Since I have no idea if 1 or 100 people will be attending my Grand Opening in a few weeks I was thinking of letting the children who attend decorate brownies cut into flip flop shapes instead of cake. I figure I would have to either crumb coat the cakes myself which would be time consuming and a waste if I made too many and no one showed up or if there are a lot of people the kids would get bored waiting for the cakes to set up. Any thoughts on the brownie method instead of cake? I do have a 7ft. float cake that I made for the 4th of July Parade that the kids could take a photo in front of and a give away every hour but not sure if this is enough activity for a Grand Opening. I don't want to go broke before I start out either so am trying to keep the costs down. I don't think it would be a good idea to charge a small fee for decorating the brownies but wonder what others think about that.

what about cupcakes with prefilled icing bags, and bottles of sprinkles set out? That way you won't have to do that much clean up. Will the brownies be self-contained? or will you need to cut them up, then plate them, etc?

Purchases are one thing, then the customer pays. But demos or hands-ons at a grand opening, I think charging would be taboo.

I like the brownie idea. You could use licorice shoelaces or Pull N Peels for the straps, the jimmies, confetti, quins, to decorate. Maybe a piping bag or two so they can print their name on. And you could even have someone cut them as they come up. The leftover brownies could be cut into squares and sold.

Theresa

Pre iced cuppies and a huge selection of candy. I find that the kids at bday parties are more interested in the gooey sweet stuff than the cake anyway. Good thoughts and wishes for your new business....

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I am going more the candy route for the toppings and less the sprinkle route since those sprinkles get everywhere. I used to do chocolate making parties for children for 3 years and still see those sprinkles on the floor (which I had to sweep up all day) in my sleep.

The licorice or fruit by the foot should work out well for the straps. I will have to look into flip flop cookie cutters now online since I haven't seen them in any of the Party Stores. I'm not sure how well they would work for cake but I think would cut into brownies fine. I guess I could just make a template too and save the money.

I think I'd go with the cupcakes too! You could even make mini ones. The kids could still dab a bit of frosting on the cupcake.