Stage 1: The Prep.
Date: 29th August, 2014, Friday.
Our grade + their friends honestly deserve the biggest shout-out for helping make these two days an absolute success. It would’ve been a nightmare without those extra hands around to pick up our slack.
From making posters to folding boxes to sticking logos to filling patty pans with batter to just wiping the sweat off a baker’s brow, we are forever grateful for your contribution to the event’s consummation.
Also a big shout-out to TTK™ for lending us their kitchen and chef for the day.
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| Ayushi, Ashna & Veda completing another batch of cupcakes. |
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| Rashmi, Akshatha & Trishika working on Posters&Signs outside the kitchen. |
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| Shakshi working on Oreo tarts while I help Deepali make the quiches. |
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| Ashna, Veda and I filling patty pans with Red Velvet batter. |
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| Some intense chocolate chopping. |
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| Some more batter-filling. |
687 cupcakes.
25 oreo tarts. (192 slices).
50 quiches.
40+ posters and signs.
9 hours.
NOT an easy task.
We were proud, to say the least.
The only challenge that lay ahead for us was the nightmare of people not showing up and buying everything we had made.
We had received an overwhelming response via text, email and other social media.
1. But how many of those people would actually take time off their busy schedules to come for a bake sale?
2. Would they find transport in time?
3. Would they find the address with ease?
4. Would they be disappointed when they arrived and leave?
SO MANY QUESTIONS.
And boy, were they answered the next day.
Answers:
1. 350+ people would take time off their busy schedules to come for a bake sale
2. Yes, they would.
3. With a little help from the number provided on promotional posters, they would.
4. Absolutely not!
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| The "Cashier" booth. |
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| Some happy customers? |
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| A little taste of what the merch was like. Flavour: Coffee Bean. |
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| The box of direct donations that was filled with 10% of our "profit." |
Date: 30th August 2014, Saturday.
We started the day out a little behind schedule due to arbitrary reasons like bad traffic and lack of muscle to carry more than 3 boxes of cupcakes at a time.
We arrived at the venue by 12 noon and started icing cupcakes in the library the minute we got there. I mean, people would be arriving in less than an hour! With only one piping bag (the other one had technical difficulties) icing almost 700 cupcakes, we had to rotate icers every 100 or so cupcakes. Speaking from first hand experience, your wrists hurt!
Our first customer:
Arrived: around 12:30. (1/2 an hour early).
Details: Resident of Sobha Suburbia, a middle-aged baker who has had her fair share of bake sales and was kind enough to rummage through her purse to give us exact change to help us with future transactions.She bid us adieu with words of advice and a “good luck girls.”
The next few hours were an honest blur.
You know how in the movies there are flashes of random memories?
Well here are mine:
Manning the juice station.
Running to go find knives to cut the tarts.
Helping pin up posters.
Icing cupcakes.
Making boxes once my wrists couldn’t hold the bag no more.
Answering questions for a journalism student’s article.
Clicking pictures to document the day.
Hauling iced cupcakes to the “vendors.”
But one thing I vividly remember is greeting the SKID kids who had graciously accepted the invitation to come see what the sale would be like. They hung up details about their school and had flyers that they handed out to customers shuffling in and out. When we finally convinced them to eat something, they clearly enjoyed the oreo tarts the most.It was great to have them see first hand where the money going to their school was coming from. As Ms. Jesse (their principal) rightly said “It’ll make them appreciate it a little bit more.”
Overall, the day ended with smiles on everyone’s faces and finally getting to sit down without the overbearing rush of expecting someone beckoning to go run and get something for them.
Later that day, at around 10 in the evening, Ayushi calls and says, “64,180.”
No hi, no hello, no “how are you doing, mate?”
“64,180”
So, naturally, I’m just like “what? You ok?”
She explains further, “We collected 64,180 today.”
Me, “No.”
Her, “Yes.”
Me, “No way, count again.”
Her, “I know EXACTLY how you feel, I’ve counted almost 10 times now, the number doesn’t change.”
One thing you should know about Ayushi, she has OCD, so if she says “10 times” I could count on some meticulous counting from that woman.
So I say “Okay, so we have to remove the costs now.”
She says, “Done.”
Me, “Okay, how much is it now?”
Her, “64,180”
Me, “Oye, we have more than 20k as costs, this is why you’re going to fail math.”
Her, “Actually, I already removed the costs before calling you.”
Me, “You can’t be serious.”
Okay, I’m a bit embarrassed by the next part, but it has to be said.
For the next 10 minutes or so we squeal like baby pigs on the phone.
NOT EVEN EXAGGERATING.
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| Here it is. |
And once I spread the news to 13 other girls, you can just imagine the near fan-girl-like screaming we did that night.
Bye,
Ruchika
xx
