peanut allergies.
My sons' music program raised more money simply asking parents to donate what they could. There was also cheering by the parents when they announced this form of money raising.
339
@West coast Mom
Bravo for your truth-telling. I absolutely hated having to sell Girl Scout cookies when I was young, traipsing around the Minnesota snow to doors closing in my face. I also don't appreciate being hit up to buy stale candy bars when someone comes to my door. Simply asking for a donation sounds like a much better idea for all concerned.
29
Well this is a blast from the past. My nieces' and nephews' various schools have banned bake sales due to food allergies, religious food restrictions and who knows if the cook has any clue about hygiene.
I'd rather give the school $20 straight away, than find cat hair in a homemade rice krispy treat from a school bake sale goodie. That surprise has killed my enjoyment of anything potluck-y.
149
The schools my grandchildren attend are not allowed to have homemade goodies in the classroom. I don't know about bake sales but I haven't heard of one in years here. They were never much of a money maker and did make you feel trivialized, especially if you were not a gifted artisan (my brownies are delicious and family famous but not always "beautiful"). I am again brought to mind of the poster from my college days, "Why don't we fund the schools and the military host a bake sale?"
190
@Hla3452
I thought of the same 'hippie' bumper sticker - paraphrase ' ...when the schools have all the money they need and the military has bake sales to build another bomber'
10
Given that for most bake sales, I was informed of the event and my expected contribution by the children involved at 8:00 pm the night prior to the event, there was no way that home baked goods were going to be an option. A quick stop at the local grocery store at 8:15 pm or at 6:30 am the morning of the event or a monetary contribution was the only viable alternative. Given all of the dietary restrictions (nuts, dairy, gluten, etc. etc.) and the focus on childhood obesity (and adult obesity), it seems that this type of function would have died on its own. After raising two sons and a grandchild, I came to the conclusion that writing a check was the ideal way to deal with the never ending fundraisers for which there was no time or energy. And book fairs? No thank you. I was invited by my granddaughter's school to come for lunch and take an opportunity to browse the many selections at the book fair following lunch. Then, I had to submit to a background check (as did all of the adults) in order to attend. That was the last book fair. These ideas from the 1950's simply don't work in the present time.
112
If the goal is to raise money for student activites etc., parents should not have to bake, kids should not have to sell junk or candy that no one wants, and book companies should not be invited into schools for book fairs to sell cheaply printed poorly written books and associated junk at inflated prices. None of these are a good use of time or a good business model for the school. Half of the profits are lost in all of these cases. I could possibly see the value of a rummage sale for outgrown clothing and household items which would be donated by the school community. This would foster a sense of community and actually help families save money at the same time as raising money for the school. Discreet solicitation of direct donation is another good method that saves everyone a lot of time and aggravation and shields all from any sense of competition.
99
@David
I agree, but would go further. Fundraising events that are genuine must always have the active participation of the recipients of the community's largess. I recently forked over $$ for a niece's fundraiser that involved purchase choices from two cheesy catalogs, the contest offering to reward the highest "fundraiser" with an equally cheesy "prize".
The shaming begins when the parent reaches out to friends and relatives. The only real winners in this scheme are the businesses behind these scams (remember the sale of "circus tickets" that transferred almost 90% of the donated money out of the community?), and the teachers signing on should be ashamed if not forewarned. I had the good fortune to live in a small community whose high school band was invited to the Thanksgiving parade in New York. The kids ran car washes every Saturday throughout the summer and into the fall. Sloppy at first, they got pretty good and I would always stop. My $50 over that summer was well spent.
13
Oh please, so tired of stories like these, if you don't want to do something as a parent, don't do it. I love to bake and always sent in something for a good cause. One hour tops for a batch of homemade cookies. Dads and kids can do it, don't be so sexist. Don't let other parents set the model, be the model. If they have a bake sale and no one contributes and no one buys--well guess what--you won't be having a bake sale.
61
@DJM
Don’t read it then? I sure related.
14
While I agree in general that we working moms shouldn't feel guilty about writing a check rather than baking at home for a sale, I will just say one thing in favor of the home-made treat: sometimes it introduces kids to really good food they might not know. I recently made a huge batch of McIntosh applesauce for my daughter's class party and apparently it was a real hit. Quite likely few students here in California had ever tasted home-made applesauce made with these apples that are hard to get here. (I'm a transplant from, among other places, upstate NY.) The taste and texture are quite different from store-bought. And for bake sales I have made small cheese tarts that I used to get in Europe as a kid and are just not available in stores here.
51
Deb, I must agree. Bake sales have had a good run but it’s time to hang up the apron. I’ve been a big supporter of these causes for decades but there has been a steady decline in tasteworthy treats. I think most moms stopped buying spices in the last century. And don’t get me started on the proliferation of ‘no-bake’ recipes. They are all terrible with the exception of the original Rice Krispies treats. Sadly even those are not risk free. I’m pretty sure the last batch I had, someone used EVOO. But the causes and camaraderie are priceless, so I will be a smiling patron and ‘make it rain’ so to speak.
23
What you are doing is donating so the PTO can fund field trips, assembly speakers, etc that the district didn't have funds for. The other students are handing over some change which pays for your labor, and it all adds up to everyone can have an enriching experience.
If you'd like to make something easier to transport, Rice Krispie Squares are popular and they can fit in the child's backpack.
If you really want to help, but can't cut a check, get all your friends, extended family, and social circle to save Box Tops for Education and send them in to the school. They add up fast.
16
@ARL - eScrip can be an even easier way to support schools!
Deb's thoughtful piece reminded me of another by a single mom who found the non-stop fundraising and birthday parties and gift giving baked into elementary schools - public or private - socially and financially perilous. It's hard for kids when their families can't keep up.
21
@waverlyroot eScrip is great, bu not available in my area. I mention BoxTops because every family can participate and asking for them helps the child develop his communication skills and manners.
1
Rice Krispie treats are the worse. My niece's school would only take the ones with marshmallow fluff NOT, old school marshmallows (Those marshmallows have gelatin made from pork), and forget using margarine (unhealthy franken food).
So a 1/2 commerical sheet pan of butter/marshmallow fluff Rice Krispie treats is NOT cheap. There were many religious dietary restrictions and vegetarian kids at the school. The old school recipe treats were sent packing.
I've only make the butter/marshmallow fluff version, but it was interesting to find out the school didn't want the other version and had no problems telling the parent to take them home.
5
I have baked with all my children and never considered it to be sexist. Baking is hands on mathamatials skills. It shows the value of measurement and organization. Even a three year old understands the difference between fractions when baking. And the conclusion of the activity is bonding between parent and child as well as a sense of accomplishment and a sweet treat. Selling the product at a bake sale can only reinforce your child's confidence and feeling of self worth.
65
No argument, but the issue here is having to do this wonderful activity on demand, on someone else's schedule, and frequently on very short notice.
14
"Hours," "slaving"? Are you making a bake sale wedding cake? I agree that the gender expectations are outdated, but making a pan of bar cookies isn't the equivalent of pouring the footer for a new patio.
5
@Blair
Do you pour footers for new patios to be sold off in school benefit sales often? Let's see how this works out, shall we?
I hate going to the hardware store but it doesn't take anymore time than going to the grocery store. So we will just call it a break even there. The difference is that the person who whips up the concrete, digs the hole, sets in the form, and then pours in the concrete makes between $20-$45 per hour. The person who cleans the kitchen, mixes the cookie dough, places it in the oven, and goes back to retrieve it, waits for it to cool, cuts it, portions it out and wraps it, and finally cleans the kitchen makes exactly ZERO per hour. None of that money for the patio footer is coming out of the family budget of the worker, unless it is a family endeavor then the work and materials are budgeted for. The money is paid to the worker not taken out of school supplies or the food budget. There is a reason that there are professional bakers and chefs, as well as professional carpenters. Don't all men build things? Maybe we could start each year having mommies participate in 2 bake sales each year and daddies build a desk or table, or cabinet for the school and if they don't have that talent they could come in and paint?!
4
Wish this was everyone's biggest worry!
4
@mja The bake sale problem comes in many different flavors-- who's planning (and buying) the red clothing for Red Ribbon week, or doing the hair for crazy hair day? There are a thousand small ways tasks like these take away from free time, and for families with two working parents that time is already slim. It's not that there are no other problems in this world, it's that this is a common issue of modern life, where families have both parents working, but our model for how to get everything else done hasn't evolved much. What's the difference to our children if we just donate $20 rather than two hours on a Tuesday night (and don't forget the time it takes to buy ingredients!).
7
My 9th grade son told me on a Sunday, that he had a bake sale to raise money for his wrestling team that Monday. (It is a requirement of bake sales that your child informs you at the very last minute, that one is about to happen). I said "Great! Figure out what you would like to make, and I will buy you the ingredients, and you will make it.". And we did just that.
16
Can you imagine a bake sale with the ladies wearing T-shirts with Klara Nordin Stensö's drawing?
2
Thanks for this piece. It was refreshing to read an article by a woman who pursues a traditionally female vocation in a thoroughly feminist manner.
As she wrote, there's nothing wrong with baking for a sale:
--If you enjoy it;
--If you're good at it (which includes the time management of shopping and cleaning up);
--If you have the time;
--If you think it's worth it.
If not, buy cookies in a bag or make a cash donation. And as Ms. Perelman states, the burden should not be placed solely on mothers.
9
Bake sales are just another way to bully people, especially the mothers, to make something for a bake sale and then judging if it was good enough. If a PTA is trying to raise money, just come out and say so. Aside from the fact that the products may not be sanitary, it is essentially a nickel and dime operation. Ask for the money instead of selling junk food. While speaking of junk, we don't want to be bullied into buying the junk candy or knick-knacks that your kid is selling for the sports' teams. If you want your kids to do some extra curricular activity at school, pay for it yourself.
