Lemonade Stand / Bake Sale

The kids have earned money all summer long for doing their chores & other duties.  I pay them a weekly allowance of "half their age" & it seems to work out well for them. 

(Cadence gets $4.50, Lorien $3.50, & Taya $2.00)

Well, at the end of the school year in June, Lorien broke her bike by accident & has been saving her money all summer long for a new bike.  I like my kids to have bikes because then they can ride their bikes to & from school, but I'm also a parent who likes to teach my kids the VALUE of things.  So instead of just handing over the money for a new bike, I made her earn it.

A week before school started she only had $45.  I wanted her to have that bike for the first day of school so badly that I planted the idea of a lemonade stand into my kids' brains.  They were SO EXCITED they couldn't stand it.  For 3 days straight, the girls baked anything & everything they could get their hands on.  I helped a little bit, but it was mostly them.  I was very proud of what they accomplished in those 3 days.

Then they made a poster, sign, & "menu" for their little stand.  The boys kept "helping" by sitting on their poster.  Silly boys.

But once they got it all done, it was ADORABLE.

Cadence made a "menu" for the stand.  Everything we sold was $0.50, but she INSISTED on listing every single thing we had with a little 50 cents next to it.  SO CUTE.

Together, we made an incredible amount of treats.  Trek was joking with me that we were going to have SO MUCH FOOD left over from this thing that we'd get sick eating it all.  I told him that we hoped to sell most of it, but deep down I kind of knew that wouldn't happen.

We had 

Coconut Muffins with Coconut frosting & toasted Coconut on top . . . 

White Cupcakes with Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting on top,

White Cupcakes with Bubble Gum Frosting on top, 

LOTS of Chocolate Suckers,

Pink Lemonade Cookies with Pink Lemonade Frosting,

Key Lime Cookies with Vanilla/Lime Frosting,

Brownies,

& Kool-Aid & Lemonade of course.

We had all the treats scattered around the kitchen & dining area & Craiger kept sneaking in & stealing stuff to eat.  We'd turn our back for one second & he'd show up with a sucker in one hand & a brownie in the other.  He's such a sneak. . . but a cute one.

Thursday we set up shop at 10:00 am.  As you can see from the pictures, it was typical Monterey weather. . . cold, rainy, foggy, & dark.  The girls were worried nobody would go outside because the weather was so bad.

At that point I tried to tell them that they weren't going to make much off of this stand.  I did a lemonade stand every summer as a kid & I think I made between $5 & $10 every summer.  Lorien needed $25 for her bike so I figured they MIGHT earn that, but I told them not to EXPECT ANYTHING.  They got bummed out when the first car to drive past our house waved at them but didn't stop.  

I told them that hard work does pay off, but not always immediately.  I wanted them to really work at it, to really EARN this money.

So they got Taya out there with a sign pointing to the stand.  She did a little dance when cars drove by while Cadence & Lorien waved & smiled at the passerbys.

They seriously looked ADORABLE!

Cars started stopping & they started to get customers.  I was excited for them.

After a hour & a half, the girls came in saying "WE'RE DONE!"  "O no you aren't!"  There was NO WAY they were going to be done after only 1 1/2 hours.  They needed to WORK for that money.  What I didn't realize was that they SOLD OUT OF EVERYTHING.  

WHAT?!?

Yes, they sold out.  People were stopping & just handing them money because they were cute.  They were TOTALLY working the system.  So I ran to the kitchen to bake more brownies, cupcakes, & chocolate dipped oreos.  I made them stay outside until I felt they EARNED their money!

After SIX HOURS of selling treats & lemonade, this is all we had left:

2 cupcakes, 1 cookie, & 4 brownies. 

 I didn't even WANT to look in their homemade cash register.  I had a feeling there wasn't a mere $25 in there after all the treats we had made.

Can you believe it?  The girls made a WHOPPING

$147.00

OFF A LEMONADE STAND!?!

Normally that would upset me (way too much money for kids their age), but I was thrilled that they actually sat out there & earned every penny of it.  Good for them!

And I am a bad mom for not realizing that even though it was freezing all day long that the UV rays will still reach the fair Potter skin through the dark gloomy clouds.   The poor things had sunburns on their faces.  I felt so bad.  But they were too excited about their earnings to care.

So the next day we split up the money & let them spend it.  10% went to tithing of course, & then a LOT when into savings for each of the 3 girls, but they still got some to spend & boy did they spend.

Cadence got a brand new purse she's been eyeing for some time now & a little kitty stuffed toy.  And Taya bought the My Little Pony set she's wanted forever.

And little Lorien got the bike she's been wanting all summer long.  HOORAY.  That was the goal of the entire lemonade stand & they met that goal . . . they SURPASSED that goal.

She is SO happy, & I AM SO HAPPY she has a bike to ride to & from school.  And I'm happy that my girls got a good lesson in hard work, perseverance, & success.