Bake Sale Sign Ideas

Turn your sign into an instant attention-grabber by making it in the shape of a cupcake, cookie or cake. Use poster board in a color such as tan to make a large chocolate-chip cookie, adding in the chips with a marker or with dark brown construction paper. Pink poster board serves as the icing on a colorful cake, drawing attention from afar. Make a giant cupcake sign with several pieces of poster board, using different colors for the icing, cake portion and wrapper. Attach your signs onto tomato stakes so they can be held up by hand. Make them sturdier by attaching foam presentation board to the back.

Use a fluorescent poster board for your sign to add visibility if your bake-sale location is less than ideal. Even if you have a prime spot, the sign's message must be legible. Use dark or bold colors for the lettering, especially the words, "Bake Sale," and make the letters thick and large enough to read from afar. For creative lettering, cut the letters out of colored construction paper and decorate each letter with bits of thin confetti to look like sprinkles, or make icing tops for the letters by cutting out a flowing shape from another color of construction paper to top each letter. Paint a series of wooden or plastic spoons in a bright or bold color; then hot-glue the spoons to poster board in the shapes of "bake sale" letters.

Besides the bake sale sign announcing the sale and the group it benefits, you'll need one or more signs listing the items for sale, along with their prices. Create a master list on another sheet of poster board with the prices large enough to read while standing near the table, or make miniature signs for each item, setting them in clear stands near their respective baked goods. A chalkboard display may also be used for a price chart. Carry additional poster board, markers and tape to create extra signs in a pinch, for instance, for a telephone pole on a street corner, along with an arrow and address indicating where to find the sale.

No matter how decorative, colorful or cute the sign, it won't be very effective if it is hard to read or if it is missing information. The words "Bake Sale" should be large enough to read from afar, taking up a good portion of the sign's size; this way it draws the attention of people across the room, across the parking lot or even across the street. The lettering must be dark enough to read as well; a sign written in pencil won't be visible except within a few feet of the sign. Make the sign large enough to be noticed from afar, such as a standard sheet of poster board 22 inches wide, 28 inches long. Include legible information on the sign indicating the organization that the sale benefits or when the sale begins, if it is for a future date.