Serves: 5

Planning Is Everything
* Hold a bake sale around a holiday-Christmas, Valentine's Day or Halloween are good ones. When people are in a festive mood, they tend to buy more.
* Display foods with seasonal items or props. Let someone who has an eye for "propping" arrange the table.
* Plan ahead and advertise. Use radio or a neighborhood newspaper, or go high-tech and promote by e-mail.

Make Baked Items Irresistible
* Keep a sample plate with tiny pieces of cookies, bars or cake ready for sampling. Have small cups of water or coffee available so tasters will have a beverage to go with the samples.
* Instead of offering a plate of plain cupcakes, bars or cookies, dress them up! Who can resist holiday cupcakes at a December bake sale?
* Bake quick bread mixes in regular or mini loaf pans. Frost, then decorate with foot-long chewy fruit snack rolls to look like a ribbon on a gift package.

Variety Adds Spice-and Success
* Include everything from decadent chocolate treats to items for special diets.
* Offer a variety of sizes: single servings to large cakes, loaves, muffins and bars.
* Have a variety of prices keep prices simple and divisible by 25 cents.

The Experts Advise
* Schedule a bake day to prepare for the event school and church kitchens are ideal.
* Have recipes printed and available to take home.
* Make your bake sale a tradition people will come to expect every year.
* Bake while the sale is in progress-caramel rolls, muffins or other aromatic baked goods make it impossible for people to walk away.
* Furnish bags large enough for customers to carry more than one item home.

Blue Ribbon Winners
At your next sale, bring along some of these best-sellers:

Chocolate Turtle Cake (see Bake-and-Take)
Hummingbird Cake (see Bake-and-Take)
Fudgy Chocolate Ring Cake (see Wonderfully Indulgent)
Lemon-Poppy Seed Brunch Cake (see Come for Brunch)
Honey-Walnut Breakfast Loaves (see Come for Brunch)
Chocolate-Caramel-Oatmeal Bars (see Easy Cookies and Bars)

From "Betty Crocker's Ultimate Cake Mix Cookbook." Text Copyright 2004 General Mills, Inc. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

More Recipes from the Betty Crocker Ultimate Cake Mix Cookbook Cookbook:
Almond-Raspberry Coffee Cake
BETTY'S BAKING SECRET: Bake Sale Basics
BAKE SALE BASICS
Banana Bread
Blueberry-Cream Cheese Muffins
Carrot Scones
Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Cinnamon-Apple Crumble
Coconut-Topped Oatmeal Cake
Cranberry-Orange Pound Cake
Cream Cheese Coffee Cake with Fruit Salsa
Fruit Swirl Coffee Cake
Honey Bun Cake
Honey-Walnut Breakfast Loaves
Lemon Citrus Muffins
Lemon-Poppy Seed Brunch Cake
Pumpkin Bread
Strawberry-Rhubarb Custard Coffee Cake