budding entrepreneurs

Now that life is beginning to look like the chaotic-normal that usually defines us - and now that my craft pantry is getting restocked - the girls and I were up for a fun project!

While we were in the States, Emma and Samantha badly wanted to open a lemonade stand. I nixed the idea, feeling sure that somehow the FDA would come and find us and shut down our little shack for not getting some sort of approval. I told them to wait until after we moved, and we'd see what we could do.

Turns out, our new apartment complex is PERFECT for a lemonade stand! Plus, living here, everyone is super interested in whatever it is you might be doing. [And, no one is the least bit concerned about food safety. =) ]

A few weeks ago, we were reading the book Night of the Moonjellies during our morning Five-in-a-Row time. I loved this book because it had incredible illustrations, and the book followed a 7-year-old boy who had lots of responsibilities at his family's seaside diner. It was a great springboard to discussing responsibility and hard work, and watching how a young child's contribution can really help a family!

Anyway...in the book, the seaside diner is named after two sisters, Mary and Grace - hence the name Mar-Gra's. The girls then decided that if they ever opened a lemonade stand, they'd try to combine their names like this book.

The wheels in my brain started spinning and I decided we would do that long-anticipated lemonade stand that week! I first got permission for our management office (not that we'd be raking in the dough or anything, but still...) and they were fine with it it.

I put my girls to work on making a sign for their lemonade stand while I made a batch of muffins to sell along with our lemonade. [Let the reader be aware: I have never made homemade lemonade. We made Kool-aid for this initial venture. Read on to find out how the Kool-aid fared!]

Sam-Em's Lemonade Stand was the final (English) name:
Once the muffins were made and the sign was completed, we just had to wait for Saturday morning nap time to roll around. The girls were nearly jumping out of their skin. They both kept wondering why it was taking so long for Saturday to come!

But finally, the day rolled around and we carted all our stuff downstairs and found a nice place to set up. I tried to prepare the girls that as "owners" of their store, they'd have to be friendly and encourage people to try their stuff. They also were responsible for making change, keeping the table full of snacks and drinks, and clean up.

Business was a little slow at first; lots of people milling around, wanting to see what was going on, but no one willing to buy anything yet. [The muffins and Kool-aid were sold for 1 local dollar, about 15 cents each.]
Finally, one mama took pity on my girls and bought a muffin for her daughter.
We all hoped she would like it, since she ate it in front of the rest of the crowd!
During a particularly slow time, the girls were feeling a little discouraged and decided to dip into the muffins themselves. Hmmm....
After a while, business started to pick up. Once we started touting the health benefits of our Carrot Raisin Muffins (never mind those 2 cups of sugar...) people were more interested! Haha, Just kidding!

While the muffins were going fast, no one seemed interested in buying Koolaid. (Do you think it was disingenuous of me to call it fruit juice?!) We eventually started a little huodong, or a "promotion". If you buy two muffins, you get a free cup of "fruit juice". The girls were confused as to why I'd be giving stuff away at their lemonade stand, but I told them to trust me. I could tell we were going to end up with a pitcher of Kool-aid to take home if we didn't do something fast!

Several of the grandmothers in the complex bought three muffins each. Bless them.
Every time I see this group of ladies, I can't help but think of my Nana. They walk around the complex together, wave to my kids, sit and chat in the shady spots, and just look like fun people. Nana, I wish you could trade spots with them and it was YOU sitting in the gardens of my apartment!
Overall, the lemonade stand was a huge hit.

We met tons of our neighbors and had a comfortable way to talk with them.

The girls really put into practice making change - honestly, simple addition and subtraction was super easy for Emma, but down there when the rubber met the road, the pressure was on!

Western food is very intriguing to locals, so the chance to buy something for 15 cents was something everyone was interested in.

Everyone asks us now when the Lemonade Stand is coming back, so I guess we'll be doing it again soon! I'm thinking next time will be Chocolate Cake Muffins - and I'll be the one sneaking bites in the slow moments...