[Kids' Project] Hosting an At-Home Festival: The Day My Child Earned Money for the First Time

Yesterday, my child and I held a festival at home.

From planning, creating flyers and tickets, decorating the room, purchasing ingredients, and preparing food, to serving the food and running the games on the day of the event, he did it all.

Planning Phase

The idea for this project came to me two weeks ago.

Whenever my son visits a shop, he comes home inspired. He then starts playing shopkeeper, shouting, 'Welcome!'

He has a strong longing to work.

Even in his daily play, he prefers to be on the management side, telling me and his dad, 'Mom and Dad, you do this,' rather than playing himself.

Because of that personality, I thought it would be great for him to have the actual experience of earning money by entertaining people, so I suggested, 'Why don't you try hosting a Kai-chan Festival?'

At first, he looked confused, but when I said, 'You'll serve food to customers and have them play games to make them happy,' his eyes lit up and he immediately replied, 'I'll do it!!'

We immediately started thinking about what the menu and games would be.

【Menu】
Yakisoba 30 yen
Chijimi 50 yen
Rice ball 10 yen
Cucumber 10 yen
Vanilla ice cream 20 yen
Snack set 30 yen
Peach juice 10 yen
Apple juice 10 yen
Beer 10 yen

【Games】
Bowling 10 yen
Pinball 10 yen
Dinosaur battle 10 yen
Frog game 10 yen
Feeding the hamster 10 yen

Preparation Phase

Once the plan was set, we created flyers and tickets.

After posting them at Grandma and Grandpa's house, the initial preparations were complete.

The day before, we started by purchasing ingredients.

My son didn't want to go to the supermarket because there was a show he wanted to watch, but when I told him, 'The preparations for tomorrow's festival start now,' he reluctantly got moving.

When we got back, he started pretending to be a supermarket clerk again, scanning barcodes, handing the groceries to my husband, and having my husband put them in the fridge.

The Day Of (Preparation)

The cooking on the day of the event included:
・Making rice balls
・Making vanilla ice cream

My son was in charge of these two things.

He sprinkled Okinawan rice ball salt onto the freshly cooked rice and mixed it all up with a rice paddle.

While sneaking a few tastes, as is the usual custom.

For the vanilla ice cream, he mixed egg whites in a mixer, added sugar, and kept mixing and mixing. Then, he added the egg yolks and mixed again.

He put that into a container and placed it in the freezer. When I turned around, he was licking the bowl, saying how delicious it was.

I realized my son had only been mixing or eating. Haha.

Next, we turned the room into a festival space.

The Kai-chan Festival begins.

Preparations were complete. At 3:30 PM, the guests arrived.

'Two orders of yakisoba!'
'The rice balls are ready too!'
'Games are 10 yen!'

He called out in a loud voice and worked efficiently.

My son's work ethic was truly wonderful.

The amount he earned for the first time was 820 yen.

I wonder what my son will buy with this money he earned from working.

This morning, when my son woke up, he said, 'Come to think of it, no strangers came to our festival, did they?'

It was a morning where I found myself thinking, 'Next, let's plan to open a stall at the local market!' and came up with a new challenge.