How I love to find my kids...

 

Trevor's birthday--flashback to October

My little Trevor is now 4! In a rarity for me, I knew months in advance what I was going to get him for his birthday: a play kitchen. Every since he could move he has been drawn to play kitchens--at the midwifes, at nursery, at friend's houses...but we haven't ever had the space for one. The first time we looked at this house I had the perfect place picked out for his very own little kitchen.

As soon as we got here I started looking for a wooden kitchen--I didn't want one of the plastic ones--and sure enough, found one for $20!! The older kids helped me pick out paint, and I got some chalkboard and magnetic paint and got to work. The older kids also pooled their money and bought him some really nice wooden play food. And...he absolutely LOVES it!

He has noticed that Ruth also loves to play in his little nook, so will take here there when she is fussing and I need to be doing something other than holding her (alas for Ruthie). One day the kids created "Trevor's Restaurant", complete with a menu, price list, "Trevor Dollars" and a waiter.

Popcorn sales

School for the past week was creating a business plan and carrying it out. Funny how one sentence can sum up a whole week! We decided to make and sell goodies--caramel corn, chocolate-peppermint popcorn and muddy buddies. We got the idea from some friends who did something similar last Christmas, so were able to talk to them about what worked and what didn't, which was really nice.

The kids picked out what to make, how much to sell each bag for ($3) and how to market and package the goods. I told them I would help them in an advisory role, but if they really wanted to make money, they would have to do the bulk of the work on their own. 

I helped them figure out approximate costs and Mason created a spreadsheet (truly his parent's child) to figure out gross & net revenue, tithing, fixed costs, unit cost, etc., based on how much they would make and sell. They pooled their money to purchase ingredients and packaging materials (I chipped in a little bit) and off to the stores we went! They picked out and purchased everything they needed with their own money.

The kids made 3 double batches of muddy buddies (33 bags total), 4 of caramel corn (24 bags) and 4 of chocolate-peppermint popcorn (24 bags). As of right now there are only 2 bags of chocolate-peppermint popcorn left!

They sold some through an ad I put on facebook and a basket at Stephen's office, but mostly they sold door-to-door around town. It wasn't easy work (which I was glad about!), but they stuck with it over two days! After the first day they were pretty depressed because a lot of people weren't home, and some of them (Elise) were frozen (you better believe they bundled up more the next day!). It was not easy selling--it was windy, cold and the wagon kept getting stuck in the snow.

However, when they counted up the money they were re-inspired to go out and sell the following day. They have grossed around $250, and have plans to sell on Christmas Eve since people will be home. They are donating 1/3 of their net revenue to Scott & Marni's adoption fund--they can't wait to give them the money when they are here visiting over New Year's!

We're planning an end-of-project planning session to go over what worked, what didn't and what to change if they do it again.