We believe that volunteering as a family and giving back to our community is a great way to build character in kids and become closer as a family. Focusing on others is a great way to teach compassion and teamwork and develops valuable life skills and the opportunity to make new friends.
Summer is a great time to get kids involved in volunteering and giving back since they are involved in fewer activities than during the school year, and we’ve come up with a meaningful summer bucket list idea. We’ve partnered with Sunlight dish detergent to create a Lemon Aid by Sunlight stand. For decades, Sunlight dish soap has been a household favorite among Canadians, and it’s ideal for clean-up duty for many family activities, including lemonade stands!
A MEANINGFUL SUMMER BUCKET LIST IDEA
Since the weather has been over 30 degrees Celsius the last couple of weeks, we thought that hosting a lemonade stand on one of the hottest weekends would be a great way for people to cool off and for us to raise some money for charity.
The first step to getting kids involved is to choose a local charity that has a special meaning to you as a family.
The charity we chose was the Steinbach Family Resource Centre. The Steinbach Family Resource Centre is a local charity that provides resources and help for families. Their goal is to help families find support and meaningful connections in the community.
The Steinbach Family Resource Centre has been a lifeline for many new residents and new families in our community. Not only does the center offer services such as nutrition guidance and parenting resources, they offer great programs such as drop-in play programs for parents with children of all ages, as well as support groups for pregnant moms and new dads.
Our kids were excited to set up the lemonade stand and work together to bring awareness to this great charity. (We used an adorable lemonade stand, but a simple table works great if you don’t have a designated lemonade stand.)
The kids enjoyed the afternoon selling lemonade and blowing bubbles with cute lemon & lime bubble blowers made from pipe cleaners. We used the following bubble recipe using Sunlight dish soap – perfect for making homemade bubbles!
BUBBLE RECIPE
- 1 cup of water
- 2 tbsp. Sunlight Lemon Fresh dish soap
- 1 tbsp. glycerin
The kids were excited to raise $46.70 for their charity and are talking about running another lemonade stand soon! We love Sunlight’s fresh lemon scent (it includes real lemon essence) and it made cleaning up the sticky dishes afterward a breeze.
GIVEAWAY MOMENT:
1 lucky CANADIAN Mommy Moment reader will WIN a Lemon Aid by Sunlight Stand!
**prize may not be exactly as shown**
To enter, leave a blog post comment telling us which charity you would like to support.
This post was brought to you by Henkel Canada. All opinions are my own.
Stacie @ Divine Lifestyle says
That is such a great idea! I love the idea of making summer fun and meaningful for the kids. It’s always great to keep their lives enriched over the summer.
Ruth I. says
It is important to teach kids about things like that, they can learn so much by being a volunteer and knowing that they are helping others. Also, it is good that they are having fun while doing it.
Dogvills says
It’s important to let the kids get involved in meaningful events like this. What a fun way to help others.
Tatanisha Worthey says
That is a great list! The kids will love it!
jessica s says
We’d support the humane society! We adopted two cats in January and it was hard to leave all the others. Thanks for the giveaway.
ricci says
This sounds like a sun time and something your kids will one day appreciate!! Great post!!
Mimi Green says
This is such a great idea. Lemonade stands are always a hit. Teaching our kids to give back is so important.
Carole D says
That is awesome that the children get involve in a fund raiser. I would support the Ronald McDonald house. They support so many family all through funding.
Carol Cassara says
What a great way to teach kids about charity and giving back. I think this is amazing! I love it and it’s something that parents should consider.
uprunforlife says
I love that your kids were able to raise money to help others. Ive tried to teach my own kids to help others as well and to give back to others.
Sundaes & Flip Flops says
I love that the kids were involved in this too. It’s great to start philanthropy at an early age.
liz Cleland says
My son loves running a lemonade stand/ Last year he used some of his earnings to buy himself a pair of sneakers. then donated the rest!
Jeannie Lam says
This is so amazing! We would support the Covenant house and help out the families in need.
Linda says
I would like to support the Salvation Army. There are many branches where I live.
Victoria Heckstall says
What a fun and brilliant idea. I’n sure your kids have fun. They will learn early about helping other families as well by this way.