6
I’m an empty nester, but I am surprised that your kids’ school holds bake sale any day other than Monday. That way you’ve got the weekend to do it.
As a 10 year alumna of Girl Scouts, I d point out that they changed their business model from troop bake sales to organized commercial sales at least 50 years ago.
Sounds like a topic pta meeting!
3
When I was first asked to contribute to the school bake sale I made a terrible, way over cooked (read burnt), crumbly brownie presentation. Was not asked again thereafter.
2
You mean people bring store bought baked goods to sell at bake sales? That sounds lazy and against the spirit of bake sale.
1
Your reaction is exactly what this article is trying to address. If the intent is to raise money, then why is bringing store-purchased products not in the spirit?
7
I’ve been a baker since I was 10 and I loved to bring homemade things to bake sales when my kids were younger. While it bummed me out to see brownies filled with expensive chocolate being sold for .50 each, the marriage proposals and being told that what I made was “better than sex” more than made up for it!
4
The problem is not with bale sales per se, but with the assumption they are the responsibility of moms. We’ll have a kitchen full of 11year old boys tomorrow preparing treats for an upcoming bake sale. Proceeds go to a project they are organizing to buy supplies for a hunger relief effort. Yes, the economics may not be the most compelling (and their finished product may not be the most beautiful), but they will be able to make a connection between their work & raising the money to fund their project. A recipe for success.
10
When I was a kid, I would sometimes get embarrassed that my parents wouldn't let me participate in fund-raisers (selling candybars, popcorn, wrapping paper, magazine subscriptions, etc.). Their reasoning - "It is a waste of time and a giant rip-off. The 'prize' for the most sales is a cheap toy that would cost $3 at the mall. If you really want that toy so badly, we will just buy it for you."
Now that I am an adult, I am glad that my parents did not make me participate in fund-raisers, and showed me by example that it is okay to question them and opt-out.
As for bake sales, don't get me started. I am not a commercial bakery and don't have the means or connections to save on the cost of ingredients by buying bulk. The second it dawned on me that first, I was spending more on ingredients than the school was selling the finished products for, and second, that all of those costs (time, money, ingredients) were on me... was the last time I contributed to a bake sale.
I follow my parents' good example and limit my participation to writing the occasional (and tax deductible) donation check.
9
I'm old. Our schools never had bake sales. Why? Because who would they sell to other than the kids and we kids in elementary school only had nickels and dimes to spend.
1
Bake sales and office pot lucks, the majority of which result in women cooking and men eating, and the men feeling entitled to have what they want (& comment on the quality) despite never bringing anything themselves. And thanks to the minority of men who actually do something in these situations.
8
@OLYPHD
My son, a single dad, with some help from NYT's Food section, bakes for school events that include his college reunion get-togethers. Mothers love his crisps and seek his advice and recipes. He adds dimension to an already curious mind--and gets plenty of interest from women who find him irresistible.
3
Yes! Yes! Thank you, Deb Perelman. I've always felt bake sales put undue stress on mothers (usually mothers, though some single fathers must feel the pressure, too). I highly resented them when I was a single, full-time working mother years ago.
Bake sales aren't about team-building and "camaraderie." They are an intrusion into the lives of those who would rather spend what little free time they have doing something with their children, not trying to impress with their baking skills (or lack thereof). There are too many other more productive fund-raising efforts that don't require this unequal time-pressure on one parent and that bring in a lot more money.
If you want to bake, fine. Stop making the rest of us feel guilty for not seeing the fun or profit in this time-consuming project.
8
As an old coot, I bake as often as my partner does. Fathers can bake as well as mothers for these sales; most recipes for sweets are as simple as following directions. Currently my favorite relevant volume is Stella Parks' "Bravetart: Iconic American Desserts." Like most great cookbooks it is a fun read in addition to the goodies that result from using it.
2
Deb Perelman is forgetting the Great American Tradition of relying on the kindness of strangers. Social progress for women has not been accompanied by an acceptance of social democracy. Why expect the state to guarantee decent education, health care, and food security when we can ask volunteers and churches and philanthropists to step forward in its stead?
6
Many things seem worse when they feel obligatory. So it is still the case that no men show up with cakes or cookies at these things? I suppose it's like most things in that if you are experienced at it baking is pleasant and easy. Cookies from scratch to ready to cool takes only about thirty minutes. These sales began in times when everyone (meaning all women) could easily do this without much pause from everything else that was expected of them.
5
A bake sale is a kind of activity in which participation is voluntary. Yes, there is something aesthetically inferior about bringing store-bought goods to a bake sale, like it or not. There is often social pressure to do things that are annoying but create camaraderie or school spirit.
2
@Mark
Just how many bakes sales have you and your male friends contributed to? Spare us women the lecture on how it supposedly spoils camaraderie and school spirit to offer store-bought goods. The purpose is to raise money. Working toward a common goal furnishes the school spirit.
6
In my part of the world there are no bake sales. I'm not sure why exactly, but it may have something to do with various requests from schools to refrain from bringing homemade goods in for children's birthday celebrations. Packaged goods are OK, but not homemade ones. Holdover fears akin to razor blades in Halloween candy perhaps explains this.
7
I think it’s prob more concerns about food allergies and sanitation driving these bans on homemade goods!
3
@Kelly
From the same folks who eat in restaurants, off food carts and vending machines? Let's face it, all food is potentially poisonous. But some tastes better than others. I'd take my chances on a bake sale before a lot of other options...
1
This article might sound trivial but it's been a confusing issue in my mind for many years! I'm retired now but when my kids were young, I was running a high-tech engineering department and working tons of hours and still expected to show up with some baked goods. I wasn't good at that and it seemed like such a sexist notion AND i could do the math and see that just giving them $30 would be so much more cost effective. As the article points out, the numbers don't justify the effort at all. So if you feel like doing this then fine but the pressure isn't fine at all.
35
@Bobbi Bowman That's what I think about Trunk or Treat. For all the cost and effort, why not just give the money outright? I know. It's fun. But it's not cost efficient.
The expectations for homemade food extend far beyond the school bake sale.
In many of my workplaces over the years, women employees, especially, were to bring homemade goodies to work socials. Wives of married men generally stepped in for their spouses. Single men could bring something from the store - I remember that a block of cheese was always popular.
The atmosphere was quite cool for we women who brought something from a store!
9
@ChrisJ
I recall assigning men to bring paper goods only to have them hand me $10 to buy it for them.
8
As a child, I loved bake sales. Anything with chocolate chips in it. I had no idea what it cost to make baked goods, in time or dollars, until I was an adult. Then I became a baking snob, preferring Lindt to Nestle. I ended my fondness for bake sales. They always undercut the value of my tasty treats and my attention for detail. These days, I bake only for special loved ones, treating the gesture as an exclusive gift.
I'm surprised the "bake sale" tradition continues in schools. I always thought it was a Betty Crocker coup from the 50's. One would think with all the allergy issues, not to mention the rise in A.D.D., diabetes, and the cost of dentistry, sugary treats to tempt the young would have become taboo.
Salt, sugar, and fat often tastes very good. But all three ingredients are toxic and deadly. Perhaps it's long overdue to rethink some of these traditions.
13
When there’s an app for everything now, an old-fashioned baked sale is just a sad reminder of what we all threw away when we bit the Apple.
3
Why not incorporate your kids into the baking process? Some quality time and teaching them skills that benefit them in life.
12
Cookies are not good for you, or children. Haven't you kept up? Processed, milled flour is bad for you, as is sugar and fat, which are the essential ingredients of virtually all cookies, and cakes. Who would dare let their kids eat cupcakes bought from a grocery store? That's like letting them play with toys shipped from China coated with lead paint. Do you still smoke cigarettes? Maybe you still have a liquor cabinet full of expensive booze which was common among all middle class households in the 50's, 60's and 70's. Baking cookies and other such destructive sweets is one of women's secrets for killing their husbands with a slow acting poison.
Are you cognizant of the fact that the sugar industry would not be what it is today without the brutal institution of African slavery? Bake sales are are like slave auctions that capitalize on the blood and sacrifice of those forced to labor for the profit of white sugar plantation owners.
Shame!
6
@Aristotle Gluteus Maximus
You've nailed it. Sign me up for the paleo combo plate. My sweet tooth just fell out.
1
I stayed home for a few years with my kids and I also worked while they grew up. I have always been a feminist. A box of brownie mix takes about 5 minutes to mix together and 45 to bake. What's the big deal? Some PTA moms are obnoxious. So are some working moms who act like they should get a medal for kissing their kids goodnight. My idea of feminism is that women should be able to choose our life courses, not that we should denigrate parenthood or being a homebody.
17
Wanna change it? Try saying "no I don't have time."
12
This article is ridiculous. I am a working mom of a 9 yr old surrounded by other similar moms (and dads) that participate in the school activities.
1- dads bake too, either because they enjoy cooking or because, like my husband, they turn cooking into a science experiment.
2- baking is not about consuming sugary carbs, is about doing something together.
3- baking does not have to take long. I bake complicated birthday cake once a year that take almost a whole day to bake and decorate together and I also make things that take 10 min + baking time that can be done simply, quickly and together.
4- bake sales and other school fundraisers are not only to collect money, they are to create community and childhood memories
5- the fact that a woman actually likes to cook does not make her less independent, feminist or more of the stereotypically diminishing descriptions in the article.
24
I find this article extraordinarily sexist. I'm a man and definitely like to bake and cook for myself and others.
What would responses have been if a man had written such an article about a typically male activity?
