Get Your Lemonade, Here!

Nothing makes me more delighted than running into a lemonade stand run by young kids on a warm day. It’s funny how you inherently trust random kids but would never dream of stopping at a makeshift lemonade stand run by random middle aged people. I might stop if they looked over 90. How many bad eggs make it to 90? Today’s tip is a delicious and easy lemonade recipe plus we offer some personality tips on helping kids run a stand.

If you’re a Classic, a Fun or a Smart Structure and your kid wants to do a lemonade stand to make money? Nine times out of ten, your instinct is to use this lemonade stand as an educational tool. You are going to help them figure out the cost of the goods so that they can learn about pricing to maximize revenue and profits. And this is a brilliant idea, but maybe not every time. You CAN actually suck the fun out of childhood with too much practicality. One day reality will hit them like a ton of bricks whether they’ve had this lesson 10 times or just once or twice. Lighten up a little and do the economics 101 exercise perhaps five times out of ten instead of nine — or just don’t charge actual market rates for lemons. It’s the same reasoning behind not tagging a 5 year old kid out — it isn’t the Majors, yet.

Now, let’s say you’re an Organic or a Smart Freedom. Nine times out of ten, your instinct is going to be to let them have fun and NOT use the lemonade stand as an economics lesson — they’re only kids once, right? But, here’s where it might make sense to go against type and perhaps just once or twice introduce the idea of profit versus revenue: It’s how the world actually works and when reality hits them like a ton of bricks one day, they will not be completely blindsided by it. 

The recipe below is from America’s Test Kitchen Family cookbook. I feature them because they have the best recipes and tips. My only tweak is to mash the sugar & lemons in the pitcher. Also, I thought it a tad on the sweet side. We all agreed that it was superior to Country Time Lemonade purely because there was lemon pulp in it. Otherwise, you can’t beat Country Time in a pinch. I can’t tell you how often I’ve served it and had someone ask for my “recipe.”

Fresh Lemonade
by America’s Test Kitchen

  • 1 Lemon, sliced thin, ends discarded
  • 1 1/2 Cups of sugar
  • 7 cups of cold water
  • 2 cups fresh lemon juice (12 lemons)
  • Ice (for serving)

Mash the lemon slices and sugar in a large non-reactive pot or deep bowl [personally I’d just do it IN the pitcher] until the slices release their juice and the sugar beings to dissolve. Stir in the water and lemon juice until the sugar is completely dissolved. Pour over ice before serving. 

For Berry Lemonade, mash in 2 cups of fresh or frozen berries along with the lemons slices and sugar.

The mashing of the lemons releases essential oils and is what makes this recipe the bomb.