Thursday, July 29, 2010

Free Water! Lemonade? That's going to cost you.

R's been asking to do a lemonade stand for months and months. Problem was, before our recent move we lived on a very busy urban street that, despite having tons of cars, was not a safe place for a stand. Problem is, now we live on a cul de sac, off of another cul de sac, with no cars at all.

So it dawned on us yesterday...here we are at Chautauqua with few cars (safe!) and at my aunt's place that is right on the main plaza area (customers!) and it was hot, hot, hot (people will be thirsty!), why not do a lemonade stand here?

R and G got busy right away by moving some tables and chairs to the front:


Setting up shop:

Mixing some lemonade:

And began to wait for customers:

While R did his own signs and decided to charge 25 cents a glass, G said he wanted to give his lemonade away for free, just to be nice. R didn't like this threat to his capital enterprise, so I stepped in with the compromise that G could offer free water to customers. G and R agreed to this solution, and at the end of a really fun afternoon, they learned a thing of two about business.

G learned that if you drink out of a customer's water glass right before you are about to give it to them, they'll probably decline it, even if it is free (something he did three times).

R learned that folks, especially nostalgic older folks, LOVE a lemonade stand and will give you dollar bills and ask for no change, just to give you a smile on your face.

I learned that there are a lot of great stories behind lemonade stands, and many of them involve parents, whose own children are grown, reminiscing about how it seems like "just yesterday" they were doing their own stands. I love a good story, and I like to think we created a few yesterday too.

Life is sweet (and so is R's lemonade!)-
SPC

6 comments:

Slacker Mama said...

OMG...G drinking out of the customer's water is totally something my kids would do! That is too, too cute!

My girls have been begging to do a lemonade stand. However, being on a pipestem tucked away in a cul-de-sac probably wouldn't get the same traffic as you guys!

Susan said...

I live in Lakewood, NY - right down the road from Chautauqua and was there today visiting family! Such a small world - would have loved supporting the lemonade stand! Too funny!

JerseyBaby said...

I'm replaying the image in my mind of G sipping each cup before handing it over to a paying customer. Cracks me up every time!

A good friend of mine will be up there next week. They go every summer with their family and rave about it. Some day we'll have to check it our ourselves.

Sweet Pea Chef said...

Susan, What a small world! I love this part of New York. How lucky to live so close!

Anonymous said...

How I did enjoy R, G & their Mom and Gramma visiting The Cambridge @ Chautauqua. I love remembering when 'Mom' first visited - she was 3! Now Mom's 3 year old + R are here riding the School Bus and doing all the fun things Chautauqua offers! What joy.
Aunt Susan

Unknown said...

Hi there SPC,

This is too adorable for words! How enterprising these young men are. The lemonade stand is such a good idea for entertainment and teaching them business and math skills. Do your boys enjoy helping out elsewhere in the kitchen too? The reason I ask is that research shows kids who help with cooking and eat together as a family are more likely to be healthier than their peers and do better in school. That’s why I work with the public health campaign group behind Healthy Monday. We’ve just launched The Kids Cook Monday, which is a weekly opportunity for families to check in with each other, have some fun in the kitchen and focus on health. Please see more here: http://www.healthymonday.org/the-kids-cook-monday/.

We’re looking for family oriented blogs to help spread the word about The Kids Cook Monday, by doing weekly posts on their family cooking stories. If you’re interested in helping us spread the word by doing weekly posts, please contact me at mondaycampaigns@gmail.com.

Thanks!
Carly