7
@Martin Rivers I totally agree. Where did it specify that women had to be the ones to bake? I understand that it used to be based upon a time when it was typically mothers who had the time to participate, but that doesn't have to be the case now.
3
Bake sales and pot lucks are equally gross. I have no idea how clean someone is when they cook and/or how fresh the ingredients are or the store bought items may be. I neither participate nor donate.
8
@Patty deVille
Yes, Patty, just like going to the movies, eating from a bake sale relies on our willing suspension of disbelief. A good immune system and really sharp taste buds don't hurt, either. While Twinkies and produce exclusively from locavore farmer's markets sustain us the rest of the time, right? On what savvy planet dwell ye?
4
Deb, I’m an avid reader of your blog but this whole subject seems a bit of a throwback and you’re not adding anything new to the conversation. Maybe it was the editor, maybe you didn’t have enough time to do better, but I think it was a waste of an opportunity on both sides. In this case the time would probably have been better spent in pumpkin bread!
17
Amen! And don't get me started on all the awful dreck my daughter has been asked to peddle over the years at our underfunded, rural public school; wrapping paper and pizzas, cheap candy and toaster pastries, scented candles and made-in-China home decor. We long ago made the decision not to waste precious resources on this junk, and instead make a cash donation in whatever amount we can, straight to the school.
14
It doesn't have to be "always the moms."
1
“Women belong in the kitchen. Men belong in the kitchen. The kitchen is where the food is.”
— Tumblr proverb
9
You folks are a unsettling group of female stereotypes for sure in these comments. I am a guy professional who cooks. Imagine that. My baklava is awesome, and my quick brownies will also kick butt. And you know what, i can get them done in under an hour. Lighten up and stop all the wines. Afraid to eat, omg. And to the author, Why does something easy and fun have to be a PC event, if you know what your doing it is easy and having fun with you kids is priceless. Get a reality check and get real.
14
I believe there is more to the act of a bake sale than simply fundraising. They are fun! They teach kids some of the basics of fundraising and how to do it. The kids learn about organizing, getting volunteers, arranging for donations and marketing. They require socializing with others. If the children are involved in the baking process, that alone is an important lesson (remember when we had home economics to teach us about cooking and baking? Those classes were fun!). Maybe the dollars and time spent are less than the total amount of money raised, maybe not. But the kids earned it instead of just asking adults for money.
If our children attend schools that host bake sales, we adults can plan in advance and make sure we get the ingredients on our regular trips to the grocery. I am a talented baker and I still keep boxed mixes in the pantry for those moments when I am pressed for time. Trust that you can can whip up some impressive treats without much time that taste better than store bought. Here is a tip for anyone needing a quick, impressive recipe. Take Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie mix, shape it into small balls. Place each ball in a mini cupcake tin (this shortens baking time!) and bake for 7-8 minutes. As soon as they come out of the oven, gently push a Hershey Kiss or a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup into the center. Voilà! If you are a more experienced baker, make some homemade Snickers bars. Far better than the original and they will impress everyone!
7
@Sarah No peanut butter permitted in many schools.
My sister makes those cookies and calls them "witches hats." Very popular with kids. Not permitted in her kids' schools.
1
Yes! Exactly what I've been thinking for years. You collected it all nicely in words. And I love to bake.
8
The SF public schools that my daughter had attended in the mid 1990s - first several years of 2000s let go of the bake sale as a thing, in order to avoid possibilities of food poisoning, allergies etc. plenty of great bakeries and shops ...
3
A very long time time ago, I made chocolate sour cream, iced cookies, and figured out that the material costs were $1/cookie, not including my time for baking and cleaning. I informed the bake sale organizers of the high cost of those cookies, and to make sure they did not under price them. They sold them for $1 each. Ever since then, I didn't even bother to go buy baked goods to donate. I just handed bake sale organizers the cost of the baked good ingredients and $5 more, and counted it good.
The real winner on that first bake sale was a friend of mine who bought all of the remaining cookies I'd made when he found out I'd brought those particular cookies to the sale.
14
So, here's a woman who's making an argument that is purely her own. Yes, kids do love anything sweet, but some of us busy people also bake because we find it to be a soothing hobby. You can also do this on a Sunday and freeze the results until the sale date. My son hates chocolate so a bake sale gives me an opportunity to make brownies and chocolate chip cookies for an audience that will appreciate them. AND dads bake too, but perhaps not at the author's school. First. World. Problems.
10
Ever since my child entered kindergarten at our urban public school, I’ve been regularly invited to volunteer to do unskilled and/or unprofitable tasks to help cover gaps caused by underfunding: participate in a bake sale, do clerical work for teachers, supervise the lunch room, or clip the ridiculous Box Tops for Education, to name a few.
While I know that our school relies on such contributions, I’m ambivalent about pitching in because I see the sexism and economic inefficiency that get perpetuated when problems are solved by (overwhelmingly) mothers providing unpaid, unskilled labor.
The real issue it how to sufficiently fund our schools; meanwhile, we need to create better ways for willing fathers and mothers to help cover the gaps in ways that make the best use of their time and talents.
25
@Cheryl, they ask you to do “clerical work for teachers”? That is really offensive. Teachers are paid to do everything their job entails. That includes paperwork. They should not be farming out anything to unpaid helpers.
Years ago I met with a teacher to talk about participating in a tutoring program for reading. The gig required a commitment of many hours per week, for the full school year. After hearing what my time md task contribution would be, I asked the teacher whether the parents were required to do anything with their kids in this program. The answer was, “No. The parents WORK, so they don’t have the time.” Needless to say, I did not do the tutoring.
3
In Canada, teachers have support staff that do many clerical aspects of their jobs and often even proctor exams. It is not part of a teacher's job.
5
@Passion for Peaches: For sure, it’s a question of how to fairly and productively allocate limited resources.
My child’s teacher has a master’s degree and attended top schools. In my opinion, she’s underpaid for her important work of educating children, which she does commendably. She’s wildly overpaid for ongoing tasks like photocopying and collating. Any private, well-managed organization would hire someone at minimum wage to do that level of work—not choose between a salaried professional and an unpaid volunteer (who might well also have a master’s degree).
7
I love the author's cost analysis of bake sales!! The baker's labor: free!
Also, as a plant based whole foods eater (no animal products, minimal to no processed foods), who's trying to cut back on added sugar, oils, and salt, I don't eat most to any of the items sold at a bake sale.
And it's not as if baked goods are a special occasional treat: they're consumed everywhere, all the time. Which is not healthy for anyone.
I'd rather make a donation. Which is how I felt as a working single parent.
14
There are many of us who work and also believe in baking something for a bake sale -- not so much because of any financial savings but because home baked tastes better and is healthier. Period. Don't know why the writer makes a big thing about it.
11
Regarding a comment below from someone who said he or she just donates cash for all fundraisers, due to lack of time, there is a similar pressure placed on parents who have kids in charter schools. One highly-regarded (exceedingly competitive) charter in my area “requests” a large amount of money from all parents, as an annual “contribution” to the school. Parents can opt out, but are expected to make up for not handing over cash by giving many hours of donated time. None of this is absolutely required, of course, because this is (technically) a public school, but the pressure is enormous. And people know who does not participate. It gets around.
10
@Passion for Peaches So just breeze in and out and become immune to the talk. This is not hard.
2
As a dem parent who choose to live in an area with failing schools and high taxes i feel your pain. With an average school bill of around $45k a year for my sons private high school and the high local tax all i can say is thank you to irresponsibly and inept government. College is much cheeper due to my sons very hard work and scholarship. Vote vote vote, and remind the republicans of how well the charter and private schools combined with their felonious tax plan (eliminating local tax deductions) are not working on your pocketbook.
4
I would love to have the opportunity to bake for my granddaughter’s school. Alas, the mandate now is only store-bought, nut-free and don’t forget to include some gluten-free treats as well. I indulge my occasional urge to bake delicious (and not unhealthy) treats for those who appreciate my efforts.
9
I didn’t know bake sales are still a ‘thing.’ Our school district banned all homemade treats and food years ago on the basis of not knowing if the food was safe. Allergies were part of it, but also unknown kitchen sanitation, packaging, and ingredients. If a student wanted to bring treats for their birthday, they were asked to bring unopened packaged goods from the store. A student at a local middle school brought marijuana brownies just this past school year, and not for a bake sale, just as a treat for his classmates. I am totally with everyone who is opposed to kids fundraising. I buy from the neighborhood kids, but having an eight-year-old on my doorstep selling wrapping paper and pizzas is just sad. When my three kids were in school, I just donated money (which was very tight on a teacher’s salary) rather than have them on the street selling $20 pizzas for a $2 profit.
18
I stopped feeling guilty about not providing baked goods to my sons bake sales when I realized that it is much safer to bring Goods that have been bake by professionals,a nd cheaper too. Kids don’t care where they came from, as long as they are sweet!
10
I think Deb has it right. But bake sales, church dinners, and PTA fairs are community-building activities, and if we get rid of them because they don't make economic sense, we are going to need something to replace them. Clicking a donate button on our smart phones doesn't pull us together in the same way.
19
Worse than bake sales - complaining about how little time you have. Check Facebook a few times less; get off the phone.
Be Here Now.
20
I don't like eating food baked/cooked by non-professionals. Even in grade school at the Pagan Baby Bazaar, I didn't like the fudge, etc.
If you read recipes online, you'll notice how freely people substitute ingredients. That's fine, of course, but I don't want to eat their experiments. Who knows how long the junk they throw into the bowl has languished in the pantry or the refrigerator? Who knows what dirty fingers touched the batter? Eeuuww.
I don't "hate" bake sales. I just don't participate.
