No, don"t ban bake sales! This is a chance for people to bring in healthier baked goods and make an impact on the 'Lets buy something at the store and bring that" crowd which is growing in numbers. - 11/20/2012   10:20:50 AM

Absurd. Period. - 7/1/2012   1:49:49 PM

I don't think bake sales are the problem. Have you seen the food they serve at lunch?! That is much more atrocious than an occasional bake sale! And it's served on a daily basis! There is pizza in the lunch room every day served with super sugary flavored milks. On top of that the children are not educated or encouraged by the school to eat healthily. So I don't think that the bake sales that are occasionally held to fund raise are to blame. It is the poor food and health education they receive on top of no reinforcement of the ideas by the food they offer at lunch and even breakfast or in the vending machines. - 6/22/2012   9:29:42 AM

I think the government has its hand in way too much of our lives. The reason I am overweight is because I eat unhealthy foods and don't exercise. Taking care of my health should be my responsibility and it should be the responsibility of the parents to teach their children about proper nutrition.

We can't complain about government taking too much control when we sit around and let them do it. I do not think bake sales should be banned. - 6/6/2012   11:12:18 PM

Is that the purpose of our goverment.....babysitting a totally mindless, infantile society? Or do we have the right to take responsibility for our own actions and choose to have a bake sale cookie on occasion! - 6/3/2012   9:32:25 AM

I don't think that bake sales should be banned. It should be ok for kids to have treats every now and then. I also like the idea of having healthier options at the bake sales. - 6/1/2012   5:26:05 PM

Good grief! How can we complain about big government and then ask authorities to regulate every aspect of our lives? Personal responsibility, anyone? - 6/1/2012   5:00:09 PM

"Schools could even award prizes for the best tasting, most nutritious baked good entries."

Brilliant. - 5/31/2012   6:08:37 PM

No bake sales should not be banned. Too many on our privileges are being taken away!!! - 5/31/2012   7:53:30 AM

Many answers on this one. I do not think bake sales should be banned. As mentioned, baked things could made in a healthy way. Schools are hard-pressed to keep many programs going. I do think school lunch programs could be made alot more healthy. The kids can't eat the unhealthy foods if they aren't on the menu. Better yet, bring their own lunches. - 5/30/2012   5:51:09 PM

No bake sales should not be banned. Definately offer healthier options. Baked good made with veggies like zucchini chocolate chip muffins or muffins mare wiith applesauce instead of oil.

Teach them they will bake. - 5/30/2012   11:38:30 AM

As a teacher, I have really mixed feelings about bake sales. One one hand, I remember them from my childhood, and think that they are kind of a wholesome, traditional activity that should be maintained. One the other hand, I get tired of students being twenty minutes late to class because they were cleaning up from the bake sale, or counting money. And I get tired of kids getting wired on sugary treats during lunch and then crashing about 1:30 and being lethargic the rest of the day.

Some schools do yearly candy drives or bake sales for specific occasions, and I have not real problem with that, but I have also worked in schools where there was literally some sort of sale going on every week, and it was a distraction. - 5/30/2012   8:26:59 AM

I wish they would band Ince-Cream-Thursdays and Bring-in-left-over-cake- and-doughnuts-Mondays at work. It would make my life a lot easier. I literally have a junk food addiction (aka sugar addiction) b/c once I start... I cant stop. It takes every ounce of willpower I have to not eat this crap and then if I break down and eat everything in sight... the detox is a nightmare as well. People have to learn for themselves no to eat this crap... you can't just fix it for them. It'll never work. - 5/30/2012   8:10:17 AM

It's just one more attempt for Big Brother and the Bleeding Hearts to chip away at the fabric of our society. Family values are at a decline and anything that is connected with Americanism and choice. The vary foundation which our country fought for and bled for. Leave the parents and children alone. At bake sales it's usually the parents purchasing to support the kids. Should we next tell the parents they can't eat it either. Stop dictating to us as if we were the children. Use the lottery moneys for what they were meant for and give us back our sport, art, and music. In the end it's not about food at all...it's about government control. It was not voted on by the people. I came from Massachusetts where this started and I say the political machines behind this need to be voted out. Massachusetts fight back! - 5/30/2012   2:00:18 AM

No bake sale should not be banned. Or cookie sales, candy sales. All the food items kids and parents have to sell to help fund the school programs.
Lets get PE back in schools. Stop the fast food in schools. Address the food being served.
Educate the parents about having healthy meals at home. There should be classes for parents.
And stop blaming obesity on the inability to afford healthy foods. Everyone can eat healthy if they want too. It cost no more to eat healthy , in fact you save money by cooking at home instead fast food and junk food. - 5/29/2012   11:21:57 PM

All in moderation!!! No one said you had to buy AND eat the whole lot of the bake sale or even a bunch. Buy one goody and support the cause. Take a nibble or two with your dinner and eat healthy otherwise.

