One of our best fundraisers last year was with Butter Braid. I had actually never had their product before but our dance studio sold them in the past and they were very successful. One of the dance moms asked if anyone was selling them so I grabbed the chance and set one up for our swim team.
I have always wanted to keep swim as cheap as possible for our team. I wanted to give the kids a chance to help their parents so whatever each of our team members sold, the profit would go into their own account. They could put their portion towards their team suit or they could put it toward their summer swim camp tuition. The way Butter Braid works makes it very easy to see what each swimmer earned.
If you’ve never had a Butter Braid, they come frozen. There are many flavors to choose from including apple, blueberry, and my favorite, double chocolate – YUM!. The crust is kind of like a puff pastry braided with the fillings inside. At present, each Butter Braid sells for $13.00, except for the Double Chocolate which sells for $14.00. Our profits are $5.20 and $5.60 respectively per Butter Braid. I really like to see what we are going to make per item, rather than have to wait and see at the end and then get a percentage based on what was sold. I love fundraisers that are up front like this. I went to their site and found my local representative and we set up a date.
Butter Braid sends you all of the information you need for fundraiser – flyers, order forms and a couple of posters. I put a poster up in the office at school along with an order form and a brown envelope so staff could put their checks in for what they ordered. I put my name, email address, phone number and due date on the brown envelope as well. We only had a few kids on the team take part but the ones who did, did very well. My son, for instance sold over $200.00. That was almost half of what he needed for summer swim camp at Purdue! A huge help for sure. Others used their money on their suits this year.
******************* UPDATE *****************
I wrote this partial blog post a year ago. Since then, we’ve done another Butter Braid fundraiser to benefit our entire team. We did pretty well. Like last year, I went to the distribution store and saved $50.00 for the delivery fee. I drove my husband’s big SUV – it is about an hour and a bit away but if our team can save the money – I’d drive 3 hours! They do come frozen but having as many as we had, they kept well in the cardboard boxes for about 2 ½ hours.
This year they are offering a couple of different options. They are selling a couple of different options in 3’s for a little cheaper than if you bought them separately. The upside is you might sell more braids but the downside is you will lose a little profit if they only buy (1) 3 pack — however again, on the upside — your buyer may see it as a way to buy more than one 3 pack and yes you would increase your profit more so than if they only bought 2 individuals…. Does that make sense?
One Debbie Downer is that they are discontinuing their Boston Cream Braid. It’s out of this world good but sadly, it’s being retired. My other two favorites are the Double Chocolate (so warm and gooey!) and the Apple. Our family loves both. Can’t go wrong.
As I’ve said a few times, they come frozen and you keep them frozen until you want to use them. However, that doesn’t mean you can just pop your frozen braid into the oven. If I am planning to have this lovely warm treat for breakfast, before I go to bed at night, I will take it out of the freezer and put the braid on either a lightly sprayed cookie sheet or on a piece of parchment paper on the cookie sheet. Then, I’ll lightly spray a piece of Cling Wrap and place it loosely over the top to let it thaw and rise. Next morning, before I get to the kitchen I can smell the yeast and know it’s ready to be popped into the oven:) Bake and glaze according to the package instructions and you are good to go!
Let me know if you try them and how your fundraiser goes!
Speak soon.
take care,
~kat
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