One of E's great dreams is to have a lemonade stand. She and M did it once--with a babysitter, of course--right after Katrina, and, as I recall, they raised $9 for Katrina victims. She's been asking to do it ever since (yes, that long), and it's not that I've been resisting (really), but there's always been some obstacle (like, we've had no lemons, or some such).
Today E's friend C came over after school, and they were poking around, eating snack and not doing much, in that slightly bored, slightly anxious way of the first play date with someone you play with constantly at school, but have never had over to your house, and all of a sudden E asked if they could have a cookie stand. She had made chocolate chip cookies last night with S, which meant there were no lemons to worry about, so I said sure.
They brought down the table, made the sign, set up the cookies on a plate, decided to include the brownies M had made last week (still good! our brownie recipe lasts a long time), and opened for business. They spent a lot of time practicing hawking their wares to passersby, and they lost a potential first customer to shyness, but then they got going, and if they'd had a cash register, it would have gone kaching! kaching! kaching!
I'm guessing it was partly because they were so cute, and partly because it was a beautiful day, and partly because a cookie stand is so unusual, but just about everyone who passed by bought a cookie, one woman bought four, and one man driving down the street even pulled his car up to see what they were selling and bought a brownie.
The most amazing thing was that just about everyone overpaid. They'd wanted to sell the cookies for fifty cents, but that seemed a bit much to me, so I suggested a quarter. Then almost everyone insisted on paying a dollar, even when they had change. They made six dollars and twenty-five cents: each girl took three dollars, and they gave the quarter to C's little brother.
No moral here, just a cute story of dreams coming true.
5 comments:
when Nick and his buddies do a lemonade stand (once or twice a year) they always make way more than they charge. Folks like cute kids out selling homemade stuff, I guess, and a dollar isn't a lot of money to spend on a cookie and a smile. They'd be way more in a chi-chi bakery or coffee shop, and you wouldn't have the cuteness factor.
My daughter and her dad once set up a "free lemonade" stand, and probably made more money than they would have had they charged. The cuteness, I guess, must be rewarded. (BTW, I've been reading your blog lurker-style for a long time now, having followed a link from Phantom's. I guess this is what they call de-lurking. Love your pov on things.) --Margi
The Bee came home last week and told me that she and her friends were going to sell cupcakes at a stand, and send the money to the SPCA. That plan hasn't materialized yet, but it does seem to be a common (and cute!) dream of childhood, even now.
Oh, I love the "quarter to C's little brother." What a lovely little story.
Nice blog thanks for postinng
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