Kids' Market

Each year our elementary school (Meriwether Lewis Elementary) holds a Kids' Market where the children come to sell things that they have made. The first year we did this, Caleb was in the 1st grade and the only Harris boy in school.  He was totally into paper airplanes at the time, so he made a few for an example and then took blank unfolded paper to offer up his folding skills for $.25/plane.  The next year both Caleb and Liam were at Meriwether - in 2nd and kindergarten - and we decided to give cinnamon rolls a try.  In order to make it a legitimate kids' market item, I make the dough before they get home from school and they help roll out the dough, make the filling, and frost them. The two trays of cinnamon rolls we brought that year were sold for $1.50 each and were gone within the first hour.  After that we decided two things:  1) we were not charging enough, and 2) we needed to make more.

So in the ensuing six years the Harris boys have sold homemade cinnamon rolls (most people from the South call them cinnamon buns) and started charging $2.50 each.  Yet, despite increasing the number of pans from two to four we are still selling out before the night is over.  We have many repeat visitors, mostly teachers and staff, who are giddy when we arrive and request them to be wrapped up for the next morning. Then there are the kids who pull money out of their own little wallets to enjoy them right then and there.  One little boy this year was pulling money out of his velcro camouflaged wallet and picked one that was nearly as big as his face.

I'm embarrassed to say how much they made this year, but being that they only had to split the earnings two ways for the first time (since Liam has moved on to middle school), it was quite the haul.

Here is the boy with his velcro wallet.  His sister was the first to buy one, then his mom, and then he made his way over!