Bake Sale = Fail.

Over Super Bowl weekend, I was cooking up a storm. My parents are both native Wisconsinites, so I had a special fondness for the newest Super Bowl champions! I was all about making every sort of green and gold food I could think of, and was very pleased with the results! (I was also overly pleased with the results of the game!!) As I was baking away for the party, I was also busy making goodies for our 1st Bake Sale at school! The SCA was hosting the sale to raise money for a special activity at field day (in June), and asked teachers to donate yummy treats.
Since it's early February, I decided I wanted to do something Valentiney. I also wanted to do something easy, and that I knew would sell! :) I found a recipe for really cute Rice Krispy hearts. I mixed them up and cut them out on Sunday afternoon. Then, when I got back from my Super Bowl party, I put the icing on them and was exhausted, so decided to package them the next day. Well, despite getting to school 45 minutes early, like usual, I didn't get around to bundling them up until as the kids were walking in. Naturally, seeing anything somewhat resembling food, they were all intrigued. I had about 35 kids ask me what I was doing and what the snacks were for (yes, I do only have 23 students.. I swear students were appearing out of nowhere just to see what was going on!!). After I continually repeated that they were for the SCA Bake Sale that would be happening at lunch, word spread like rapid fire. All of the kids were stoked and scrounging through pockets, desks and backpacks to come up with the 50 cents I told them it would cost. I quickly finished wrapping them and sent them out of the room to the SCA Sponsor. We were eventually able to get focused and had a very pleasant morning until lunch arrived!
As we were walking down the hallway toward the cafeteria, we spotted the small little desk, the SCA President, and a whole lot of treats by the door. The few of my kids who had money went and bought something sugary, while the rest were making a conscious decision to bring their life-savings tomorrow. Lunch went off without a hitch (we've been on green everyday this month, so far!!) and we enjoyed a beautiful day out at recess.
 About an hour later, in the middle of math, I heard one of my SCA reps say, "Ms. Wacek, the nurse is evil." Since I didn't know this child had ever met the nurse and I was in the middle of a thrilling lesson about long division, I was quite caught off guard. I gave him a strange look (although, come to think of it, I give that look a lot, so my children might actually think it's just my normal face...hahaha) and asked him what in the world he was talking about. He said, "She shut down our bake sale. She said the kids were going to get diseases from eating the food. She's evil. It's not like we put poison in the cookies or anything!! She's just evil. I really wanted to buy something for field day!" Hahaha. Oh, the mind of a 10-year-old!! Turns out, according to District (or state?) policy, we are not allowed to sell (or give?) any homemade treats to students out of liability's sake. If a child were to get sick or have any sort of reaction, we'd be to blame. In the eyes of a 4th grader, though, that's hard to understand!
As I found out later, the principal just ended up buying out the bake sale and putting the treats in the teacher's lounge for the staff to enjoy! Ended up being a win-win situation for the SCA and teachers, but I know quite a few students who were bummed out! In fact, today (3 days after the 20-minute bake sale), I had another student come ask me if we would having it again soon because he found 2 dollars in his coat. Haha. I simply told him all the food was gone, so he could keep his money!!
I think I'll just make them a class-set of Rice Krispy hearts and leave it at that. Spoiled children. :) I gave out the leftover Green Bay Packers cookies (low-fat, not very good) and had students beggggging for more. I've given out cupcakes and cookies last year and this year and never once had a parent complaint or child get sick. So, as long as that record keeps up, I plan on continuing my baking career. :)

Our Super Bowl spread (minus the pizza, quesadillas, cheesecake and chocolate pie!)! Look at the beautiful colors! :) The low-fat cookies turned out cute, but mediocre as far as taste!

My creations for the bake sale! :)

Up close.... can you taste the yumminess?