My youngest daughter (8 years old) had been pestering me since winter to let her go out and do a Kool-aid stand (she was pushing for a hot chocolate stand in the winter). I finally gave in and told her the next weekend day that is sunny you can do your stand......
She quickly set to work making the sign for her stand, she found a 1/2 of a poster board, pulled out her crayons and started designing. The next thing I know she is proudly presenting me with her finished sign. I looked at it and as any proud Mama would do, promptly pronounced it "Wonderful!"....but wait, what is this?
"You're going to charge a whole Dollar for a cup of Kool-aid?, I asked. She replied quickly without hesitation, "It costs more because Kool-aid is too expensive, remember?" To which I replied in puzzlement, "What do you mean?" Her response back, "Duh, you always said you can't buy Kool-aid because it's too expensive!" The memories these kids have! Saying it was too expensive was way easier than having to explain why she couldn't have a Kool-aid stand on any of the given days she kept pestering me for a stand! Lets hope she has not been going around telling her friends we can't afford Kool-aid! So lesson learned on Mommy's part ,don't fib or it might come back to haunt you!
Moving on to our first sunny weekend day....the sun was out and the temps were in the low 80's, most of the kids in the neighborhood were playing in pools or sprinklers, but not my little entrepreneur ~ her mind was on making some money! Just a little side note, we live in a small little development in a county town with a population of around a 1,000 so I was bracing myself to deal with her disappointment when she only had Mommy and Daddy as a customer!
We gathered the Kool-aid, cups, paper towels, garbage bag, money box and rolling cart. We affixed the sign to the cart and rolled it to the end of the driveway, and lest I forget to mention ~ we also live in a cul-de-sac which lessened the potential traffic to about zero.....
Kool-aid, chair, table, cups, kid and sign were ready to enter into the professional world of entrepreneurial endeavors!
I go inside so I can get my mandatory dollar for my cup of Kool-aid. Back outside I go and make my purchase (she was so happy). Back into the house so I can keep an eye on her through the window (while playing on my computer, of course). I see Daddy go out about 15 minutes later to purchase his cup!
One hour later I figured out she had to be done and probably very disappointed so I went back out to rescue and console. "Are you ready to come in now, honey?" I asked.
Her response, "Are You Kidding I've Made Eight Dollars!" Unknown and unseen by me, the neighbor's had a guy re-model party going and all the guys had came over to buy Kool-aid which resulted in one very happy little girl!
Thank you neighbors!
