How Running a Lemonade Stand Can Teach Your Kids About Money: 6 Essential Tips For Parents
A lemonade stand is a summertime childhood tradition that can provide many teachable moments for your child. This summer vacation business idea can provide an opportunity for young budding entrepreneurs to have some fun while making money and learning important lessons along the way.
Lemonade stands are so popular as a first business for children because it is a simple business concept. Running a lemonade stand can be a very exciting and rewarding experience for children. They can have fun with their family and friends while developing valuable life and business skills.
The Teachable Moments of Your Child’s Lemonade Stand
You have heard the saying “When life hands you lemons, make some lemonade.” Turning “sour lemons” or adversity into “sweet lemonade” or positivity requires resilience. Resilience is the ability to cope with difficult conditions and setbacks and to face these difficulties without falling into despair. Resilience is as much a necessity in business as it is in life. You have to keep getting up from setbacks, no matter how difficult. Resilience is just one of the benefits your child can develop from starting a lemonade stand. Here are some more skills and benefits.
From running a lemonade stand, your child can learn the following skills:
Entrepreneurship
Money Management
Marketing and sales
Customer service
Communication
Product development
Planning
Organization
Problem-solving
Decision-making
Leadership
Managerial
Critical thinking
Creativity
Risk-taking
In addition to business skills, your child will gain many benefits such as increased :
Self-confidence
Self-esteem
Resilience
Adaptability
Responsibility
Persistence
Sense of community
Read below for stories of some young entrepreneurs from our neighborhood’s National Lemonade Stand Weekend. Think about some ways your lemonade stand can help you develop skills as you serve the people in your neighborhood.
National Lemonade Stand Weekend In My Neighborhood
During the summer, my neighborhood came together and sponsored an event celebrating National Lemonade Day and National Lemonade Stand Weekend. We not only celebrated summer’s favorite refreshing beverage but also promoted youth financial literacy and business skill development.
To kickstart the multiday event, Smart Money Changes Everything presented a free workshop on “How to Run Your Lemonade Stand”. The aspiring young entrepreneurs were very engaged in the critical business lessons they later applied in building and running their lemonade stands.
Over National Lemonade Stand Weekend, seven lemonade stands popped up around the neighborhood. A master route map that showed the location of each stand and the hours of operation was posted on the neighborhood’s social media pages.
The weather was ideal in Queens, New York during our Lemonade Stand weekend – lots of sun, heat, and humidity – 88 degrees. The Lemonade Stands were set up in front of houses and the subway station in town. Local residents participated by following the route map on their phones and visiting each stand.
The creativity of each stand and the variety of offerings were very impressive – different lemonade recipes and flavors, fresh baked cookies and donuts, packaged chips, and other treats. My personal favorites were Brazilian lemonade, strawberry lemonade, and empanadas.
One of the Lemonade Stands had its share of setbacks. As they were setting up, the table with all their lemonade and freshly baked homemade cookies crashed to the ground. The team quickly cleaned up and started again. The young entrepreneurs showed their resilience and made lemonade out of lemons….literally!
What I Learned From
The Smart Money Changes Everything
“How to Run Your Lemonade Stand” Class
I learned to have a lot of confidence, not to get discouraged, how to talk and interact more with my customers, how to set good prices, and how to make a sale. I’ve met a lot of nice people and my happiness has gone way up!
Aiden, Young Entrepreneur, juiceland
6 Best Tips for Lemonade Stand Success
Tip 1: Put Safety, Common Sense, and Rules First
Always have an adult supervise your stand and don’t put your guard down. Common sense precautions still apply when it comes to dealing with strangers, even if they are your customers.
Your local government may have laws or restrictions for lemonade stands.
Make sure you are familiar with up-to-date local laws, as they change all the time.
Some states require a permit, while others allow children up to the age of 16 to run a lemonade stand without a permit. It is your job to research your state and local requirements.
Tip 2: Know What You Will Do With The Money You Earn
Goals are GOLD. Setting goals is super important in achieving success in anything you want to accomplish.
Deciding how to use the money earned is a form of goal-setting that will give the motivation to do their best job.
Encourage your child to write down their goals. For example: “I will give 20% of my money earned to charity, I will save 20%, and I will spend 60% on a new pair of sneakers.”
Tip 3: Come Up With A Name People Will Remember
The stands in Our Neighborhood Lemonade Stand Weekend each had a name that showed their own creative image of the business – Lucky’s Lemonade Stand, Squeeze the Day, Sunshine in a Cup, Juicelandnyc, Sweet and Sour, and the Lemonade Squad.
You can name your business something special you want people to remember or a few words that may describe your business.
You can name your business after yourself, or in the case of Lucky’s Lemonade Stand, your pet duck, (the duck was real)!
Whatever name you choose, make sure people will remember it.
Tip 4: Pick Out Helpers and Give Them Jobs To Do
Maybe you don’t need Lemonade Stand Security, but you might need other helpers.
Will your sibling or friend help you? Remember you have to share the money you earn with them.
Make a list of all the work that needs to be done to run your Lemonade Stand and assign a worker to each job.
If you have long hours, you might want to give your workers different times to help you. Make a schedule.
Maybe you won’t need Lemonade Stand Security in your town, but it is a good idea to plan
for the helpers you will need ahead of time.
Tip 5: How Will You Price Your Products?
How much do the supplies to make lemonade cost? Are you splitting the money you earn with your helpers? Based on your supply costs and the amount you are paying your workers, you can set your prices.
How much profit do you want to make per cup?
How much will you charge for other treats on your stand?
Offer different drinks, snacks, and even raffles to boost sales.
Tip 6: Use Your Creativity To Let People Know You Have A Lemonade Stand
Decide on the days and hours you will operate your stand.
Now that you have the details of your Lemonade Stand written down, you have to decide how you will let everyone know you are open for business.
Ask an adult to help you get the word out, however, they feel it is appropriate in your town.
Use your creativity to make signs and decorate your stand.
You don’t need a Pink Cadillac to let your neighbors about your Lemonade Stand, but you can use your creativity to catch people’s attention.
The Bottom Line On Lemonade Stands
While this is not a complete guide to running a Lemonade Stand, we have covered some of the very best tips to get you started.
You can apply these lessons to other businesses, not just lemonade stands. A group of girls in our neighborhood was inspired to start their own homemade Slime stand.
You don’t have to run the perfect stand. Enjoy some precious summer family time together while giving your child valuable lessons in business and life and making memories to last a lifetime!!
Smart Money Changes Everything is strictly a financial education website. The information presented in this post is solely for your general financial education and is not to be considered financial advice. Always check with your trusted financial professional team who will consider your unique situation and goals to develop your own personalized comprehensive financial plan.