6
"Women who lack the time ..." Really? WOMEN?
If you're part of the stereotype, you're part of the problem.
Include all who happily bake for their kids, and you'll have our unbiased attention.
14
My greatest disappointment of a bake sale was in the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Chicago. For Easter, a traditional Russian paskha is a pyramid made of cream cheese. The good parishioners there made a dry paskha of dow, and told me that what I was looking for was their "syrnaya paskha", from Russian syr = cheese. Alas, not available.
3
I am a male who likes to bake and am pretty good at it. I gave up on the bake sale thing when I saw something I made being sold for less than the cost of ingredients. Too add insult to injury my cake was priced below clearly inferior confections, some of which were purchased !
My practical solution was I purchased my cake back. Which goes to show you can bake your cake and eat it too.
48
Did you have any fun with you kid or was it just the profit margin? ;)
3
@Jct I also quit doing bake sales for the same reason as @Dennis even though I like to bake and have a number of go-to bake sale recipes--the purpose of a fundraiser is to, you know, raise funds, and the cost: benefit just did not work out favorably for me when the organizers priced my baked goods so low that I felt my time and contribution were comically undervalued--and it was not that I was unable to value time spent with kids. If your kids would rather be doing other things together than baking, then opportunity cost needs to be factored into the costs along with ingredients, time, etc.
1
sometimes a cupcake is just a cupcake....
16
Reminds me of the time the school principal’s call pulled me out of an important meeting to tell me my son had nits in his hair.
Would she ever have done that to my husband??
8
@Shiloh 2012, well maybe. I think it was the nits on the principal's mind more than your gender. They really do want the child out of the place PDQ, as nits are frisky little critters and spread. If your name was on the list to call first, they did.
8
Thanks for saving me the trouble of telling you to chill out. I'm pretty sure there's some tougher stuff on the agenda for gender equality than the sexist implications of bake sales. And if you really hate them, why participate? Waste of (digital) column inches, NYT.
10
I donated money for all school fundraisers. No time. Other fundraisers: Refused to embarrass my colleagues to buy overpriced things they didn’t want. Again, just pitched in cash.
6
Thirty years ago when my kids were in school, the PTO found that a fundraiser we called , “Ahhh, JUST WRITE A CHECK,” became the most efficacious way to raise money.
14
Easier (fairer, more efficacious) just to pay taxes.
4
I have similar feelings about Girl Scout cookie sales. Why overpriced baked goods, for girls to hawk? The whole thing is so wrong and outdated.
15
@Passion for Peaches
The Boy Scouts sell popcorn. Unlike public schools, scouts are private clubs that need to raise money to exist.
2
“It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need, and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber.”
36
I agree. They're a throwback. But for a different reason. Let the rich people make a big, fat private donation. Stop guilting me into buying a sugary snack just so we can all see how virtuous you are by raising money for charity. Donate privately. And make and eat those sugary snacks yourself. :)
6
I assumed that bake sales went out right around the time school started taking food allergies seriously.
They are obviously sexist - or more precisely, a holdover from an era defined by single-income households. That was true 20 years ago. This article reads like it has been sitting on someone's desk for about that long.
5
I began making cookies for our local library, and currently bake over 600 of them, and I bake eight different varieties. Mine invariably all sell out.
I have one advantage over most home bakers, in that I hold a Baking and Pastry certification from the county's (Sonoma) Junior College's Culinary Academy. I know how to cook in quantity, and achieve consistent results. But even with all that, I still spend a week making doughs, baking the cookies, as well as packaging and labeling.
But few things are as gratifying to me, as watching my cookies sell, and for people to tell me how good they are; there are a few people who come to the sale just to buy my cookies. We had a ballot issue pass in 2016 that expanded our library's hours and basically added to the system's budget. But I do look forward to the Sales, as I have a reason to cook in quantity.
But, we REALLY need to fund these institutions better. Bake sales should be for the extras, NOT to keep the doors open or lights on.
14
My kids were in school when food allergies became more prevalent. Whatever was brought in-- bought or homemade-- had to have an accompanying ingredients list printed on a card. The focus shifted to bake sales at the holiday season only, for parents and faculty to purchase and take home.
1
For people who love to bake but whose co-workers moan about calories when you try to share your goodies with them (for free, I might add), I'd think bake sales would be kind of a win-win.
2
I worked full time, and got up at 4:30 am to go to work. We left our house by 6am, with student aboard. I did manage to bake for some bake sales, not all. In my opinion, that’s infinitely better than sending children door to door selling things, or for the child having parents selling items at work, which was prohibited where I worked. I refused to let my child get involved in chicken sales. I just figured out the profit margin, and wrote the check...
4
Love this, Deb!
My 3 kids are grown now. I love to bake, but I worked full time, and ALWAYS asked if I could just donate the monetary value of ingredients + profit. My logic was that if we all just gave $20 or so, we could save the grief of trying to perpetuate the myth that all women (yes women, my husband never fixed anything for a bake sale!) have a recipe up their sleeve they are thrilled to pull out for a school fundraiser.
I imagine it's even harder now with dietary restrictions: peanut allergies, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and all the rest.
9
As a working professional mother of two, now college aged, I find Deb nails it here. The concept of “performative domesticity” will be a topic of discussion at my next book group!
8
2 kids, a long professional baking career and a million bake sales behind me, One thing I learned is that while kids prefer the homemade stuff, that’s a pretty broad term. Brownie mix and a bag of baking m&m’s is heaven and they definitely won’t buy the delicious made from scratch pumpkin cheesecake that you lovingly brought in for the Halloween bake sale.
4
I am long past having a kid in school but even back then, as a working single mom, I dreaded bake sales. So I cut to the chase and gave the money instead. It accomplished the same goal and saved a lot of time.
9
The joy of baking cupcakes for my children's classes long since went the way of childhood safety! Bake sales no longer seem to abound either. Fun question--when our baking was no longer wanted or appreciated, did we decide to get appreciation at work places instead?
3
i live with 4 cats and a dog. i'm a professional baker. i've taken the serv safe test 5 times and have never scored below 96. 4 cats and a dog. you don't want cookies baked in my kitchen.
6
35 years ago it was my turn to bring the cookies to school for the 1st grade class. Right after the dinner dishes were done, I prepared Lemon Sugar Cookies using my grandmothers recipe. The next evening my son said, "Mom, next time just buy the cookies at the store. None of the kids liked your cookies." So that was the end of that. Yay!!
20
@J Gunn, you are good to take that in stride. I bring baked goods to social gatherings, where others might bring wine, because I don’t drink. Few people eat what I bring. It’s embarrassing, I feel, but you can’t arrive empty handed. I need to come up with another gift-in-hand.
@J Gunn: LOL, trust me fancy stuff is wasted on KIDS. (I'd LOVE some of your grandma's Lemon Sugar cookies!).
Kids like simple flavors like chocolate or strawberry -- not tart stuff like lemon (nor complex stuff like matcha green tea or salted licorice).
Cookies are insanely simple to make -- one bowl! -- you'd have been the hit of the bake sale had you simply made chocolate chip cookies -- recipe right on the bag of chips!
4
@J Gunn - a few years back our church had a bake sale. I made a cheesecake that nobody bought, so they donated it to the rectory. I was a little embarrassed, but no big deal. That Sunday, the priest opened his homily by praising the delicious cheesecake they got from the bake sale! Long way of saying that you never know who loves what you bake.
3
Do away with bake sales if you must, but grant them this: Like potlucks and pain-and-suffering awards, they assume the fundamental equality of human beings. The seamstress's cupcakes are priced no differently than the cardiologist's. Placing too much emphasis on the market value of people's time poses a threat to the shared understanding of community.
23
@Melissa
Actually, it doesn't assume the fundamental equality of human beings, in that it is the overworked moms generally baking at 11 at night for a bake sale, not the overworked dads.
6
@Catalina The expectation that it is women who will contribute their labor is likely more prevalent in some communities than others. Certainly, women everywhere struggle to have their efforts valued as highly as men's.
3
@Melissa, erm...the “cardiologist” may have had her housekeeper or nanny bake for her. Or purchased the goods at a local bakery. The “seamstress” (what an odd choice of job and title, Melissa) probably does not have that option. It’s a false to assume that everyone’s time is of equal value.
2
I'm with you Deb.
5
We've participated in numerous school bake sales, but there has always been a pit in my stomach when doing so.
Why is it we should be doing "fundraisers" for things like library books, band uniforms and even classroom basics like dry erase markers?
Are we, unwittingly enabling those that have underfunded our public schools by making up for their politically motivated too-lean budgets?
35
The bake sale concept is ripe for disruption. Try the bagel sale. Making old world bagels is difficult, time consuming and requires a decent oven. But, if made right, with mother dough, barley malt syrup, gluten powder mixed with bread flour, proofed, boiled and baked....you've got a decent thing to sell.
2
I think if a bake sale is done right, it can be a win for everybody. It doesn't have to be a table set up in front of the grocery store entrance. My local Audubon Society holds a bake sale/houseplant sale as a fundraiser, and pairs it with the local library's book sale. All members are invited to donate baked goods, and to volunteer for 2-hour shifts. Some bake all winter and freeze batches until time for the spring sale, while others cultivate plant slips. The sale lasts two days and raises at least $600, which we give away to other causes. People come by with their arms full of books, feeling good, and let their kids buy a treat for the way home, or they buy bags of stuff to put in their own freezer. It's a social event, and people look forward to it.
7
Back in the day our "confirmed bachelor" dept chair told us that for bake sales he would always contribute. He buy a bag of the cheapest cookies and burn the bottoms in the oven.
