For my son’s school bake sale I wanted to make something special. But I have a confession to make: I don’t bake! It is really frustrating sometimes dealing with these “Suzy homemaker” type of Moms when I don’t have those baking, sewing and crafty skills. It makes me feel like I should have paid more attention in Home Ec so many years ago.
One of the things my son loves that I make is a homemade cocoa mix. I add mini marshmallows and a special mix of cocoa I created myself. My entire family thinks this is a great winter treat. I realized that this could be the ideal thing to make for the school bake sale! Especially as it would likely not be something other Moms would make. They would all be making cupcakes, brownies and cookies – all perfectly of course.
To make my cocoa mix just a bit more special, I got personalized labels for the jars that said “Greene Hollows Elementary School Bake Sale Winter 2010.” The label had the image of a snowflake and a big snowman on it, perfect for winter. I added these labels to the Mason jars I bought to put the cocoa in. They fit perfectly and made my little family cocoa mix look so professional and attractive.
I have to say that even I was a bit impressed by my cocoa mix when I brought it to the bake sale. To see it there next to the brownies, cupcakes and cookies – it looked really nice. And the kids and parents were buying it quickly. All of my cocoa mix was gone by early in the afternoon. That was a secret thrill for me. As you can tell – I’m not really a baker. But to have a sell out item at the most popular bake sale of the year – you have to be pretty popular and bring something that the kids and adults like a lot.
I think the secret to my cocoa mix is that I measure it carefully. Making sure that the ingredients don’t overwhelm each other. I don’t add too much sugar. I do add lots of marshmallows because the kids really enjoy those. And I put the marshmallows in the jar mix right there on top because they look pretty in the jar mix. I tied my jars with a blue ribbon and a card that had the cocoa mix recipe and the ingredients – especially for any parents worried about food allergies.
The personalized labels made my cocoa mix look so much better. I think especially because they mentioned the bake sale – they were a big hit. The cocoa jars advertised the bake sale in a subtle way – and I know some of the other Moms in charge of the bake sale appreciated that. The bake sale is a lot of work to put together. I don’t think I could have made labels like that on my own – to have them look that pretty and colorful with the snowman and snowflake like that. I really owe my recent “baking” success to those personalized labels. I wonder what I’ll make next – now that I have these great labels!
Author Resource:
Elizabeth Perkins takes time out of her busy schedule to make custom cocoa mix for her kids. She buys the labels for that mix at http://www.mavericklabel.com - the best online resource for all sorts of labels.
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