“If life gives you lemons, don’t settle for simply making lemonade – make a glorious scene at a lemonade stand.” ~ Elizabeth Gilbert
Summer Fun
This past summer I was fortunate to have one of my oldest and dearest friends visit from England for a week. She and her daughter, my namesake, came out to celebrate her daughter’s birthday, which falls on July 4. I had always thought it would be fun for them to spend her birthday with us as it is an exciting holiday with lots of food and fireworks!
Being similar age to my kids (I have five ranging in age from six to fifteen), Anna-May was surrounded by four girls and one boy, and they all had a wonderful time together. There was lots of swimming, sunbathing, and laughter! One day they approached me with the idea of a lemonade stand. The kids and I had done one a few years back to raise money for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. The six kids presented me with a list of supplies that they would need; lemons, sugar, cups, ice, cookies, poster boards for signs etc. I told them that if they wanted to all chip in for the supplies, I would take them to the store to get what they needed. They all agreed without hesitation, and began to add up all their collective money to see if they had enough. They decided that they would each be paid back what they contributed from any sales they made, and anything over that would be split evenly between them.
The following day I took them out to three different stores for their supplies. They were on a budget and wanted to shop around for the best prices. We went to Detweiler’s, Publix, and the Dollar Tree. That evening my husband and I went to see Hugh Jackman *swoon* in concert. It was my birthday present and my husband bought tickets before we new we would have guests. When we got home that night, the kids had made the lemonade, baked the cookies, and made two incredible signs for their lemonade stand. They went to bed that night excited for the day ahead.
The next morning we set up our popup canopy, table, and a couple of chairs. They brought out a cooler full of ice, set up the cookies and lemonade on the table, and took to the sidewalk outside our house to try and entice customers. The day was nothing short of a success. They had more people stop than I ever imagined they would. They each ended up with $25 profit. I covered the cost of the supplies, which I had planned on doing all along, I just wanted to see how serious they were about doing the stand and figured if they were willing to throw in their own money, they must be pretty serious!
It was really great to see all the kids working together, coming up with ideas, holding up signs in the blazing July Florida sun, and having a great time away from electronics! We met lots of people from the neighborhood, neighbors we hadn’t met in the two years we have been living in our house. Some people stopped just to donate a few dollars even though they didn’t take lemonade or cookies. One man gave them $20 and said he grew up in the area and used to do the same things as a kid!
Not only did the kids make money, they learned a few things as well. They learned how to budget, shop around for good deals, delegate responsibilities, share the workload, work together to brainstorm ideas, and share in the responsibility of ensuring they did everything they could to make the lemonade stand a success. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the entire process and capturing some images to help them remember it forever.