6
Recommend: Buy (if you must), walk away, sniff if: okay-> nibble else -> nope -> trashcan
2
Umm... dads can bake too, ya know.
9
#NotAllDads
2
@George Gollin
Not all moms can bake either. I make no apologies, and the kids often gravitate towards the store-bought cookies anyway.
3
Same sexist culture: Moms have time to bake if they stay home.
7
Thank you.
1
Apparently bake sales have changed since I was a kid. Bake sales used to be where you could taste amazing things made for special occasions. Bake sales used to honor food and family, tradition and community, the value of the school and education.
Nowadays, apparently, no one, not even cookbook writers, cares much about any of that; it’s all about time and money. Treats are no longer special; they are something generic that anyone can pick up at the store any day they want.
10
And let me add my sincere thanks to you and everyone who provides a list of all ingredient so that kids who are nut-free, gluten-free, soy-free, sugar-free and diary-free can share in the fun. You are indeed correct that bakes sales are not the same as when you were a kid.
4
So Greg, what’s your favorite thing to bake for bakes sales?
5
@Greg Gearn
I've anything "special" or "amazing" at a school bake sale, not attending seven schools nationwide as an Army brat as a kid, not as a parent of (current) high-schoolers, or anywhere or time in between. I guess Altadena must be different.
2
The author is correct that public schools should have enough money to do what they need to do without resorting to fundraisers.
The author is overthinking the rest. Anyone judging you over what you bring to a bake sale is not worth worrying about.
11
@Diego, assuming your posted name is true for your gender, I have one thing to say to you: you clearly do not know women, or — more specifically — moms. They can be vicious, over the smallest things. (Say as a female who has been the target of that for much of their life.)
1
I've known many actually kind women, Peaches. Like you, assuming you're a woman due to name, they don't exude malevolence at all over these--or other--innocent things. A few bad men or women seem to open the door to savaging a gender, sad when women do that to each other. I don't think men do it to other men as much as I've noticed from women against other women.
Wow, I find this article to be sad.
We're busy, just like everyone else. We work, coach two kiddos baseball teams, etc. Yesterday, we built a cardboard and duck tape boat for a school project. All while trying to finish renovating a house. Oh, and without "people". No nannies, housekeepers, landscapers, etc.
Everyone needs to step back and prioritize. Skip a bit of personal (me, me, me) time (or that evening's glass of chardonnay...) and spend the time baking with the kids. Or any of the other projects, for that matter. Most kids (shoot, dad's too) can't even swing a hammer... Time for everyone to put some actual "participation" back into life again.
My wife and I do things with and for our kids because we love and like being with them. I would also like to think that they'll grow up to become supportive, involved parents, too. Per this article, something that seems to be a dying "art". Too much trouble.
Children are like sunsets, if you don't pay attention, you'll miss it.
Now, this dad wants to hear about the Towering Apple Cake recipe...
22
@avmbl: some years back, I gave my oldest grandson -- then about 8 or 9 years old -- a real toolbox with lots of compartments and filled with REAL (smaller scale) tools -- hammers, pliers, wrenches, a nice screwdriver set, nails & screws, etc.
He literally had no idea what it was or what to do with it.
3
@avmbl, wow, what a diatribe! How about taking joy in your own children, without wasting your time judging others? There’s something to teach your kids!
5
In addition to dumb assumptions about parents' time and women's role in life, what about the ingredients in the baked goods?
Most recipes call for way too much sugar and many use hydrogenated fats. Even if I buy something to support the cause, I won't eat it because the ingredients are not something I want to consume, whether home-baked or off the supermarket shelf.
I do see that holding a bake sale signals more commitment to the venture than does a bald request for money. Still, I much prefer to donate cash and avoid the waste of buying something that I'll just toss out, even knowing that someone took trouble to make it. We can all use our energy more productively, like lobbying the school board and other officials to prioritize enriching activities for kids.
5
There was never a time when "moms didn't work." Let's please talk about moms who work outside the home, moms who work inside the home, moms who receive income from their work, moms whose work is unpaid.
31
Do bake sales really still exist? Between allergies and obesity, I thought they were a thing of the past. At least they are in our neck of the woods.
1
I am well past raising kids and am a grandparent. Bake sales hawk sugar and fat laden treats that are not healthy edibles for growing children. I am more in favor of holiday gift sales as fund raisers . Let us set a good example for children who might join the growing ranks of obese and sick people in this country if they are offered these items for consumption. I expect backlash for my views but I can handle it easily. Bring it on.
3
Let’s not tie feminism to baking...please. Baking WITH your child is another way to do something TOGETHER. Yes...I was a single, military woman, who baked for my child as well. Homemade tastes better than store bought cookies.
12
Let's see. When I was in law school I baked for bake sales. I baked with my sons and baked for school fundraisers when they were in school. I've donated a dessert a month package for the local library fundraiser and I bake birthday cakes for my coworkers. Now I bake with my granddaughter.
As a sixty-five year old grandfather when should I stop engaging in these sexist practices?
17
Actually, in 2018, it’s not always the moms.
However, after I drop off a tray of my brownies, that I made, with my male hands, I’m always told by the mommy crowd to thank my wife. I do mention that I made them, but that doesn’t matter because it’s not really about the brownies anyway. It’s about the mom-petition.
Sexism at school is pretty rife, and the prime movers behind it are the women engaged in competitive performative femininity.
Who, precisely, “expects”’women to show up with baked goods? It’s not the dads... It’s women, competing with each other to be the most “effortlessly” platonic ideal of mom-ness.
Men have competitive sports, women have competitive mom-ing. Which is fine.
But please, let’s not use the passive voice when we talk about the expectations moms face.
It’s not the men or the kids or even the dreaded patriarchy that leaves moms frazzled and flour covered at 1:30 in the morning. It’s other women. Take some responsibility.
20
@Objectively Subjective
"Who, precisely, “expects”’women to show up with baked goods? It’s not the dads... It’s women, competing with each other to be the most “effortlessly” platonic ideal of mom-ness."
Wrong answer-- specifically, false dichotomy.
It's not a question of "men v. women" or "moms v. dads". It's patriarchal expectations. Not all men and not all women hold them, but some members of each group does. It is "the dreaded patriarchy," it's just that women can enforce patriarchy, too. I'm surprised that a person who used the term "performative femininity" isn't familiar with that concept, but it seems you are primarily interested in blaming women for problems and tooting your own horn, so there's that. What a condescending mansplain.
2
Speak loudly, Deb: “radical hope that our taxes should fully cover education....” is the heart of the matter. Whether 1950 or 2018, why oh why, do we have to beg for change to educate our children? Public or private. No judgment. America’s children live in the wealthiest country in the world and stand outside my grocery store asking for donations. Really? But then DT wouldn’t know that because it’s a safe bet that he’s never bought his own groceries or baked a cookie.
9
Maybe it is time for dad to man up in the kitchen. Maybe it is time for dad's to offer their time tested recipes.
6
I’d rather buy bake- shop pastry at neighborhood bake sales than Trust what the neighbors have decided to put in their ingredients. Sad to say.
6
Agree totally. I loved the part of the movie Bad Moms where she shows up with store bought doughnut holes and claims she made them herself but put them in a package from the gas station. I like to bake, but its not for everybody.
8
Thought-provoking. Thanks.
1
"...if you’re a person who has the radical hope that our taxes should fully cover education, classroom supplies and other necessary enrichments."
That's the line I was waiting for. What did that old bumper sticker say? Something like "I want to live in a world where schools are fully funded and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a new bomber."
10
Deb Perelman is the best baking parenting role model ever - I wish I’d had her website and books when my kids were small.
1
Two additional problems with bake sales, also from a mother who loves to bake: sensitivity to allergies mean that schools either have to apply draconian rules about ingredients or ban home-baked goods altogether; and even when bake sales can still lhappen, things that are delicious don’t sell—cutesy things do, like sugar cones dipped in sprinkles and filled with m&ms. I learned this the hard way after submitting some yummy but aesthetically lacking baked goods as my first effort. It’s not really about baking talent: it’s about decorating and appearances, like everything else in this Instagrammable world.
4
Well said! As a working Mom I was told to bring my contribution at 10 am — when I am at work... after years of critism that working Moms didn’t contribute, several of us arranged for very early drop off and the working Mom’s were very happy to participate.
11
It’s easy to find fault with school fundraisers including bake sales until you’ve actually served on the PTA. Then you realize that the DOE doesn’t cover the arts, music, foreign language, and camps programs that you value for your children’s education. Your taxes should fully cover these things, but they don’t. The PTA at my kids’ school funds those programs and must raise $100k each year to do so. And then you suddenly appreciate every $2 cupcake with its 100% profit margin. You don’t care whether or not it is homemade. You don’t care whether mom or dad baked it or bought it. You don’t care if parents prefer to write a check rather than bake. You just appreciate the families who find ways to be involved and support the school.
11
Bake sales put fattening food in schools. In many schools, there's always some sale, whether it's to raise money for the soccer team's uniforms, the girl scout's trip, the library to get more books, the robotics team's upgrades, on and on.
If you have a kid who gets allowance (most do) and likes sweets, you might find they have a cupcake or two almost every day. If there are unsold goods, they are often given away at the end of the sale and certainly by friends taking leftovers home.
If it's not bake sales, it's popcorn, pies, donuts, etc.
With 1/3 of Americans obese and another 1/3 overweight, we need to stop swimming in a sea of tasty treats.
4
Bake sales aren't for raising money. Sure, they might do so, but the events are organized and perpetuated by people who like to show off their skills in these areas.
Just reframe it as a talent competition, because for the low margins, that's all it is. Then ask yourself if you feel obligated to participate.