Good grief!!

rumbamel - 5/29/2012   10:09:39 PM

I wonder what these people's parents were like. Did these state officials grow up in households without homemade cookies, so they have some urgent need to deprive everyone of homemade cookies? These people need to get a life. - 5/29/2012   10:03:56 PM

Two words. Nanny state. - 5/29/2012   9:06:44 PM

Absolutely not. We can have a bake sale where the goodies can be nutricious. Let's get reasonable folks! - 5/29/2012   7:35:13 PM

Absolutely not. We can have a bake sale where the goodies can be nutricious. Let's get reasonable folks! - 5/29/2012   7:35:10 PM

Amen to serendipityfrog--- I'll add my own "Grrrr"...
I once sent decorated cupcakes to my son's class as a Valentine surprise. The teacher was not only ungrateful, but she was mean and nasty over this "gift."
( Note: She was mean on a daily basis, however ) - 5/29/2012   5:37:59 PM

No...banning bake sales is not the right answer but encouraging healthier versions is better idea. Keeping health changes as a positive experience is always a better idea. - 5/29/2012   4:49:11 PM

... Absolutely not! Remember when we tried to ban alcohol? People would be holding 'underground' bake sales in their basements, giving whole new meanings to the phrases "You got the stuff?" and "When's your next shipment?"

Let's be serious, people! Just because you can't practice self-control doesn't mean everybody else should suffer. Personally, I love to bake for my office, but I don't enjoy eating the sweets myself. There's a joy that comes from providing treats to people who want them! Not everyone is on SparkPeople or trying to live a healthy way of life - although it's nice for us to 'spread the spark,' it's not fair for us to 'shove the spark down the throats' of the unwilling! Plus, treats in moderation are perfectly fine! Enjoying one cookie or cupcake, especially in order to support a local organization, isn't going to ruin your diet. And if it is - and you're scared you'll spiral out of control - buy a treat for a friend or family member instead! - 5/29/2012   2:26:36 PM

Bake sales have been around since the dawn of man (granted the goodies have greatly improved since then) :) They are a great fundraiser and having a bake sale doesn't mean you are enabling someone to eat in excess. Sooner or later, people have to realize that we fought long and hard for freedom to do things and when others start to 'ban' them because of their own personal views, it diminishes the achievements and progress made.

Enough is enough. Life is nothing without its small moments of happiness. - 5/29/2012   1:42:55 PM

If we start banning bake sales....what's next!? How about some self control and education for those that are less than healthy. - 5/29/2012   1:29:28 PM

You do not even know how much of a "wow" factor this was for me. My son's school and band just had a meeting last week and sent out the "Fundraising" schedule for next year. I was annoyed with it! Everything was "show up and help out"... I wrote back with 'whatever happened to Bake Sales? No one ever does them any more!! The PTO sells junk foods at the games. Why can we not do bake sales at lunch time, one day a week...?"

They will get back to me on that. LOL -- I am a baker by heart. I love to bake things and send them into school with my kids.

This year I couldn't send anything in with my 2nd grader because there were so many food allergies in the classroom, and anything I sent in, would not be allowed to be eaten at school. They'd have to take it home. GRRR! I pride myself on making sure kids can have SOMETHING I make... SO I go out of my way to find treatsies that the kids with allergies CAN have. I went and spent $60 on cake & brownie mixes for the 3 children who had WHEAT allergies. I already do not use any nuts in school baking because of the huge nut allergies out there. So, after spending all that money, the teacher told me that anything I bake, has to have the ingredients list from the side panel of ALL the ingredients I used. SERIOUSLY??!! And then it still will not be eaten at school. It would still be sent home with the children ((and we all know kids do NOT listen to adults... If there is food in their bags, they ARE going to eat it on the bus!!)) So I chose to not make any of it. And there it sits in my cabinet. Untouched. I might make them and give to my family. LOL See how they like Potato flour and such. hehe!!