Pam says
I would support Nutrition for Learning. so important that ALL students start the day with food in their belly.
Holly MacRitchie says
My daughter would love to support the local animal shelter.
tammy ta says
I would like to support the Jump Start for kids program.
Andie says
Water for Life – drilling wells for people Living with unclean or no water.
Jonnie says
I would love to support the Stollery Children’s Hospital
Amy Heffernan says
I would support and I know my son would to the Courtney Lake Foundation here right now. Its a girl that went missing.
Janine a says
I would like pick the Canadian food grains bank because they give food to people who need it and my grandpa walked across Canada to raise money and awareness to their cause so it is dear to our family. The government also matches funds 4-1
Tainan Lu says
I would support local food bank
Meekyung says
I would like to support the Canadian Cancer Society
Barb W says
We would support our local animal shelter!
Calvin F. says
The local animal shelter
Krista M says
I would support our local Society for Treatment of Autism as my charity of choice!
ivy pluchinsky says
We would support the Ronald McDonald house
Stephanie says
I would like to support the Salvation Army!
Maryanne says
We would support Variety Club!
Morgan Stewart says
I would like to support our local Humane Society!
adriana says
This is amazing! I love this concept and idea – and it turned out great. Supporting any charity is a win in my book for SURE! I love it and it’s great to teach them at a young age!
nicky says
We’d like to support a children’s charity, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Lisa Bolduc says
there is a pug rescue in the area…. or maybe a charity involving down syndrom. my nephews has downs and I like donating to them
HEIDI C. says
The local SPCA would definitely be a worthy cause.
DebP says
I support Helping Hands, a local charity which reaches a lot of people.
Dianne G. says
We would support the local children’s hospital with the lemonade stand.
Victoria Ess says
I’d support Assaulted Women’s Helpline !
thomas rusinak says
The stand is a great teaching tool!
Marlene V says
I would love to support our SPCA
michelle tremblett says
Awe this is amazing! We would love to support the Ronald Mcdonald house 🙂
wobbles13 says
we would support sick kids
Linda Svarovsky says
A greatbay to teach kids to give back
Charity says
The charity we’d choose to support would be Sea Shepherd.
Amy C says
I would support the neighbor’s kid 2 doors down. She has brittle bones disease and needs to go a long distance away for her treatments. It costs a lot and they are always looking for donations.
Rosa Cross says
I would support the Tancook Island Recreation Centre.
sarah says
I have an old friend whose baby is fighting cancer right now so I would donate to a charity directly related to helping families affected by cancer.
michelle matta says
selfishly i would choose Cystic Fibrosis and/or Transplant research (I have both) but there are lots that mean something to me that id love to support
Karine says
I would like to support the SPCA !
Janet M says
We would use it for Parkinson research.
Sharron says
Children’s hospital
Julie F says
I would support the MS society of Canada as so many members of my family have been affected by this disease!
Jaclyn Mercer says
I would support the local Humane Society.
Caryn Coates says
I would like to support the Canadian Cancer Society
Nicole Jubleew says
We would love to raise money for Kids Help Phone.
lori butler says
my local food bank
Doris Humber says
I would like to support the Prostate Cancer charity.
Sarah N. says
I’d support our local community cupboard.
Wanda B says
I would love to support Siloam Mission.
Aimee says
Ronald McDonald house
Sarah alexis says
I would love to support our local women’s shelters.
Lacey willson says
SPCA is my charity of choice
Jenny Major says
This is such a great idea. Lemonade stands are always a hit.
Kelley Moore says
I would give to a cat rescue group that I am involved with
Betty S says
I would like to support the Down Syndrome association
Nena Sinclair says
What a awesome thing for you and your kids to do! Kudos! I like to support our local food bank, children’s hospital charities and animal charities.
Amanda Smith says
I would donate to The Brain Tumour Research Fund at McMaster, for my son 🙂
Erica Seaman says
We are faithful sponsors of our local SPCA, they can use all the help they can get.
Tasha F says
What a great way to teach kids to give back to their communities. I would choose to donate to our local food bank as many families rely on it to feed their families.
Stephen Bobula says
I would support the humane society for sure
Gemma says
I would support our local children’s hospital.