Overcoming the obstacles!

We went and discussed the idea with the person in charge of the tearoom. She (fantastic woman) suggested that we should use the "honour system". Bring the items the kids wanted to sell with a little note on price and a collecting envelope.

We considered that and decided to try it.

We all dashed into town and bought a pretty little basket and a little cardboard gift box to go with it - for $2 :)
Then we marched into bulk barn for almonds and sugar. At home we dragged out an old favorite cookbook and found the recipe for Lebanese spicy nuts. They are incredibly "more-ish"!

I discovered that I was not comfortable with the kids actually handling the caramellizing process and so I found myself stirring a deep pot of hot almonds and sugar for 1/2 hour while they vanished to play! The nerve! They didn't even do more they pay me passing attention as they chased past. Brats!

However, their time came. All the caramelized nuts were poured into a large lump on the trays and they had to come back, scrub up and start seperating them into individual nuts and small bite size clusters. Hot work and they weren't allowed to eat any of them! Revenge can be very sweet! :)

I wandered off and started doing the math and figuring out how much they would have to charge to make a profit. Turned out to be $1 for a 1/4 cup of almonds. That didn't astonish me, since I had been there when they paid for the almonds.

We made up the prettiest little packages. The girls tied bows on each one and curled the ends.

The little basket was shaping up beautifully. It needed a poster to go with it to say what it was, who and how much. We had learned from our studying that an honour system works significantly better if there is a picture of a person on the box somewhere. I guess people think they are being watched in some way and behave better? I don't know - I just know it works.

So, it seemed appropriate to put their photo on the poster. Photo time. One of my daughters has a love affair going with any camera and the other detests being phtogrpahed. She frowns or blinks or grimaces, sometimes she even manages to look ferocious while smiling.

I chased them all over the house looking for "the shot". We tried every conceivable background and posture. Their baby brother was determined to be in the shot too, just to add another level of complication.

We edited and printed the little poster and cannily attached it to the basket. We cut a money slot in the gift box and attached it too. We were ready!

We laid it out for their father to approve.
He walked in, took one look and said there was no way that would work! We had to do something altogether different. No-one would pay that price.

...

coming soon: how the kids found a solution and installed their first vending site!