PS - My 'band' son is in high school. High Schoolers know what they should and should not eat if they have allergies. And they'd know what would happen if they did eat something they were allergic to.

AND - I still bake my Monster Cookies (Cookies for Mommy's lil Monsters) for the teacher staff. I have 1 teacher who would cry if I stopped making those for them. LOL!!! - 5/29/2012   12:41:20 PM

I do like the idea of healthful baked goods, as there are many luscious things that can be made and baked for such sales. And it would be a great learning opportunity for the group having the fundraiser if they were asked to find and share healthy alternatives for their sale. - 5/29/2012   12:14:39 PM

I agree with several other posts - it's not the bake sales that are making children overweight. Bake sales usually are a great way to earn extra money for school projects and I think that politics should stay out of it. Take a better look at school lunch menus, provide more funding for healthier lunches, etc. - 5/29/2012   12:09:35 PM

Someone could make a tasty homemade bread for the kids to have in their healthy homemade sandwich. - 5/29/2012   12:03:52 PM

I have to admit that I dread bake sales, cookie dough sales, candy sales etc. I don't want to bring more sweets into my house. But they shouldn't be banned. Bake sales used to be fun because people didn't eat goodies all the time. They were a treat at birthdays and special times. The problem isn't the occasional bake sale. It is that the baked goods have become the norm for many people. With sugar so cheap and fruits and vegetables so expensive we tend toward the inexpensive baked goods TOO frequently. Sweets need to go back to being a treat that we indulge in on special occasions. If schools want to improve the health of students, banning bake sales won't make one iota of difference. Gym classes that are FUN need to be taught everyday. AND they need to get all the over-processed foods out of school lunch. Chicken nuggets, corn dogs, pizza, canned peaches, and such are each served WEEKLY at my child's school. They claim they are nutritionally balanced but it is simply teaching kids to eat processed foods daily. Those items should also be eaten only occasionally as a treat at the ball game or something like that. - 5/29/2012   11:50:21 AM

Heck no! I support treats in moderation, so yes, I love occasional bake sales, especially because parents could at least exercise control over ingredients, I do wish school administrators would take a hard look at what they make available in their lunch lines on a daily basis. My 5th-grade daughter brings her own lunch, but she tells me about what her classmates buy when their parents give them free reign and a handful of money, and I've seen it. You can tell them all day to focus on fruits and veggies and why and how much and what not, but as we can see here in the comments alone, people revel in being able to eat whatever they want. I've seen the lunch lines at my Kiddo's school, and if they have just enough to buy either an apple or a candy bar, they went for the candy bar. Then wash it down with chocolate milk instead of plain. At my kiddo's school, their weekly fund-raiser is to sell even more candy and other junk food every Friday--no homemade treats allowed. - 5/29/2012   11:49:54 AM

Sounds great in theory, but where I'm from all goods sold at bake sales have to be store bought (for safety concerns). - 5/29/2012   11:41:10 AM

It's not the bake sales at school that are making us fat, it's not that easy. How about the schools took away PE, kids are in front of the TV or computers more than counter parts in the day when I was in school, there was not a fast food place on every street corner (it was gas stations just car stuff no food or drinks) Also more people cooked instead of picking up dinner or using frozen dinners. - 5/29/2012   11:01:00 AM

When I saw the title here, I thought of something completely different. With the higher incidence of peanut/nut, wheat and other food allergies, I know some places have decided to not have bake sales. Even a whiff of peanuts can cause serious allergic reaction to those highly sensitive. Even when a recipe or list of ingredients is provided, you may still not know whether any of the ingredients themselves were prepared in a place where known allergans were also present.
And there are many schools where bringing homemade foods are not allowed. Food allergies or sensitivities aside, there can be the question of how safely an item was prepared, whether it was appropriately baked, stored, etc.
Ah, for my childhood days...:) - 5/29/2012   10:45:06 AM

Yes! Let's ban a one-day-a-year bake sale! The one cookie my child will buy and eat is going to cause obesity! Instead of worrying about the fund raisers, why can't we worry about making healthy foods less expensive, so everyone can afford them? Childhood obesity isn't because of bake sales, it's because working parents can't always afford fresh, healthy food, and only purchase what they can afford. It's because school lunches are gross. Instead of creating more rules and laws that are a waste of time, let's actually address the real issues. WOW! What a concept! - 5/29/2012   10:35:31 AM

Well, then let's go ahead and illegalize desserts at restaurants and box cake and other dessert type items at grocery stores, not to mention the store bakery or any of those other bakeries....sure, let's ban them all. Sarcasm.

