Lemonade stands are a quintessential summer experience – an experience for kids that is not only fun but can teach them valuable life skills and give them their first taste at entrepreneurship. This week my family partnered with Sunlight® dish detergent to set up and run a “Lemon Aid by Sunlight®” stand to collect money for charity. What better partner for a lemonade stand than Sunlight® with it’s fresh lemony scent?

We chose to collect money for McMaster Children’s Hospital, which is the hospital both girls were born at, and the very same hospital where Keira was cared for after being born 11 weeks premature. The staff in the NICU worked hard to save her life so the least we could do was try to raise some money to help them continue to save the lives of children.

When the lemonade stand arrived my girls could not wait to help set it up and get going with their stand. Their enthusiasm and excitement for the project was definitely contagious!

Their moment finally came. The night before we assembled the stand and I got out some sidewalk chalk to write “50¢ ” on the front while the girls coloured in some signs advertising their stand. I also whipped up a batch of homemade bubble solution using Sunlight® dish detergent for them to play with between customers. See below for the recipe!

In the morning we mixed together a few pitchers of lemonade from scratch together and setup out front of the house with our supplies and a bowl of fresh lemons. Then I stood back to let them sell their lemonade.

They weren’t very good marketers at first, and opted to blow bubbles while they waited for their first customer but soon were shouting “Lemonade for sale!” It wasn’t long before they had sold their first cup of lemonade and were on their way to raising some cash for McMaster.

The highlight of the day for the girls was when my Auntie and parents surprised them with a visit to their lemonade stand to buy a couple cups each to support the venture.

After a long hot day of selling lemonade, blowing bubbles, and having loads of fun, it was time to clean up. Thankfully Sunlight® Lemon Fresh dish soap is not only ideal for making homemade bubbles with your kids, it also provides for easy clean-up after family activities like all the sticky spills we cleaned off the lemonade stand.

Sunlight® is actually inspired by the natural cleaning power of lemons and includes real Lemon Essence in every bottle. A perfect fit for our lemonade stand. It’s a trusted brand that radiates a lemon fresh scent and leaves dishes (and lemon stands) sparkling clean.

7 Things Kids Can Learn From Running a Lemonade Stand

.So what did the girls learn from running their lemonade stand?

1. The Value of Money.

Make your child(ren) responsible for the money that comes in and out. If your kids are old enough to have some savings, have them use their own money to purchase supplies. Help them find ways to cut expenses from supplies to advertising and show them that the less money they spend the more income they keep. You will be teaching them financial smarts that will last a life time.

2. Accountability

Children will discover that they must stay with the stand instead of running off to play in order to make money.

3. Work Ethic They will discover that the success of their lemonade stand depends on their own hard work which should motivate them to work harder. Work isnt always fun 4. Social Skills

Your child will learn that they must be outgoing and friendly in order to attract customers. they can learn how to ask questions and start conversations.

5. Patience

As with any business, there are busy times and slow times with a lemonade stand. Slow times may not be fun but they are a perfect chance for children to learn patience as the stand in the hot sun.

6. Generosity

Have your children set aside some or all of their income to give to their favourite charity to teach them what giving back really means. They will also learn the power of generosity and how good it feels to give to others in need.

7. Basic Math Skills

Allow your children to handle the money from accepting payment to giving back cash. It’s a great way to reinforce basic math skills with a real life example of how important math can be.

Homemade Bubble Recipe

Materials:

1 Cup Water

2 Tbsp Sunlight Lemon Fresh dish soap

1 Tbsp Glycerin

Directions:

Gently mix all the ingredients together.

Let the mixture sit for 24 hours in an air-tight container.

Use pipe cleaners as bubble wands and let the air do its magic trick!

Capture the moment and share using #LemonAidbySunlight

Where to find it:

You can find Sunlight® dish products such as Sunlight Lemon Fresh and Sunlight Ultra Lemon OXI and Sunlight dishwasher detergents in Canadian grocery stores, as well as mass, club and drug retailers.

Win it:

One Canadian Frugal Mom Eh reader will win their own Lemon Aid by Sunlight stand. Giveaway is open to residents of Canada 18+ and closes for entry on August 20th at 11;59 pm EST. See giveaway tools form for entry and t&c.

Disclosure: This post has been sponsored by Henkel Canada. All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.