Lemonade stand to buy video games?
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Anonymous
| My 11 year old son desperately wants a video game system that is out of our budget. We told him we would pay half for his upcoming 12th birthday. He has been saving his allowance, but he is still a long way off. He came up with the idea of doing a lemonade stand or a bake sale to earn some extra money, is that tacky? I thought about suggesting he try to do some yard work for neighbors, but quite frankly he is pretty small and not athletic, and just about everyone in our neighborhood uses private gardeners. He isn’t very comfortable being responsible for little kids so I don’t think a mothers helper would be a good idea either. He does love to cook and bake though. I have seen lemonade stands in our area, but I sort of always assumed it was raising money for charity. If you were the type to buy lemonade or cookies from a kid on a street corner, do you care if it’s for charity or his own video games?? Open to other ideas for him to make money that don’t involve us paying him for chores around the house - if we could afford that, we would just lend him the money outright! |
Anonymous
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Personally I'm more inclined to buy when a% goes to charity.
Especially if it's a specific percentage and the kids can tell me how they calculate it. One impressive kid explained her detailed formula for calculating profit over expenses. She had to use her allowance money to buy the lemons and sugar and knew exactly how much she had to sell to break even and then something like half of profits would go to a refugee organization. |
Anonymous
| It's not tacky and not restricted to charity, but very few people want to buy lemonade on the street. Can he check on pets and plants while people are away? |
Anonymous
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While I think it’s great for kids (or anyone) to raise money for charity (via lemonade stands or otherwise), I don’t think they are under any obligation to do so.
I don’t associate lemonade stands with charity, but I do associate them with kids. If I buy lemonade from a child, I’m doing it to support the child, which I believe is a worthy cause in itself. I think it’s probably a lot of work for relatively little reward, but can teach them a lot about juggling costs, gross vs. net income, market demand, etc. I want a child to feel their efforts or rewarded. Basically, a lemonade stand, is an introduction to capitalism, which is all about the individual benefiting from their efforts. Of course, he shouldn’t misrepresent himself as raising money for a charity. Also, I think he should set prices, rather than using the pricing strategies I’ve seen in recent years asking people to pay/contribute as they want. Personally, I resent it when charities do this, it’s a manipulative guilt trip. I wind up paying ridiculous amounts for something and still feel guilty about it. If an individual was doing this, it would be even more discouraging. I say if he earns the money he should be able to spend it on whatever he wants, including a video game. |
Anonymous
| I do think a lemonade stand would be more popular in the summer. It’s too cold for people to want lemonade now, and there’s mush less foot traffic to attract customers when everyone wants to be cozy indoors. |
Anonymous
| If you live in an area with plenty of foot traffic, a hot chocolate stand might work. We live in a neighborhood with lots of people walking to the Metro, farmers market on weekends, etc., and hot chocolate would be a much better option this time of year. |
Anonymous
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I'd support him. Requiring the proceeds of lemonade stands and such to go to charity is very class-biased.
But as a parent, you can also encourage him to take on additional responsibilities around the house for income. To get a new phone, my daughter now folds all the laundry in the house. We hated doing it, so there's a real monetary value to it in our minds, so it's not charity/gifts disguised as a chore. |
Anonymous
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It isn't realistic to expect him to raise enough money for a video game system.
Have you checked out buying a used system or older version? Aim for that. Older xbox or playstation. Perhaps suggest cutting streaming services for a bit to save money towards the system. If you can't afford the system, you'll have issues also paying for the games. |
Anonymous
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One thing my kids did to raise money was sell their old bikes/toys. If he has things around that are still in good shape (and no younger siblings to stake claim) you could try that. I had my kids research going prices on Craigs List and eBay for some collectible stuff, then clean and take pictures of what they wanted to sell. I had to talk them down on prices- they were initially extremely optimistic.
Obviously, I did the actual posting and any interactions with potential buyers. |
Anonymous
Perhaps it's different elswhere, but kids at the last lemonade stand I saw in our suburban neighborhood sold a ton. |
Anonymous
| How much more does he need to raise? I agree that selling old toys might be a better bet but that depends on what you need and what you have to sell. |
Anonymous
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Are you in Florida or something? Hot cocoa might be a better idea than lemonade in January.
DD13 and her friend made something ridiculous like $80 last summer with a lemonade stand. |
Anonymous
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I hate lemonade stands. And at $1 cup, how much will kid make?
Just buy it |
Anonymous
| I live in an area where kids do lemonade stands all the time and I’ve never been aware that they are raising money for charity. I mean they don’t generate a whole lot either, I always just thought it was a fun thing to do on a hot afternoon. I see no problem in letting him try this to raise money toward his goal, personally I’d never ask a kid if there was a charitable org receiving the money |
Anonymous
Lol there is no detailed formula for calculating profit for a lemonade stand. How much money she make minus how much it costs to make the lemonade. |