A 14-year-old from Minnesota earned enough money by baking and selling cupcakes to take his family on vacation to Disney World, according to reports.
Isaiah Tuckett always wanted to visit Disney World, but the trip always ended up being too expensive for the family. Undeterred, Tuckett decided to take matters into his own hands and raise enough funds to take his family to the one place he wanted to go most, according to Fox 13.
“We just never really had enough saved up to make the trip,” Tuckett’s mother, Cheri Tuckett told Inside Edition. “It’s always been something that he wanted to do.”
Through the course of a year, Isaiah Tuckett baked and sold cupcakes to fund for his trip. After selling around 3,500 cupcakes, he managed to raise around $5,000 and use the money to take his entire family, including his mother, father, brother, sister, sister-in-law, nephew, and uncle, to Disney World—just in time for his 14th birthday.
Isaiah Tuckett had been helping out in the kitchen since he was 7 years old. He loved baking, according to Inside Edition, and from the age of 12, he started making cupcakes.
It began when he made cupcakes for his grandmother’s 85th birthday, and everyone really enjoyed them. From then on, he started making cupcakes on order for numerous other occasions, such as graduations, proms, weddings, birthday parties, and other events.
“After he made them for my mom’s 85th birthday, it just kind of took off from there. And he’s always wanted to go to Disney, and once the orders started coming in, we had this conversation,” Cheri Tuckett said, according to Fox 13.
“And I said, ‘you know what, if that’s something that you want to do, we would be willing to buy all the ingredients and so that everything that you earn … your profits, could be put into a savings account to earn that trip.'”
Isaiah Tuckett didn’t just make cupcakes—he made tiered cakes, pies, jam, and banana bread. He loved to invent and incorporate different aspects into his baked goods, such as candy bars. According to ABC News, his mother said he loved to experiment and try new recipes.
After a local bakery closed, more people began coming to him for baked goods, and orders have been abundant ever since.
It only took him a year to reach his goal.
“I enjoy baking,” Isaiah Tuckett said, according to Inside Edition. “I knew I was going to meet my goal, but I wasn’t thinking in one year.”
His mother praised him for his determination and expressed surprise when he managed to meet his goal so quickly.
“I was totally amazed that he did [it] in a year,” Cheri Tuckett said. “I was just proud of him that he kept the goal in the front of his mind and kept focused on that. He didn’t turn orders down.”
With the money he earned from the cupcakes, he booked the flights, hotels, as well as the Disney World experience for all of his family. When asked how he felt about accomplishing his goal, he said that he, too, was very surprised he was able to make his dream come true in a short amount of time, and that he was very proud of himself for doing so.
“He could have chosen just for us to go, but family is really important to him,” his mother said. “He fact that he was able to save up to get everyone there, it was a fun memory that none of us will ever forget. I felt blessed to be his mom.”
Now, Isaiah Tuckett has a new goal in mind—selling enough cupcakes to save up to buy himself a Ford pickup for when he turns 16 and can learn how to drive. He said that he plans to use the truck to deliver his cupcakes.
