A Working Mom's Lemonade (AND COOKIES!) Stand

Sumner has been begging to have a lemonade stand for quite awhile. I didn't know how I was going to do the whole lemon-squeezing-sugar-hopefully-dissolving-and-water-adding homemade lemonade thing. I know it isn’t so hard, but how was I going to keep my classic-looking glass pitcher of homemade lemonade cold in 90 degree weather? The other thing is that my weekends are taking on a new priority these days: I have to rest and get organized. I used to try to rest during the week on the few hours I had when the kids were in school and I didn’t have to be somewhere doing something. Now, I have to rest on the weekends (like the rest of the world). So I followed the lead of my cousin Amy and bought a bunch Capri-suns, lemonade flavor. They are even "all natural" (yeah right!).

As soon as Sumner set eyes on the 30 "pouches" that I bought for his business, he calculated that at 50-cents-a-pop he’d make 15 dollars. A week later when he and his cousin each had one, he made an adjustment to 14 dollars. It took me a few weeks to actually get around to setting up shop, but for Sumner it was practically money in the bank.

So, we set out to do the stand on a sticky, hot afternoon (like all the rest). I knew Ramona would want to be a part of the venture, so we went and bought (again, not made) some cookies. When we go home, she set up shop on the kitchen island bagging cookies in 2 cookie “packages”, also known as sandwich bags. When she finished, I asked her to put the sandwich bag box back and asked her to also put the two extra bags laying the table back in the box. “But, mom, I need those for germs,” she told me as she slipped those onto her hands like a fast food server. Now all she needed was a hairnet.

All day long I kept calling this their Lemonade Stand and all day long Ramona had to loudly remind me “AND COOKIES”. This was important.

Sumner made two signs, one for the cookies and one for the lemonade. They agreed to share their profits evenly, a tough negotiation. We loaded our wagon with all of our supplies, and pulled it down to our corner. On the way to the corner, two guys working next door bought cookies and lemonade. At the corner, no customers.

So we headed one more block over, where there is a lot of car traffic. The kids held signs up and Ramona shouted at every car, but still no customers. After about 10 cars, Sumner decided to give up and Ramona started to yell louder. Then Sumner got on my cell phone and called everyone he could think of who lived in New Orleans. No customers. So we took our stand on the road. We walked all over the neighborhood and quenched the thirst of people working outside. We made some friends with our neighbors.

When we spotted someone up ahead, Sumner started anticipating, plotting, and discussing with me his approach and his pitch. Ramona just started shouting, “Lemonade and cookies”. Words were exchanged over this.

They both made over four dollars, which they spent that evening at Target. They plan to reprise their stand some time soon.

Ramona also decided to start marketing gift bags that she has been making. She likes making money.