4
I am with you Deb, obligation ruins the most enjoyable of hobbies/pastimes. For the sale reason, I never knit commissions or special requests.
5
I like bake sales. Neither love, dislike nor hate them. I love to bake, but I have diabetes and live alone, so bake sales are a way to spread the sugar, and the joy.
The sales I bake for fund projects at church, so questions of political conscience never arise. They are not purely bake sales - other items are sold as well. No one is expected to bake for them, so non-bakers need not be ashamed. Perhaps those who might be embarrassed are those who think they're good bakers but aren't, but that's a problem not limited to bake sales.
I admit it, though: bake sales seem quaint.
3
Years ago I spent $40 on ingredients to make a huge double batch of fancy cookies that took my whole Friday night to bake. I portioned them out into bags and bright them proudly to the bake sale where the volunteers too one look and marked them at 25 cents per bag, thereby earning less than $10 for the school. That was my last bake sale participation ever.
30
So as luck would have it, I made Deb's apple cake (or I guess actually Deb's Mom's apple cake) last evening. And incredibly, I made her pumpkin bread in the morning. Weird. But I hope I am doing my little part in breaking a stereotype. But that is not really the right way for me to think. It is ok for a guy to bake. Makes him a bit of a renaissance man. But a woman is expected to bake. Which is not fair or right, as Deb points out. But I will keep on baking in hopes that it becomes as expected for me to do it, come that bake sale, as it would be for my wife.
15
@TimH
The act of making good food for someone you care for is an act of kindness and love, no matter your gender. It is love that makes us spend the time, money, effort, etc.
My husband won me over with bourbon-laced chocolate bread pudding and fancy whip cream. Thanks for keeping up the good fight!
18
Glad I am old. My children are 27 and 28. Kids went to Catholic school. No one was petty enough to care about homemade or not - just whether you brought something.
A Bake sale was for the children. If you write a check instead of bringing food, there will not be goodies for the kids to eat.
Participating in a bake sale/ car wash is a way of bringing the school community together and teaches children that they have to work to attain goals. Something bringing a check does not teach the child.
Lastly, back then, the men equally volunteered for their children. Working wives cannot reschedule for a bake sale/scouts anymore than working men could so it was split. Just like chaperoning field trips and school conferences. The family values were supporting your child and by extension supporting the child’s school . School teaches character as well as reading. Some parents want to be involved and some do not and it has nothing to do with male or female.
14
Thank you for speaking up! I hope you get more gratitude than condemnation, but I know you’re a tough, um, cookie. In addition to the poor ROI, and the issues of judgment you’ve mentioned, there’s the question of health. Our ballet academy recently held its bake sale for the older performers, and I couldn’t help but think about the mixed message: sell the sweet carbs to the little ones while the older girls get criticized for every extra ounce on their bodies. I enjoy baking for my family—and I really heavily on SK for the recipes—but these bake sales are indeed problematic.
13
I agree with Deb Perelman. How about holding GoFundMe campaigns instead?
6
As the one-time editor of my high school literary magazine, I still like to brag about our signature bake sale featuring JRR Toffee, Elizabeth Barret Brownies, and Archibald Macaroons (etc). The profits didn't amount to much. But our delighted teachers bought a lot product that day, and we all had a lot of fun.
16
It’s always the moms who do everything for the PTA and while I resent it, ultimately it doesn’t matter. We are are there for the kids to have a fun experience and to support the work of our fantastic teachers. When I run a bake sale, I don’t care what you contribute, as long as the kids love it and we makes some cashola for the school!!im grateful I have a job with flexible hours so I can help
5
Back in the 1960s my mother and a group of like-minded women started holding "cake-less bake sales" for church and school fundraisers.
Each family donated the amount they would have spent on baking. No kitchen time, volunteering time, or obligation to purchase the slow moving stragglers.
46
I was the working educator who bought bake sale item. My kids told me which store had their favorite goodies. I only felt sad when I couldn't take time off to actually work the sales.
5
I think that this author is making a mountain out of a molehill. It's extremely easy to bake something - buy a brownie mix and call it a day. And since when do parents need to spend time helping kids with their homework? If your kid can't do his/her homework, then you've got a lot more to worry about than bake sales.
34
@Maryjane
I'm a pastry chef and I can tell you I have friends whose parents never really baked, so even a box mix is intimidating. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, helping your kids with their homework is an important thing to do for both their development and your relationship with them. Even the smartest kids can use support, afterall it's called homework BECAUSE THEY ARE LEARNING. If they already had mastery the point of doing homework would be moot.
7
I agree Deb! While I personally take great pride and enjoyment in preparing food from scratch, many folks do not. They may hate to cook, they may not have the time or they prefer easy stuff out of the box. Unfortunately, this is clear at pot lucks and bake sales. I would bake, contribute the money and steer clear of anything prepared by someone I don't know...
8
This surprises me. When my youngest (now 27) was in elementary school, bake sales were pretty much a thing of the past. Any chance this is an elite private school? Perhaps their standards are different than the rest of us.
12
I thought the same. My kids attend public school and home-baked goods are not ALLOWED. It has to be store-bought or it’s not accepted.
@Laurie D, here in Oklahoma, we have them frequently. Taxes were cut and cut again to the point that some schools are now on 4-day weeks, rural hospitals have closed down, and Medicaid was not expanded, either. So bake sales and other ways to raise funds are pretty common; we need to do all we can to support each other in fundamental ways. The only requirement, as far as I can tell, is that baked goods should be tasty (and even that is a bit optional). We'll take them home-made or not (and some store-bought are delicious, we think). We don't judge people for not baking; too many have to work long hours and multi-jobs for that. The main thing is the cause.
23
Yeah, and what about the whole food allergies thing? No nuts, gluten-free vs gluten, etc.?!
Thanks for this op-ed. Would love to read your take on pot lucks.
As you may imagine, I am not a fan of pot luck dinners although they seem popular in my region.
I understand the idea of hosting a social event and sharing the work, but would much rather have wine, cheese and crackers than a spread of goopy casseroles, carb-heavy dishes, and sugary brownies from a box of pre-mixed junk.
When we invite friends for dinner, we prepare all the food. People always want to bring something; a bottle of wine or a six-pack of beer work best. Anything else is likely to clash with the planned menu.
30
@Jessica so agree! So many potlucks are a combination of "poorly executed from the can stuff" and someone's sick
attempt to make a dish that no one can identify!
1
How about we agree to pay our fair share of taxes to fund schools properly so we don’t need bake sales?
I have never seen such an inefficient government outside of the US.
158
I ask this with a friendly smile, but if you feel that you're not paying your fair share of taxes, what's preventing you from contributing more? I'm sure the government will gladly accept it.
I agree that schools should be well funded, but many of us believe that much educational funding is totally wasted and thus feel that adding more does not address the problem.
9
Dr B, saying something with a friendly smile doesn't make it nice. And pretending that an individual giving his or her money as a donation to the government would make a bean's worth of difference where funding is needed is not sincere, but just a gibe. Education money is "totally wasted"? You need to ask what schools would exist, really, for all but the rich, without government funding; whether you think teachers will work for free or should; whether you'd like to educate your children in math, reading, physics, literature, etc., yourself or not. I don't say that with a smile at all. Unconsidered "feelings" that are wrong are harming the nation too badly for that.
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@Dr B I received an excellent education in public schools at a time and place where they were well funded and appreciated.
22
A friend of mine used to describe these events in her area as: afternoons where well-paid professionals stand around and sell cupcakes to each other.
120
In terms of the profit margin, the reality is that for each item sold, the school makes 100% profit - some of it comes from the buyer, and the rest from the baker.
The logic behind bake sales is the same as the logic behind tribute dinners or other fundraisers that include their own costs. While it is easier for people just to fork over donations, the reality is that people give Kore when there is something more tangible involved, such as getting a dessert for their Thanksgiving dinner, getting a clean car, or getting a night out while their friends get honored. If these things stopped being profitable, organizations would likely atop holding them.
Finally, the notion of fully funding schools is great, but to what end? If schools keep adding on more and more activities, should tax dollars indiscriminately pay for everything? In some cases, making a school or a club pay their own way helps them think about what is really important.
17
When the bake sale charges less for the goods than the baker spent on ingredients, this logic fails.
2
Around here, due to all the allergies, no one is allowed to bring home baked goods to school. It has to be sealed, commercially packaged food with a ingredients list. Bake sales at school events here look like the packaged cake/cookie section of the supermarket now.
One of the highlights of my childhood was the bake sale. My mother didn't bake and the pure deliciousness of homemade baked goods still lives in my mind today.
27
Well said. I guess we men still believe in the magic of a feat well done, and conveniently don't ask questions about the time, expense and efforts it took to prepare all the 'goodies' that arrive (brought by 'moms') at a bake sale. Their is a German adage that says that 'the only true love is the love for food'. Ought we not assume that bake sales are part of what we love?
11
This is hilarious! Let moms and dads do what they want! If they want to bake something, let them bake, if they don't, let them not. No one should feel bad or look sideways at the other. Bake sales have never been cost effective. And believe it or not, some parents who are not super-persons work full time find time to do things at school. Some parents who don't work would rather read to kids than bake cupcakes. What we don't need is a professional chef looking down on the poor parents who she thinks aren't smart enough to run their own lives. Time to grow up.
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@JMS, I don't read this as "looking down" on anyone, but as a discussion about several of the issues around this hoary old tradition. If anything, she was empathizing with hard-working parents, and commenting on the perpetuation of gendered expectations. Never did she say, "Don't do that,"She did say "you don't need to tell me to chill out." If you don't like her take on it, just turn the page for heaven's sake!
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@JMS
Very well said.too many assumptions and judgements in the article.
