Weston Family: Motorcycle 2 MiniVan: Lemonade Day!

June 21st was Lemonade Day in Casper (http://lemonadeday.org/). It started in Houston, TX in 2007 with co-founder Michael Holthouse, the founder and President of Paranet, Inc who wanted to "empower today’s youth to become tomorrow’s entrepreneurs through helping them start, own and operate their very own business…a lemonade stand". Casper is one of 100 cities in the US that participate in Lemonade day thanks to the sponsorship from local businesses like Hilltop Bank, K2 Radio, Sutherland's and Johnny Appleseed's nursery.

Krista and the girls visited Hilltop Bank to pick up the registration "backpack" that was filled with tips and ideas on how to set up your lemonade stand and select a location. The website had a template to fill out which allowed them to 'brand' their stand (their's was 3's Company), the website had a google map view of all the locations and the link to their site. They had coupons for everything from a discount at the hardware store, flowers at the greenhouse and even free ice from Taco John's. There was also worksheets to help kids determine (with the help of an adult) the end profit the stand made (the girls cleared $50, including unsolicited tips since we didn't have a tip jar).
We had a few customers who disagreed with my viewpoint (so did Krista)... but it didn't stop people from giving extra. One guy drove up, said he didn't have time, but wanted to give them $5.00, another customer gave the girls a $10 bill for a cup of lemonade and said "keep the change". This blew me away. We decided on $1.00 for a small (9oz) and $1.50 for a large (16oz) cup. I understand if someone wanted to let the girls keep the 50 cent (fiddycent?) change from two dollars that they handed over for a large drink, but a nine dollar tip for a small lemonade... wow. Anyhow... the girls did well. We didn't rehearse or coach them on how to "run" their stand, it was pretty much a dry run on Lemonade Day. They did great. Audrey and Madison took turns asking the customers which size they would like, regular or sugar-free and then proceed to put some ice in the cup, fill it up and take the money (Audrey was the one who was a bit more eager to collect the greenbacks). Krista helped the girls figure out what change to give. Zoie was the cookie slinger!
Now I should take a step back and say that Krista pretty much single handedly peeled and "squeezed" (we used a juicer) all the lemons AND made the cookies (sugar cookies with jello added, she made strawberry and lemon). We collaborated on the stand, which was made with a couple smaller wood pallets, a thin panel of pressboard and some pvc pipe. We painted the pallets with a nice yellow, the pvc with a complementary green and the pressboard with chalkboard paint. Krista then sewed fabric panels to hold the flower pots in on the side. We made a awning from a tablecloth and used their craft table as the "guts" of the stand. The girls helped where they could as we were putting the stand together and also peeled a few lemons. It was a great family activity and exceeded all my expectations by a mile.

On a side note and partial rant; I abhor the tip jar.. seems like everywhere you go there is a tip jar or a space on the receipt for a tip. I'm good with tipping the waiter/waitress, bartender, barbers, etc. but when I see a tip jar, or a space for a "gratuity" on the receipt for a take out order, an ice cream cone or cup of coffee? Um, no... and to that end I didn't see the need for a "tip jar" at the girls' lemonade stand.

The girls were outgoing and pitched right in, the community support was just about overwhelming and best of all our neighbor was the one to scout out the location and also made the Lemonade sign with butchers paper and twine. He also traced out the letters so the girls could color it in. Did I mention how awesome our neighbors are? Our final customers were a contingent of executives... the Boys and Girls Club bus stopped by with the Mayor of Casper, President of Hilltop Bank, the photographer from K2 News, a radio personality from K2 Radio and other "dignitaries" from Casper. The girls got to meet the Mayor and do a radio interview and we ran out of lemonade!

We were open from 1100 till 1400, and I don't think there was more than a 5 minute break between customers at any point in time. There were over 100 stands in Casper some of which raised money for charity. Maybe next year we will get the girls involved with a charity so they understand the value of helping others, not just giving money to give money.. although when asked where the money was going Audrey answered that some of it would be going "to help buy a new car". Hmmm, I guess that's like a charity!