Making summer fun to teach your kids life lessons

Make your lemonade stand STAND OUT

[July 15, 2013]  (BPT) -- Ah, the hot days of summer when a neighborhood lemonade stand is the perfect place to buy -- or sell -- a cold, refreshing drink. While a lemonade stand is a classic summer activity for kids and their parents, it's also a great way to help teach children about earning money, building community and expressing creativity.

To set a lemonade stand apart and attract neighborhood attention, kids can have the opportunity to show off their personalities and have fun personalizing their "business." One example is to offer a sweet and creamy beverage just for adults to enjoy, like International Delight Iced Coffee. After all, they deserve a summer treat too.

Lifestyle blogger, Kim Stoegbauer of The TomKat Studio, has teamed with International Delight to create a simple guide parents can download to help their kids punch up their lemonade stands. It includes tips and free printables - even a drink calculator to help determine how many drinks you should make for the number of people you expect. Find it at http://www.internationaldelight.com/summer. Parents can also try these five creative tips to make their booth stand out above the rest.

1. Donate: Donate the proceeds to a local cause. Or encourage people to pay it forward and buy a cup for a fellow neighbor, the local postal worker or dog walker. Advertise this on the booth using large signs and have brochures about the local cause available to hand out to customers.

2. Just add iced coffee: Expand the offerings to include other beverages like refreshing iced coffee to appeal to parents. International Delight Iced Coffee offers a variety of authentic coffeehouse flavors and light options for an ice cold pick-me-up that suits every taste. The multi-serve half gallon is a great starter size for a lemonade booth. Of course, the iced coffee is just for the adults, and not for the kids, so make sure nobody sneaks a sip. Take a photo of your stand-out lemonade stand and post it on social channels, such as Instagram or Twitter, with the tag @indelight #IcedCoffeeLove.

3. Promote: Build a marketing campaign for the booth, a great way to meet the neighbors. Your children can create signs to advertise the booth at corners around the neighborhood, directing traffic to the stand. Tell your friends on your private Facebook page or through a text message or email.

4. Timing is everything: Encourage kids to research events coming up that would have good foot traffic moving past their lemonade stand. For example fairs, baseball games, street festivals and outdoor concerts are great options for good sales.

5. Incentivize: Create incentive programs to keep children interested in their business throughout the summer. If they choose to donate the earnings, plan a special trip to the organization to drop off the check. Or if they are saving up to purchase something special, establish a "Money Earned" chart showing how close they are to their goal.

In addition to raising funds, lemonade stands are great for social gatherings in a neighborhood. You can visit with your neighbors over a tasty beverage and your young entrepreneurs will learn valuable lessons from this summer's lemonade stand experience to last a lifetime.

[Brandpoint]