Bake Sale Calculator

Plan 2 items per attendee as the default. For a school of 200 children with parents picking up at the gate (so roughly 350 buying decisions), that's 700 items. Spread across 3 varieties (brownies, muffins, cookies), each variety needs about 235 items. Brownies bake 24 per batch, so 10 batches; muffins 12 per batch, so 20 batches; cookies 36 per batch, so 7 batches. Total: about 37 batches across 3-4 baker volunteers.

The 2-per-person figure assumes a typical PTA bake sale where parents buy a couple of things for the kids' lunchboxes plus one for themselves. For an after-school cake sale running only 30 minutes, drop to 1.5 per person. For a community fete running 4 hours, increase to 2.5. Always overcater by 10-15%; the worst outcome at a bake sale is the table looking sparse at hour 3 and shoppers walking past.

The standard PTA pricing is 4x ingredient cost. If a batch of 24 brownies costs £4.50 in ingredients, that's 19p per brownie ingredient cost; sell each at 75p-80p (4x markup) and the 24 brownies generate £18 revenue from £4.50 cost, profiting £13.50. The tool runs three pricing scenarios at 3x, 4x and 5x markup so you can see the trade-off between volume and margin. Most school bake sales settle on 4x as the sweet spot.

Don't price under £1 for items that look premium. Cupcakes with proper buttercream, decorated biscuits and slices of layer cake should sit at £1.50-£2.50 each even if the ingredient cost is low; the perceived value is what people pay for. Plain brownies, basic cookies and rice krispie treats sit at 50p-£1. Bundles work well for the unsold stragglers in the last 30 minutes: "3 for £2" clears the table and gets every penny in the float box. The [cake pricing calculator](/cake-pricing-calculator) handles bigger commission cakes if you're selling whole sponges alongside the small items.

Three to four varieties hits the right balance. Two looks sparse on the table; five becomes a logistics nightmare for the volunteers slicing and bagging. A solid line-up: one chocolate item (brownies), one fruity (lemon muffins or berry cupcakes), one biscuity (sugar cookies or shortbread), one safer for kids (rice krispie treats or no-bake cornflake cakes). Vary visual heights too - tall cupcakes next to flat brownies looks better than four flat trays.

Label every item with its allergens (gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts) on a clear card by the tray. Schools increasingly require an allergen list signed by the baker before items go on the table. If you can offer one gluten-free or dairy-free variety, do - those parents will buy 5 of whatever's safe and tell every other parent at school. The [recipe cost calculator](/recipe-cost-calculator) handles per-recipe ingredient costing if you're scaling up old recipes for a bigger crowd.

Bring £30 in change as a float: 20 x £1 coins, 10 x 50p, 20 x 20p, 20 x 10p. That covers the first 50-80 transactions. Have a phone with a payment app (SumUp, Zettle, or even just bank transfer with a printed QR) for parents who don't carry cash. Cash-only bake sales lose 30-40% of buyers in 2026; have card or bank transfer ready.

Pre-bag everything that isn't a whole cake. Greaseproof paper bags from any supermarket (around 4p each) keep crumbs off the table and let buyers carry items home cleanly. Price each item with a sticker, not a chalkboard - parents buying for kids in a hurry don't read the board. Set a 30-minute clear-down: any leftover items get bundled at half price for the last bit of the sale, and any unsold items go home with the volunteer bakers (this matters because volunteers feel taken advantage of if they spend Sunday baking and then bin the leftovers).