LEMONADE STANDS AREN'T JUST FOR CHILDREN

For the last week of class, we decided to make lemonade and sell it at the Brooklyn Bridge Park.  I really can't say who was more excited - me, Sahara (our assistant), or the kids.  I thought about how it was going to work for weeks before we made the decision.  Yes, the lemons were important, the sweetener was important, but what about all of the other stuff?  How were we going to get everything to the park, what would we put the lemonade in, would it rain, were we going to have enough time to make everything, did we need a permit, would it rain, should we make signs, and WOULD WE HAVE CUSTOMERS????

As a child, I really don't remember ever having a lemonade stand.   Theirs had to be great.


 

We had organic lemons from Whole Foods  and we used Agave syrup as a sweetener, and tasted and tasted, until it was just right.  No need for a recipe.

I searched for the perfect dispenser.  They needed something that they could use
                                                                                           

I tried to print out fancy signs, but in the end (due to my very basic computer skills) it didn't work, so I just used a marker on construction paper "borrowed" from my daughter.  The money was going to be donated for sand in the sandbox located in the Brooklyn Bridge Park, so we added that fact to the signs, decided on a price (50 cents), brought our golden summer juice down to the park and set up shop.

At first, people weren't stopping.  Just smiling and walking by.  After a few minutes of nail-biting and sign moving, people started to buy and the kids really started to sell.  They were announcing to every passerby that they were selling "fresh squeezed lemonade" and that they were using the money to buy sand.  It was so exciting for them (and me and Sahara).  They even got some donations.  The weather was great and we SOLD OUT! 

Every summer, my daughter asks to sell lemonade and for some reason, it never works out.  This year she ended up going with a neighbor and his grandfather.  When I told her my class was holding one (while she was in school, no less), you can only imagine the response.... (Shame on me!)  I promised to do it again.  And now that I know what it's like, I will.

Bottom line - if you get the chance to have a lemonade stand, go for it and don't sweat the small stuff.  Its more fun than you can imagine.

Romy