Easter Egg Hunt Lemonade Stand

If you follow me on social media, the Easter Egg Hunt Lemonade Stand is not going to rock your socks today and you may be wondering why I’d even post it AFTER Easter has come and gone but I’m posting it for a couple of reasons.

• Not everyone is on social media and there might be someone who may have missed it.
• How else can you pin my ROLLING lemonade stand if I don’t post it?
• I needed to get my words out about why I chose to do the Easter Egg Hunt Lemonade Stand in the first place.

You may think it’s obvious that I would be asked to provide the lemonade for the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt and then go overboard with a rolling lemonade- stand- cart- thingy- ma- bob, but there’s a bit more to the story.

Nearly a month ago our neighborhood HOA newsletter went out mentioning the intent to organize a Easter Egg Hunt in one of our pocket parks. The newsletter also mentioned that the HOA board was soliciting volunteers for the social and decorations committee. I am quite positive I’m likely one of only a handful of people who actually read the newsletter, as a follow up email had to go out when no one had signed their children up for the egg hunt. But that’s not what this is about.

Banner: Lillian Hope Designs

I’ve written a book on the importance of getting out into your communities and getting to know your neighbors so it seemed only appropriate that I would volunteer myself to this worthwhile cause right in my own neighborhood.

The email exchange went a little something like this:

Me: Hi, I noticed you were looking for volunteers for the social & decorations committee and wanted to let you know I was available.  (you all know that I seriously don’t have time for this, but hey, I’m a giver).

HOA: Thank you for volunteering. We are currently still in the process of recruiting for that committee and will be in touch.

Me: (Shakes head, recognizes that our HOA president clearly does not read my blog, and goes about my day). How do you respond to that? Ok, thanks! Pick me! Check out my porch, you know I’m down to head up the decorations committee! I mean, how exactly DO you respond to that?

A couple of weeks later……

HOA: Following up on your gracious offer to serve on the social committee, wanted to see if you are available and interested in providing lemonade for the Easter Egg Hunt?

Me: Of course! I’ll bring my lemonade stand. See you there. (I make no mention of exactly what my lemonade stand entails)

Now, I’m not an expert on how Homeowner’s Associations work but I do provide countless volunteer hours elsewhere in our community and I can assure of this; you should never, ever turn away the time and talent of someone willing to volunteer for your cause.

And you should definitely not use the words “recruiting” and “selecting” for a small neighborhood containing no more than 80 homes.

Rather than getting my feelings hurt over the fact that my good intent of helping out with the social committee was placed on the back burner I instead chose to approach this endeavor as a bit of an audition and prove myself to our HOA board that when given the simple task of whipping up some lemonade, I could not only accept the responsibility…..but I would knock their socks off in the process. I chose to also use this scenario as my coping mechanism on how I deal with rejection.

My logic was this: I see your lemonade and I raise you a rolling lemonade stand complete with monogram buckets, individually wrapped carrot cookies and your choice of either pink or traditional lemonade.

I think I made my point.

More importantly, though, I knew that my Easter Egg Hunt Lemonade Stand would provide the cutest backdrop for the kids participating in the egg hunt and at the end of the day, it’s not about neighborhood politics, it’s truly about the children searching for the prize eggs.

Of which, there were none. Sigh.

Did you have a Happy Easter?

The rolling Easter Egg Hunt Lemonade Stand was a HUGE hit and I’m already planning on how I’ll roll it over to a neighbor’s house for Cinco de Mayo….aka the rolling Margarita Stand. The wheels that my father in law installed have brakes, so when I get to my destination, I just flip down the brakes and my stand stays put. It’s absolutely brilliant.

Just envision me standing next to it with a sombrero. Ole!