What can your child learn from a backyard lemonade stand?
A lemonade stand can help your child build their confidence as they learn about marketing, and money. A lemonade Stand is synonymous with summer, kids, and fun! You don’t want to have to sit outside in your front yard in the heat watching your kids to keep them safe, while they sell this lemonade? No problem! You can do a backyard BBQ party and invite your friends and family over and let the kids have a backyard Lemonade Stand for the party.
First of all they will need some supplies. Supplies cost money and most children don’t have the START UP MONEY for a lemonade stand. So how do they get it? Well they’ll need a sponsor. Someone they can borrow and beg from like a Mom or a Dad. Mom or Dad can supply the STAND, PITCHER, ICE and ICE CHEST, perhaps a TRAY. They won’t mind helping as long as these things are cleaned up nice at the end of the day.
Now we need the START UP MONEY. Your kids could earn some by doing special chores around the house for Mom and Dad or maybe borrowing the money from their parents or even grandparents. Have them make up a speech explaining the need and how they plan to pay back the money. Now they will need to shop.
Ask them what items will they need to make their product? Should they create a big sign advertising their lemonade? Maybe a sign to carry around the party advertising the lemonade. Oh…and most of all they’ll need the LEMONADE! They will need lemons and sugar or lemonade mix, cups and some money for the cash box or envelope. Very few people carry One’s in cash today so I would suggest 10 Ones and 2 Fives to start out. (perhaps more, you know your crowd) It might be a good idea to ask your invitees to bring some dollars to the BBQ.
“Play is training for the unexpected.” -Marc Bekoff
Also needed would be a recipe if not using a mix. It’s a little more work but the cheapest way to go and most say the best tasting lemonade!
Homemade Lemonade Recipe
6 cups of cold water
2 cups of lemon juice (8 to 10 lemons)
1 cup of sugar
Lemon slices, if desired
Mix water, lemon juice and sugar in a large pitcher until the sugar is dissolved. If you chill it in the refrigerator for a few hours it will help.
Now, let’s tally up the money spent on the recipe supplies. Once you’ve done that, consider how much you should charge per pitcher. Is the projected selling price sufficient to cover the costs of the supplies? Additionally, factor in the expense of adding a lemon slice to each glass. The choice of glass size is crucial; does opting for smaller cups increase profits? Deciding on the 6 or 8 oz size seems to be the best approach.
“It’s a happy talent to know how to play!” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
So you decide to sell your lemonade for $1 or $2 a cup. Perhaps with an impressive serve you might get a tip in the tip jar! Encourage the kids to walk around and talk about how delicious the lemonade is and how they’d be happy to go and get a nice cold glass of lemonade for them on this hot day of course, That’ll be $2. (marketing and advertising) You can make a rule that the person to person sale can only be done ONCE per person so they need to make it good!
Before counting the money be sure all the clean up is done. The Lemonade Stand cleaned up, the pitcher washed, the ice chest emptied, the cups and trash thrown away etc…
At the end of the day you get with the kids and count the money. Subtract the START UP money and see what they’ve earned. Hopefully the hard work was worth it!
“Fun is Our Middle Name”
Now what has your child(ren) learned from having a Lemonade Stand?
1. Entrepreneurship, a small business venture, this is the foundation of our country
2. Creativity, Kids can get creative with their signs
3. Finances, it’s a great way to use that math they’ve been learning about in school, addition and subtraction as well as learn some money exchange math skills.
4. Customer Service, a chance to talk about how they should treat their customers and what good service means.
5. The Art of the Sell? Perhaps their person to person sales pitches were a hit!
Yes, something like a kids small backyard Lemonade Stand can teach them so much. Starting a lemonade stand business is not just about selling lemonade; it is an opportunity for kids to learn valuable life skills that will help them to succeed in the future!
That’s how we at Backyard Fun Factory got started! We saw a need for a product and began a business working hard to sell our product, Redwood Playsets! And yes, we all had lemonade stands as kids and it gave us our first lessons in starting a business. We even have a Redwood Lemonade Stand accessory for our Playsets!
Call us today to set up a backyard visit!
Fort Worth/White Settlement Showroom Frisco Showroom
7600 White Settlement Road 301 King Road Suite 1
Monday – Saturday Hours 9-4 Monday – Saturday Hours: 9-4
Phone: 940-479-2439 Phone: 940-479-2439
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