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How to plan a cookie walk: pounds, bakers and price per pound

A cookie walk sells donated cookies by the pound. Shoppers walk along tables, fill a box and pay by weight. This page is for the volunteer who has to work out how many bakers to ask. Enter a goal and the planner gives you pounds, bakers, a rough cookie count and boxes.

50 to 50,000

Default 8, the price in the OCA guide

Default 5, the minimum in the OCA guide

Default 10, my pick. Weigh a sample.

To raise $1,000 at $8 a pound
125 lb to sell
Bakers
25
Cookies, about
1,250
Boxes, about
63

Each baker brings 5 lb, about 50 cookies. Boxes assume 2 lb each (my pick).

What the numbers rest on

Pounds are the goal divided by the price, rounded up. Bakers are pounds divided by what you ask of each, rounded up. Cookies and boxes are pounds times a size guess. Two defaults come from a real guide, and two are mine:

  • $8 a pound. St. Mark Orthodox parish says it started at $5 a pound five years before the guide was written and now charges $8, after checking what specialty cookies cost locally (OCA cookie walk guide). Another church walk charged $7 a pound (Ironton Tribune, 2013). Prices differ by area, so check what yours pays.
  • 5 lb per baker. The same guide asks parishioners to bake and donate a minimum of 5 lb.
  • 10 cookies per pound. My pick. I found no published count. Small cookies run higher and big ones lower, so bake one batch, weigh it and use your own number.
  • 2 lb per box. My pick. It only changes the box count, so check it against the box size you buy.

What one church sold

In 1995 the OCA guide's author reports that the parish sold out over 330 lbs of cookies in 45 minutes for over $3,000 (the guide doesn't say what the 1995 price per pound was), and could have sold twice as many. The planner will not tell you demand. If you have no history, treat its pounds as a floor and ask a few extra bakers.

Volunteer roles

Counts in the first column come from the OCA guide unless marked as my suggestion.

Volunteer roles for a cookie walk with the number of people and the job
Role People Job
Organizer 1 Runs sign-up, drop-off night and the schedule (my suggestion).
Publicity 1 Flyers, a sign three weeks ahead, local notices (a separate chairperson in the guide).
Plate refillers 2-3 Keep trays full and the table tidy.
Weigher 1 Weighs each box on an accurate kitchen scale.
Cashier 1 Takes payment and gives change.
Boxing and ribbon about 2 Closes, labels and ties the boxes.
Clean-up crew a few Clears tables and returns plates.

The guide also lists morning and afternoon crews, so the same roles are filled twice on a long day.

How the day runs

  1. Three weeks out: put up a sign and start the sign-up. The OCA guide has bakers list the cookie types they will make, so you can spot duplicates. A printable sign up sheet works for that.
  2. The night before: bakers drop off. My suggestion: have them sign in, and put cookies on trays with a label card.
  3. Sale day: the guide ran 10 AM to 2 PM on the second Saturday of December. Shoppers take a box, fill it, and my suggestion is to have the weigher and cashier work as a pair.
  4. After: note which cookies sold out first. The guide says oatmeal, chocolate chip and ordinary cookies do not sell, so ask bakers for festive or specialty kinds.

Rules for selling home-baked food differ by place and venue, so ask your venue or local authority before you advertise. Allergen cards on each tray are a good habit, and the allergy guide shows wording.

Selling or swapping

If everyone takes home what they bring, you want a cookie swap instead. The page blocks duplicate kinds and works out how many each baker makes. For a big group, see the large group guide. Pricing by the dozen instead of the pound? How much to charge for cookies per dozen works from the cost of one batch.

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