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Kids’ lemonade: Get it while it’s hot
Bruce adopted my rule a few years ago: If a kid’s selling something, we’re buying it. Just on principle. We want to encourage and support kids who are willing to work to earn money.
We’re especially impressed by original ventures. I’m a sucker for bundled-up kids shivering in front of Raley’s or Safeway where they offer mistletoe packaged in Baggies tied with curling ribbon.
But nothing quite gets me as much as kids selling lemonade in Redding when it’s a triple-digit day. Maybe it reminds me of when my sisters and I sold lemonade to Judge Eaton in front of the Shasta County Courthouse. Actually, it was lemon Kool-Aid. Unsweetened. We missed that part of the directions that called for sugar.
Saturday as Bruce and I headed up the hill for home we found a lemonade stand off Placer Road. The sign-holder was a blond boy standing in full sun on the corner. He jumped and jiggled a large poster-board sign toward motorists. The sign said “Lemonade 50¢.” An arrow pointed to a neighborhood.
We passed the boy just about the time we saw his sign. I asked Bruce to turn the car around. He did. We followed the arrow to another lemonade sign. We pulled up in front of a house where two boys - older than the one on Placer Road - manned the lemonade stand. At first, one of the boys was on his back on the grass under a tree. He hopped up when he saw he had customers.
“We’re all out of regular lemonade,” said one boy. “All we have is raspberry.”
Raspberry lemonade. OK, sure.
We bought two Styrofoam cups. The boys thanked us. We thanked them and drove home.
The lemonade was pretty awful: warm, diluted and fairly sour.
But the memory of those three boys — red-faced and sweaty, working outside in the Redding heat to earn some money — that was sweet.
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That’s a great story!~ I can imagine you and your sister selling lemonade to Judge Eaton, and can almost see how his lips must of puckered up at the first taste of the sugarless cool aid. I bet those boys were happy that you stopped and gave ‘em a chance to sell you their lemonade. Even though it was not that great - I guess it’s not the flavor that matters. This story represents a reminder to open our lives and hearts and share with our friends and neighbors. That’s always a wonderful thing to remember…. thanks, Doni!
Delightful story. I also cannot pass up any youthful businessperson. All those years of teaching school makes me a sucker for every lemonade stand, purveyor of fine chocolate, car wash, etc. It is more than worth the investment. Thanks, Doni, for bringing smiles and memories when I read this great piece.
Ditto! Seeing a lemonade stand manned by kids is a delightful scene, maybe because it takes us back to a simpler, safer world. That’s what it does for me anyway. One of my greatest memories is when my girls had their “home business” set up in the front yard, and they would yell to passers by, “Hot chocolate, cookies, and paper weights!” (They had painted rocks) That unlikely combination of items still brings a smile to my face.
This reminds me of another great lemonade stand story.
My beau’s father is a well off, self made man. He lives in Simi Valley. We were down there for a visit and Rob was driving around town with his dad in the new Viper. They saw a lemonade stand that was selling the refreshing drinks for either a church or school function - I can’t remember which. Anyhow, the boys stopped and Rob’s dad paid $100 for 2 glasses of lemonade and told him to “keep the change”. As the story goes, the kid was so excited that he went running and yelling to tell everyone about his big sale “from that guy in the cool car”.
While I can’t be nearly as generous, I do try to stop for kids selling lemonade. I remember having a little stand set up on the river trail when I was a kid. I grew up near there. I think we only ever made $10, but having a lemonade stand is just part of being a kid!
….and the Helms Bakery truck always stopped and gave us a box of cookies to give out with the lemonade …. (Southern California)
I agree with buying anything that kids are selling. Just seeing their faces when you give them extra money and telling them to keep the change makes me feel very rich.
Does anyone else get upset when the schools send kids around to sell candy bars and magazines and such? I remember being in grade school and having to do that. I hated knocking on people’s doors and giving them my little sales pitch. Of course, it was always for a good cause, but I swear they were trying to turn us into little Amway people!
I’ll buy a candy bar from a kid if he comes to my door, but not a magazine. I have enough of those already. I much prefer to see the little lemonade stands and such. You know… kids doing things on their own for a little extra money so they can go to the movies, etc.
I wish we had kids on my street who were old enough to mow lawns. I’d dish out 5 bucks for my little yard. I used to mow lawns when I was a kid. 50cents to mow and 50 cents to edge. I was cheap labor! That was only 17 years ago (or so). You know… back when you could catch a matinee for $3 or it was only a buck to see a movie at the Cascade. It’s amazing how old you feel somtimes, even if you’re only 31!
Our three kids mowed lawns, raked leaves, baby-sat and watched houses when the home owners were away. Now-a-days, I cannot find a kid who is even around to do these things. Oh, I forgot, our daughter also took in ironing for a Dr. and his wife. All three have good work ethics and have never been jobless since they left college life.