party food on a seriously tight budget

notanewuser

I love to bake, and regularly do for various charities. I make, say 48 cupcakes which might cost me £20 (and a couple of hours) to make and decorate. The charity sell them for £1-1.20 each so they make more than it cost me to make them.

The idea that parents can get cakes for nothing/a nominal donation so that their children can have a handmade cake (which will have been made with love) rather than cutting back on something else/buying from a shop doesn't sit that we'll with me, but each to their own!!

gayle1

actually quite offended by above comment as a family who is finding it hard to make ends meet trust me i cut every corner to provide my boys with a good party that i could afford.
If myself taking cakes for 2 wee boys might offend you then tough it was not you or me to decide.
if people offer to make cakes to give your kids a happy day then who am i to say no.
and to the troll bear in mind its a birthday party actually how very dare you i did not take something for nothing/i did not offend anyone/and the kids all 26 of them enjoyed themself and had lots of cake

Nicki

How did the party go gayle? Did they all have a great time? I loved birthday parties when mine were toddlers though was always shattered afterwards!

dylan2011

notanewuser wrote: »

I love to bake, and regularly do for various charities. I make, say 48 cupcakes which might cost me £20 (and a couple of hours) to make and decorate. The charity sell them for £1-1.20 each so they make more than it cost me to make them.

The idea that parents can get cakes for nothing/a nominal donation so that their children can have a handmade cake (which will have been made with love) rather than cutting back on something else/buying from a shop doesn't sit that we'll with me, but each to their own!!

If you cant say anything constructive then why say anything at all? I personally think a charity wanting to put a smile on a childs face for their birthday by providing a cake that otherwise may not have been available is a great idea. You don't know what circumstances were involved for the OP to take this option either.

As for it costing you £20 to bake 48 cupcakes? I bake as part of my business and it costs no where near this amount to make cupcakes in general.
1kg SR Flour - circa 40p
1kg Sugar - £1
500g Butter/Marg - £1
10 eggs - £1.50 max
= £4
Butter Icing -
250g Butter - £1 max
500g Icing Sugar - £1 max
Vanilla Essense or Cocoa Powder or Flavouring - A few pence
Sprinkles/Choc Buttons etc. £1-£2 max
and there you have at least 48 decent tasty cupcakes, for circa £8 + baking cases (100 for a £1) and Fuel Cost so total of £10 or less, and if decorated with simple sprinkles would be cheaper.

With baking, a lot of the "cost" involved is "time" and it does take quite a lot of time, but if these volunteers for the charity enjoy it and enjoy seeing other people happy because of their time then it is a fantastic opportunity IMO.

notanewuser

gayle1 wrote: »

Managed to get both boys a birthday cake from a charity that bakes cakes for kids for nothing cause every kid needs cake saved £30 at least cause i was just going to get 1 cake for both boys now they have a batman and a minion cake.

gayle1 wrote: »

of course xx i put in £10 and gave the nice lady a box of choccies who made themx

gayle1 wrote: »

actually quite offended by above comment as a family who is finding it hard to make ends meet trust me i cut every corner to provide my boys with a good party that i could afford.
If myself taking cakes for 2 wee boys might offend you then tough it was not you or me to decide.
if people offer to make cakes to give your kids a happy day then who am i to say no.
and to the troll bear in mind its a birthday party actually how very dare you i did not take something for nothing/i did not offend anyone/and the kids all 26 of them enjoyed themself and had lots of cake

In your first post you said you'd ordered cake. Then you saved £30 at least by getting 2 cakes for £10 (and a box of chocolates). So you had, and were prepared to spend £40 minimum on cake, but decided £10 was okay. I find that a bit unreasonable, and an entitled to say so.

I hope your boys had a lovely party, and glad they enjoyed the cakes, but feeding parents was an unnecessary spend when cake was so important to you.

notanewuser

dylan2011 wrote: »

If you cant say anything constructive then why say anything at all? I personally think a charity wanting to put a smile on a childs face for their birthday by providing a cake that otherwise may not have been available is a great idea. You don't know what circumstances were involved for the OP to take this option either.

As for it costing you £20 to bake 48 cupcakes? I bake as part of my business and it costs no where near this amount to make cupcakes in general.
1kg SR Flour - circa 40p
1kg Sugar - £1
500g Butter/Marg - £1
10 eggs - £1.50 max
= £4
Butter Icing -
250g Butter - £1 max
500g Icing Sugar - £1 max
Vanilla Essense or Cocoa Powder or Flavouring - A few pence
Sprinkles/Choc Buttons etc. £1-£2 max
and there you have at least 48 decent tasty cupcakes, for circa £8 + baking cases (100 for a £1) and Fuel Cost so total of £10 or less, and if decorated with simple sprinkles would be cheaper.

With baking, a lot of the "cost" involved is "time" and it does take quite a lot of time, but if these volunteers for the charity enjoy it and enjoy seeing other people happy because of their time then it is a fantastic opportunity IMO.

500g proper butter for £1? Where?

Free range eggs cost me £3.50 for 18. I won't use battery eggs. And I use very high quality vanilla extract, not essence, which costs around £5 for 100ml. I don't use cheap cases, or decorations. And I factor in the cooking costs and equipment too (boxes, Piping bags etc). It costs me about 40p per cupcake.

dingdongsaving

I hope you had a lovely party and weren't too exhausted Gayle! It's so lovely to see everyone arrive in their "party clothes", have a wonderful time and leave with a smile on their faces...and the memories you've made for/with your little men will be treasures I'm sure.

dylan2011

That's your choice, isn't it? But it doesn't have to cost that amount to make decent cakes. No, not proper butter, as it is not imo needed in a cake batter (and no one I know can tell the difference) but decent butter type spread. For proper butter I would thing circa £1.60-£1.80. FR Eggs, £1 for 6 in Aldi, so that would add 30p on to my given prices as well. I also use proper vanilla extract 40p for 10ml but only a small amount is needed for good flavour so it works out at a fair price overall. I was giving an example of what a normal everyday person baking would use for cakes that taste and look great but don't cost the earth to make. You seem to be judging this OP with no grounds to work from at all. I think that is wrong. If you choose to spend that much making a cupcake so be it, I do sometimes when making for the posher market and special occassons, but you don't have to (and as this site is about MoneySaving afterall...), but give the OP a break about having cakes for her childrens birthday!

notanewuser

Sounds like we need an MSE bake off! :rotfl:

gayle1

yes ok i saved 20 quid on a cake but the 20 i saved will go to new shoes as the ones they have have holes in and new ones required as everytime it rains their feet get soaked.they just got shoes 4 xmas i go through 2 pairs every 2mths with football.
boy really enjoyed their party.I cannot bake was never taught mum had no time to teach me.tried fairycakes ended up with biscuits.
I was referred by a family support worker for mental health reasons after losing my dad a wee while ago who was my support through the hard times.my support worker does her job thats it nothing more nothing less and as u feel so strongly with ure opinion what would u rather they have eat cake of have shoes why not have both.
actually feel quite deflated now after such a nice positive day