Flour Power

A couple days after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, Megan asked me if we could hold a bake sale and donate the money to the Japanese people. Naturally I wanted to encourage her generous spirit and since I enjoy baking, it seemed like a perfect project.

When we returned from our spring break travels, I began planning the logistics for our sale. We could have held the sale just about anywhere on the island because who would shut down an 8-year old's enterprise when she is raising money for a great cause? There was only one thing stopping us. We had no table.

So, I approached the manager at Brewerkz, a restaurant/microbrewery we frequently visit on the river. I consider it to be one of the most friendly places among the expat community so I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask if we could just borrow a couple tables and potentially bring them more business on a Sunday. After a positive discussion with the manager and a quick follow-up call with the marketing department, they agreed to provide tables and allow Megan to hold her sale on the patio that Sunday afternoon.

Megan created the menu for the event:  chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, brownies, lemon bars, white cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes and cake pops (cake balls on sticks). She also created the signage for the sale. I was excited about our venture and mentioned it at Bunco that week. My friend Julie, who also enjoys baking, offered to contribute cookies and brownies and I gladly accepted her offer. Her contributions made a huge difference because there's only so much I could bake in a timely manner with one small oven.

We planned to start selling at noon and the first customers arrived before we had even finished setting up. We made it clear to Megan that it was her sale and she would be in charge of the stand. Brian and I took our seats at the next table, ate lunch and watched. With each item priced at only S$1, it was simple math and we noticed most customers handed over more money than what they were buying, instructing Megan to keep the change.

Megan is shy around strangers so we suggested that Elizabeth and Emily could help attract customers by standing closer to the river with small signs. Emily took our advice to heart and began literally chasing down potential buyers along the riverfront. We had to reign her in a few times as she would take off running after people. While Elizabeth had a more low-key approach, she also helped steer customers to the sale. Megan's friend Brooke arrived with her family and Brooke assisted Megan at the stand. It was fun to witness the young sales team and we were happy to see some of our Riverplace neighbors who also bought goodies to support Megan.

Selling to Our Riverplace Neighbors

By 2pm we had sold nearly all the items on the table. If you're wondering, the lemon bars were a huge hit, followed closely by the cupcakes and Julie's cookies. While very cute, the cake pops weren't all that popular and about 30 minutes into the sale, I wanted to give them away because they couldn't take the heat. By the end, they were just sad little globs on sticks. Lesson learned for future events...

Megan's Bake Sale raised S$187 and she was ecstatic with the results. Last week Megan proudly delivered the money to the school office for the SAS fundraising campaign for Japan. I'm proud of her for coming up with the idea and following through with such enthusiasm.