3
Who knew funding raising bake sales could be so controversial. Get on the PTO board, or talk with them, so they change to methods of raising money that aren't a burden on parents. Of course in life, easier said then done.
5
I was a home dad for five years while my kids were in elementary school. I also was on the PTA board and several other advisory committees for the school district. And I occasionally acted as a substitute teacher or classroom assistant at the school.
I started giving $10 to whatever committee was fundraising with a bake sale. I got some pushback at first, until I explained that I thought that the purpose of the fundraiser was to raise money. If I spent $3 or $4 on the ingredients, and they sold everything for no more than $5, most of the money went to the grocery store. If I simply gave $10, I had more time to help at school and the committee made more money. It worked out well.
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@Mike
"I started giving $10 to whatever committee was fundraising with a bake sale. I got some pushback at first, until I explained that I thought that the purpose of the fundraiser was to raise money."
And they still probably felt, deeply, that you had missed the point. This is as much a ritual as a fundraiser. (I'm not saying that that's either a good or bad thing; it's a mix of both, I suppose.)
12
@Paul
I agree that bake sales at school are fun for the kids. I know, though, what they really enjoyed was the playground equipment the PTA bought for the school that replaced the dilapidated and dangerous 40 year-old set that came with the school. I also know that what the teachers really enjoyed were the supplies the PTA bought for their classrooms so they didn't have to spend their own money.
The treats were nice but the things we bought with the money lasted a lot longer. I'd still rather just give the money. As for community building, that is what movie nights, holiday parties, and talent assemblies are for. They are better rituals.
26
For every fund raiser, I found out how much they hoped to raise, divided it by the number of kids in the school, doubled it to cover a kid with no resources and wrote a check.
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I wholeheartedly agree with the writer that taxes should support all of the schools' needs. We had bake sales when I was in elementary school, but it was the students / children who baked and sold the goods - not the mothers. Of course, most of us had learned to bake from our parents. Today, I think many kids don't learn cooking at a young age, and if they have two working parents and are in after school care they will have little opportunity to bake for a sale.
31
My children's elementary school PTA replaced their bake sales with potluck dinners. This is great. Families bring what they have the time, money, and inclination to donate. Pots of amazing homemade African peanut soup sitting next to a bucket of KFC chicken. Want to bring your killer brownies? Great! Bag of Oreos? That's great too. Picnic dinners behind my kid's elementary school, hanging out afterwords while our kids play with their friends - awesome.
In the last few years the PTO had started contracting with a food truck to serve food outside during evening school events. This is also great. Between work and the evening event, we don't have much time to get dinner ready. Being able to get something at the school before or after the event is a huge help.
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Of course the primary goal is to raise money. By baking something for a bake sale, you're expressing your belief that the cause is worth donating to; buy buying it, you're expressing both your substantive agreement with that belief and your respect for the judgment of the people expressing it.
The other major part of the picture is the free-rider problem. People tend to have lots of opinions about how the world could be a better place. And in order to help bring those changes about, we tend to be willing, at least potentially, to give up some of our money and what it represents -- some of our ability to consume, but also to bequeath, or to support other causes, and so on. So far, so good. But we also know that changing the world is not our problem alone. We would often be willing to donate, if we could be confident that we were contributing our fair share rather than being taken advantage of: I will, if you will.
That I-will-if-you-will dynamic is precisely what an institution like a bake sale provides.
Yes, it would be a badly-needed improvement if we could eliminate the retrograde gender dynamics, and cut down on the showing-off. But we need to improve and replace institutions like this, not simply throw out the old and defective ones.
5
@dsws Then let people contribute without baking - by writing a check for instance or bringing in store bought. And stop making them feel guilty
3
In almost every case, donating cash would be quicker and more effective...
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@Stacy K--but it might not be as fun, since there would be no need to bring likeminded people together
2
Agreed! But here in North Seattle (largely white, self-identified as very progressive) that has evolved into PTA fundraising targets of 150-300K and a direct solicitation of $800 before my child even matriculated in kindergarten, never mind the other fundraising activities throughout the year.
3
I have never baked for a school bake sale on account of how ridiculous they are, simply looking at the math and labor involved. The cost of ingredients plus labor involved in buying, baking and selling is basically a break-even proposition. (And, not to mention... who knows how clean other peoples’ kitchens are!). Now... think about the math further.... by way of example... I live in a town with about 10,000 households. If we add a mere $1 to each property tax bill, that’s an additional $10,000 that can provide our town/school with WAY MORE than all of the various town/school bake sales combined. So why not just spare everyone from having to put up with all this silly nonsense? My conclusion after many years of watching this... it’s to make the parents who participate in this “barely any money-making” endeavor “feel good,” and not so much about the purported goal of actually making any meaningful money! No thanks. No bake sakes for me.
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@ABC123
Bake sales, car washes, pumpkin patches, etc. do create more of a group feeling than simply writing a check or raising taxes does. But I do agree that schools should be fully funded.
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@ABC123 In Vermont all school taxes go to a central office that then doles the money out equally to all the schools in the state. In order to raise funds via taxes for one school it is necessary to donate that amount to every school in the state. Schools in more populous towns have economies of scale they can take advantage of. Towns with small populations are stuck with insufficient funding to offer extras like playground equipment, art and music classes, etc. Schools in the southern part of the state where the population is quite sparse are left scrambling for every cent.
That said, I hate bake sales for unhealthy offerings and implied judgement of parents based on baking skills. I don't want to eat sugary junk, even if it is delicious and home made.
5
For the parents who don’t work and can make it, sure.
I love to bake, but these days with the obesity and diabetes crises, it seems like a bad idea to encourage kids to eat so much sugar and white flour. Our kids' schools switched to selling gift wrapping paper. It was a high quality product, the designs were good and the rolls were huge and lasted a long time.
22
Everyone has different reasons for being a part of bake sale. But largely, it is for contributing your efforts for raising money. And secondly, not everyone can purchase food items from a bakery store, lets say, therefore bake sale is the right choice for them. Also, not all women are against one another, sometimes one should take these events as a healthy competition.
3
Parent have enough "healthy competition" with kids getting benchmarked on GPA, sports, what clubs they belong...
I'm not wasting my time worrying my lemon bars aren't perfectly powdered sugar dusted, and made with bottled lemon juice instead non GMO, organically grown, picked by fairies and washed with angel tears lemons, then gently squeezed by a light of a full moon lemon juice
Fretting if your bake goods are Pinterest worthy is just another level of insanity I'll gladly dodge. Noone has time for PTA/PTO Mean Girls.
6
I know you are writing from Pakistan and things might be different there but around here stores that sell ingredients to bake cookies usually sell already made packaged ones which might be cheaper than buying all the ingredients.
2
Thank you for this Op-Ed. Elementary school is full of expectations on moms, as if it is still 1958. Some day elementary school will catch up to the present...
170
Women are constantly reminded they need to diet. Bake sales requiring them to spend time in the kitchen is a problem for those of us who can only eat 1400 calories a day without gaining weight. Most people consume too much sugar anyway. There must be another way to raise money for schools. I would rather donate the cash.
18
@gourmand,
I have noticed that the students and parents who find the time to contribute to bake sales are predominantly over weight. Why must fund raising be dependent on un healthy food choices? Why are Girl Scout Cookies so unhealthy? Why am I asked to support anything with an exchange for garbage "nutrition"?
8
@Heidi Ng
What a terrible thing to say, assuming that all parents who donate homemade cookies at bake sales are "predominantly" overweight. That's the worst comment I've read so far. I wouldn't want to be your friend, all judgy and self-righteous.
7
@Nicole, I agree with all of Heidi Ng's questions: "Why must fund raising be dependent on un healthy food choices? Why are Girl Scout Cookies so unhealthy? Why am I asked to support anything with an exchange for garbage "nutrition"?" Especially about the GS cookies!! And far too many people in this country are overweight; it's not a judgment, it's a statement of fact. It's considered a serious health issue. And your comment itself was "all judgy and self-righteous." I guess you practice what you preach.
1
"It’s frustrating to have to stay up until 1 a.m. baking brownies if you’re a person who has the radical hope that our taxes should fully cover education, classroom supplies and other necessary enrichments. But that is not happening..."
Perfect!!
180
I have been asked to send some things to a bake sale at my former work place (I am retired after 16 years there, and it is a non-profit that needs the money).
For some reason I just wasn't looking forward to hours in the kitchen, a lot of money spent on ingredients, and time spent buying them, and all to see it sold for less that the cost of those ingredients.
It dawned on me that I could just give them the money. Bingo, problem solved.
I enjoy baking, my family thinks I am a wizard, but this bake sale thing has gotten old.
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@Jean
A bake sale, like other kinds of school fundraisers (e.g. when kids have to sell decorative candles—mainly to their parents and other relatives) is basically a morally acceptable form of money-laundering. It would be seen as crass or simply unacceptable for a school to ask for cash. So they have to ask for it obliquely, with the help of the money-launderers—who have to be paid. There's an entire industry built around this, and what is particularly sick about it is how the kids are brought into it—told that they have to meet "goals" and sell enough stuff to earn cheap "rewards" or "prizes," etc.
22
If you'd like to bake, bake. If not, not.
38
I would never buy homemade goods from a bake sale. I have no idea how clean your kitchen or house is! My favorite bake sale was when the high school cheerleaders had one so they could go cheer in San Diego. We pay some of the highest property taxes in the country to have excellent schools, but there’s always something more.
12
As a stay at home mother who would (much) rather write a check than bake--thank you.
172
I've never had anyone give me a hard time about store bought goods. Stop perpetuating the myth that women are all against each other. It just isn't true.
