Nothing gets my mouth watering for Valentine’s Day like a good old fashioned bake sale. After organizing the bake sale at my daughters’ school on Friday, I was inspired to share some bits about it. I hope you enjoy the stories and photos. And that perhaps it will get your juices going to start the tradition at your child’s school – or simply have some fun baking with your kids this weekend.
Little fingers held one-dollar bills with bright eyes looking at the cookies and chocolates, while thoughtfully making their choices of the perfect goodies to pick.
Young new readers were joyed to read the names of the festive treats printed on pretty tags.
Middle school students hit the jackpot buying whole cakes for $10.
First grade boys found glee in stuffing their sugary treasures in their shoe bins, along with their shoes for later (notice bin number 18 in photo below). They gathered, joked and whispered in out-of-the-ordinary mischevous ways.
It’s a Montessori school. Sweets are usually not allowed. Waste free lunches are encouraged with healthy foods and no prepackaged items. Daily snack offerings include whole-wheat items with fruits and veggies. It pleases the parents. It’s all the children know.
But at the Valentine Bake Sale, a room gets filled with home baked sugary goodness (white flour included). Many items are even wrapped in colorful plastics and glittery boxes. Parents go to great lengths to bake the best, and present the treats in pretty heartfelt ways that are full of fun.
You can see the joy on the kid’s faces, in their eyes – the specialness of it all. It was such a treat! It’s the one single day of the year when cupcakes are allowed in school and everyone eats desert after lunch.
The excitement was priceless. The bake sale is the school’s longest standing tradition, and through the years it has gained momentum. This year, one cookie, one chocolate covered strawberry and one brownie at a time – the school raised over $1000.
It’s amazing to me. It happens 50 cents at a time, a dollar here, maybe 10 over there.
Funds raised all go to improving the outside spaces at the school, enjoyed by all 250 students from ages 2-13. So yes, after the kids were all sugared up they went outside to run it all off.
It is a Montessori school after all. Versus many schools where pure daily recess time is a thing of the past, these kids spend an hour a day outside after lunch -EVERYDAY. They swing from monkey bars, walk the nature trail, shoot hoops, build forts, jump through tires, ride bikes and make up games.
Thanks to all our bakers and volunteers, we’ll have lots of funds to do more sprucing up and creating more spaces that fuel our childrens’ imaginations while letting kids be good old regular kids.
For you curious readers: the kids you see here are all friends of our family, with mothers I know, who read this blog, and don’t mind me showing pictures of their children’s sweet times at the bake sale.
I would never post a photo of a child without permission of the parents or the school. The school’s name has been blurred out from the school-issued green bags that each child carries, and hangs where they enter the classroom and remove their shoes. The blurring of that information is to protect the privacy of where my daughters (and their friends) spend their days. If you are a Montessori professional or a local parent looking for schooling options for your children, and you want detailed information about this great school – just email me. I’d be happy to share.