I am NOT in favor of the government exerting any more control than they already do. - 5/29/2012   9:55:41 AM

Banning bake sales will not fix the obesity problem. People should learn to have treats in moderation. I think the focus should be on meals. Breakfast programs would be a good way to insure all children start the day off right. Also at my children's school a lot of kids will throw away their healthy part of their lunches and eat the unhealthy snacks parents added or they swapped for. I think in that case supervision would be better and also some sort of reward/incentive system put in place for kids to choose healthy foods. Our school also has a snack basket provided by the school board in each classroom. It has fruit and vegetables for any child to take as a fuel break. This is done so that the kids who come from low income are not singled out. Its incredible I have handed out both baked goods and fruit, and the kids inhale the fruit! They say they never have any at home. - 5/29/2012   9:46:04 AM

I think we have to teach healthy decision making and healthy cooking techniques & recipies not ban things! - 5/29/2012   9:25:35 AM

Does anyone remember seeing a bumper sticker that reads:

It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber. - 5/29/2012   9:07:58 AM

How are kids to learn self control if we regulate everything that they eat. If we don't let kids make choices for themselves we are promoting rebellion. Don't ban bake sales. I agree with offering smaller portions. Todays portions are out of control. We should take the vending machines out of schools. Parents also need learn to say no and mean it. I have seen 7-8 year olds throwing tantrums in stores because they want candy or sweets and the parent gives in . Parents today complain about bake sales making kids obese when it starts at home. - 5/29/2012   8:57:51 AM

This is so ridiculous, I can't believe it's for real. Other people have said it all. Our legislators are full of outlandish ideas, but this one takes the cake! - 5/29/2012   8:45:12 AM

Doesn't really make any sense... - 5/29/2012   8:29:53 AM

Vending machines and not selling junk in the school cafeteria make a lot more sense than banning bake sales. Bake sales are occasional and fun with homemade treats! - 5/29/2012   8:07:48 AM

If you don't want to eat it don't, leave others to what they want. Didn't we defeat the facists in the last world war? Who are these people who think it's their right to foist their stupid ideas on others, please do us all a favour and go away!! - 5/29/2012   8:05:58 AM

Nothing wrong with bake sales, things can be so ridiculous. If the parents are concerned, then they can discuss making healthier items. You can make cakes and cupcakes etc. with healthier ingredients.

My experience working with older men who are deprived of desserts etc. at home is that they find them away from home. They take drives by doughnut shops etc. I used to have to order lunches for groups and one group of older men always wanted cookies because they weren't allowed to have desserts at home. - 5/29/2012   7:47:41 AM

I donated to and participated in many a bake sale when my kids were little. It was one bake sale after another, and today I try to think of sugary foods like a kind of poison for me, because I am easily addicted to sugars and my weight has caused me so much trouble for so long. In my opinion, no need to ban fundraisers, but wouldn't it be great if healthy items were requested, along with recipes? I sure would buy! - 5/29/2012   7:12:14 AM

Good grief! How about people are responsible for their own choices? - 5/29/2012   6:38:04 AM

What has happened to educating people about eating right and moderation? If you tell kids they can't ever have sweets, they will find a way to eat them (and more than they would have) when you are not around. - 5/29/2012   6:26:58 AM

Absolutely not. Bake sales are the cornerstone of school fundraising, as well as churches and other groups dependant upon donations and fundraising to continue in their missions. This is absolutely ludicrous!!! - 5/29/2012   6:07:40 AM

So bake sales should be banned, but schools can serve AWFUL school lunches that are probably just as bad, if not worse, nutritionally, as a homemade cupcake? - 5/29/2012   5:44:38 AM