50
A fellow mom at my child’s school recounted a story where parents were supposed to bring in plain sugar cookies to be decorated by the students. She brought in store bought cookies and set them on the table. When she returned from the bathroom, she found them in the trash can, replaced by some home baked cookies. There was definitely a stay at home vs mom vibe at the school which sadly likely persists today.
7
At many schools these were discontinued long ago— the sales of home made sugar laden desserts left with the soda vending machines—
18
...and at our schools banned due to health code. Items served to children must have been made in a commercial (inspected) kitchen.
Nonetheless, the volunteering expectation in other areas at school does still unfairly focus on mothers, and kudos to Deb for calling it out!
35
What is the recipe for one-bowl pumpkin bread?
27
And can we make it gluten-free?
2
Probably by subbing in Cup 4 Cup or Measure for Measure.
1
It’s okay to let your kids bake a boxed mix for a bake sale. Usually there’s no requirement the mom or sad do the baking. Just a thought...
13
Dad here. Divorced. On days without my son, I worked till late - need to work to pay the lawyers and things. On days with my son - I would leave work as early as possible. Homework, friends, judo, meals - the whole thing. But - hours to pick up ingredients for some cupcakes?! Huh?
THe kids have to get to school anyway (with or without cupcakes), I shop for food anyway. Flour is in the house anyway. As are milk, sugar, eggs, etc., etc.,
While my son needed help to do homework - he rarely needed me to sit with him the *entire* time he was doing it. When he did he did. No big deal.
Plus - did you ever think that an hour spend making a cake with your kids is an hour spend doing something .... together?!
Wow ...
It is one thing to simply not like to bake. OK by me. But to claim that 10 cupcakes require "hours" of time is simply absurd. Cupcakes take 20 minutes plus oven time. Note: You do not have to stand guard over the oven.
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@Ed Watt
Great rebuttal, without snark.
Your son has a good role model. Time doing something creative and/or useful together builds a bank of beautiful memories; plus skills; and better connections.
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@Ed Watt
Mr. Watt - I simply love your comment because of its honesty and simplicity. I think you nailed the heart of the entire "bake sale" premise - doing something together with your son or daughter. My mother encouraged me to help her in the kitchen when I was very young. She made me feel important and special as well as learning something I would use later on in life. Those were the most important and loving memories I have of my mother. To this day I think of her when I'm in the kitchen, baking from scratch.
Your comment was sweet and tender compared to the rather sour and tough tone of the article.
Most folks I know who bake for their kids' school events use box mixes for their cakes, brownies or cookies anyway. I know very few people who actually bake from scratch, so where's the hours and hours of time spent in the kitchen?
Thank you for a well thought out counterpoint view.
38
Ed Watt,
You are a wonderful dad and role model for all parents. Kids love doing things with their parents and learn so much more than doing homework. That is time well spent, which is really what this article is all about. We value our time much more these days, to the point we would rather send a check than spend it making something in the kitchen. Reading Ruth Reichl has caused me to see the therapeutic benefits of the kitchen. I used to hate all cooking. But its benefits are vast- saves money and is healthier. But time is valuable and we cannot always meet others’ demands that we whip up a batch of cookies for a bake sale, whether we enjoy it or not. I agree with the author of the article. But Ed Watt inspires me much more.
31
Of course, there's all the warnings about no nuts, no dairy, no sugar, no eggs. And there must be gluten-free options.
Sell apples and oranges, bananas and grapes. Cans of flavored, sparkling water. Carrot sticks and dip. Boxes of raisins. Bags of trail mix (if nuts are allowed).
Notice that none of those requires hours in the kitchen, though they all require some shopping.
Do you think that the men-folk could deal with the shopping?
19
When I was in elementary or middle school (I'm now 50) the county health department banned home made goods at public schools, mostly due to hepatitis concerns. That ban is still in place. If it's not in original packaging, you are not serving it in your kid's (public school) class or selling for a fundraiser. Who knew a community health crisis could have a silver lining for working moms? And where is that pumpkin bread recipe? !
70
I was done baking anything when paranoid suburban moms at our elementary school declared that anything baked at home would have to be wrapped in individual pieces and ingredients would have to be listed. It was as if they wanted the FDA to come in and inspect everything. At some point, they simply switched to selling packaged candy. Ugh.
39
@Allison
Speaking as a parent of a child with a life-threatening peanut and nut allergy, she and I do have to monitor every ingredient of every item that goes in her mouth. Sadly that made bake sales just another example of (what she experienced as) the treats-for-everyone-but-you world of her elementary school (along with birthdays and holiday parties). We were often frustrated that even beautiful home-baked goods made by teachers, fully aware that there were serious allergies among their students, came accompanied by vague “I’m not sure what’s in it so you’d better not eat it” statements. We were so delighted when anyone was kind enough to provide an ingredient list and to keep items separated so that the very real risk of cross-contact could be avoided, but it rarely happened. Home-baked is often so much better than store bought, but the ever-rising number of children diagnosed with life-threatening food allergies changes the situation. That’s why I dislike bake sales. I wouldn’t call it paranoia, though.
7
Wealllovebaking: Except Wewe and Peos who spend a lot more money on good commercial stuff than any profit to be made when selling the goodies for the cause. For them, the expenditure of time and money getting the good stuff to donate is outweighed by the delight shown on the sweet faces of kids' and parents' faces when they dig into three dollar, retail, goodies sold to them for 75 cents or a dollar (that's what the school gets for them). Nothing is too good when it comes to subsidizing our money strapped schools. Unfortunately that will not change until people realize that they're short changing their children and themselves by not fully funding public education.
9
Upfront. I have no kids so I never baked for a school bake sale. I am single. Where I used to work, we used to have bake sales to support various charitable organizations. Folks I used to work with knew I enjoyed baking and for several years I would bake for each and every one them. I used a brownie recipe published by the NYT that was always a crowd favorite and the brownies were usually gone within minutes after putting them out. One year it dawned on me that the organizers had never acknowledged my efforts. So when the next bake sale was scheduled, I sat it out. The organizers asked where the brownies were, told them I elected not to participate. One of the organizers had the gall to say I was wrong in not baking and not telling them. That was the end of my baking for bake sales at work.
94
Thank you for this piece, which perfectly describes how I’ve always felt about bake sales! It’s a relief to read these words and know I’m not the only one.
97
Decades ago when my now grown daughters were in preschool and kindergarten I tried to make this same case -arguing that parents have all kinds of skills that could be useful to supporting their children's schools and why not ask both mothers and fathers to do something they actually knew how to do on the school's behalf. Or encourage a cash donation directly to the cause. What sense does it make to call everyone a baker when they may be a butcher or candlestick maker?
92
@Joyce Butler I have a good friend who is a Catholic. She told me that her (private) Catholic school asked parents for "in-kind" donations as well as for money. As she recalls, this resulted in her [lawyer] dad fixing toilets in the school's restrooms.
7
Two paragraphs in, before I looked at the byline, I knew it was you! Thanks for all the recipes. I have one of your cookbooks and regularly use you blog. All so so good.
9
Thank you for raising good questions about bake sales. My feminist mother taught me not to be the woman that brings cookies to the office. I love baking and I very much love cookies, but I believe she was right. There are too many sexist assumptions built into it.
230
@Nina Leibowitz, I'm not sure what magical world you live in where not bringing baked goods into the office encourages equal (or at least fairer) treatment of women, but in my organization - as in many others dominated by men, I suspect - women still have to be twice as good to be thought half as competent. (Happily, I'm even better!)
There is definitely wisdom in not volunteering for tasks AT WORK that do not earn the person extra recognition at review time, as another recent NY Times article has suggested. Things like organizing the office holiday party, filling in for an absent lower-level employee, and so on just don't translate to professional rewards (promotions, better assignments, praise during the annual review) down the line and are wisely avoided.
An alpha dog not only leads his/ her pack and protects it, but also ensures that the members are looked after.
I bake. Even as the boss, I bring in treats - sometimes homemade, sometimes store-bought. (Male bosses, colleagues, and staff have done so, too - including items they have baked or cooked themselves.) Nobody thinks less of me for doing it, and nobody would think better of me if I didn't.
Perhaps we are of different generations.
16
@Nina Leibowitz
More to the point -- the epidemic of diabetes. Too much sugar, everywhere.
I've stopped buying at these events .. just give a donation. Faster, easier, more productive.
And heck -- what about Cookie Monster? What was s/he, before her/his addictive tendencies, came to the forefront? S/he has gone into re-hab, fewer cookies, right?
;-)
6
@Rebecca B
If bringing in treats (although nobody needs them) is a task divided among everyone, man and woman, that's different. Otherwise, I understand the freighted sexism of being the Office Mother who brings in baked goods.
12
I love this piece.
As a home baker and owner of a small business, I always took up the mantle and baked something "real" for those long-ago bake sales.
And...now I shun them, because who wants a cake mix cake ? I'd rather make a donation and let that poor, over-taxed mom off the hook.
But - most of all - how about the recipe for that one-bowl pumpkin bread ??!!
125
As a psychologist in a Mommies-War town, i could rarely attend long day school events. But I always baked my Ghiardelli brownies, so I could contribute SOMETHING.
As a pumpkin fan, I also want the recipe for the one -bowl pumpkin bread!
25
@Kathy dePasquale Here's the recipe. It looks like a monster hit:
https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/10/pumpkin-bread/
26
@Kathy dePasquale
“Who wants cake mix cake?”
Really? I can assure you most kids do not care a single bit if the cake is from a mix or if it’s an artisanal cupcake made from the finest ingredients. In fact, if the cake mix one (heavens!) has sprinkles or such, it might actually sell better.
31