This past weekend, Grammy had an idea. Her condo complex was having a joint yard sale and she thought it would be a good place for the girls to set up a lemonade stand.
I thought this was a great idea because we would have guaranteed customers in a small space. My kids are pretty hard to resist.
Mazzy and Harlow thought this was a great idea because they would get money for standing around with unlimited access to lemonade, a drink they consider on par with ice cream and cotton candy.
But we were not about to make it that easy for them! We were not buying lemonade to sell or using ready-made packets of lemonade powder. We were going to squeeze that lemonade ourselves!
First stop was the grocery store because I do not have three pounds of lemons on hand.
Then we picked up a lemonade dispenser from Seri because OBVIOUSLY, Little Miss Party has the perfect lemonade dispenser. She actually has a plethora of lemonade dispensers to choose from but I opted for a cute tin white one.
On the way back home, Mazzy and Harlow started get more excited about their stand.
MAZZY: We should make a sign so people know we are selling lemonade!
HARLOW: We should build a building so we don’t have to stand outside!
ME: A sign is a great idea, Mazzy. Maybe we’ll wait a few years before we turn our stand into a brick and mortar shop, Harlow.
(If you follow me on Snapchat, you know Harlow really said that.)
We brought everything back to the house and got to work.
Official recipe:
1 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup fine sugar
4 cups water
ice
I wish I could say that Mazzy and Harlow made it all, but it quickly became clear that Grammy and I would be squeezing the majority of the lemons. We made about four quarts while the girls made a lemonade sign in the other room.
Look how happy those people are drinking our lemonade! That is some quality advertising.
When we were finished, we drove over to the condo yard sale to set up our stand.
There was some debate about what to charge…
GRAMMY: We should charge a dollar a cup.
MAZZY: We should charge TWO DOLLARS!
ME: Let’s ask Snapchat.
Someone on Snapchat said that we should charge under a dollar to create a low cost of entry and then most customers would tell you to keep the change. Sounded like good advice.
ME: Sometimes if you charge less, you can sell more, which could make you more money in the end.
(This lemonade stand was turning into a pretty good business lesson.)
We opted to charge $.75.
That’s Grandsam below buying the very first cup, thanks to our strategic pricing, I’m sure.
Unfortunately, it rained on the way there so most of the yard sale crowd had cleared out (making Harlow’s building sound like a pretty good idea), but we had a limited amount of cups so it was probably a good thing that business was less than booming.
Mazzy and Harlow loved it though. Grammy would accost cars on the street, Mazzy would make the lemonade and Harlow would collect the cash.
It was quite a team operation.
The kids also drank tons of lemonade.
In the end, they made $11 in one hour. They were thrilled and split it as evenly as possible.
Not bad if you don’t think about the fact that we spent $13 on supplies.
Profit margin will be a lesson for another day.
————————–
To follow my family’s antics in real time, follow @mommyshorts on Instagram and ilanawiles on Snapchat!
We haven’t done a lemonade stand yet, but my 6 year old has made cards and set up a card stand. Her brother and I were the only customers but it was so cute, and who doesn’t love a handmade card!
This is awesome! Can’t wait to do a lemonade stand someday.
That is awesome! Vivian is my only child, and she is 2 and a half. Right now, money is “Monkey” and apparently you “kai” stuff with it.
Her cousin Mayafee did one this weekend and I made Vivi a walking ad costume. She had a sign over her head and in big white letters I wrote “Mayafee’s Sweet Lemonade, 1.00 a cup!”
Maybe you could make one for Harlow! They are so cute. I posted a picture on my facebook page.
Montessori will probably involve a lemonade stand at some point. It’s basically a hands on preschool. She will start there on September 1st.