BigMamaBird Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Our town is having its community yard sale next week and my two oldest desperately want to have a lemonade stand. What is a fair price for lemonade? I have no idea!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 I usually pay a $1 cup. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 My kids have done 50c when it's smaller cups and $1 when it's larger, like a red solo cup size. They usually make it fresh if that makes a difference. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I don't think there is a set rate. size of cups, affluence (or not) of neighborhood, etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I would not pay anything for a little cup of lemonade poured from a container or made from a commercial mix, no matter how cute the kids are. But if someone has a pile of lemons, sugar syrup, and decent water to make lemonade to order, I would easily pay $3 a cup. At the NJ state fair, there is a vendor who sells a big cup of squeezed-in-front of you lemonade for $5-6 for a big cup, iirc. Stand should be super clean and sanitary looking. Something my Ds has done is sell chilled bottled water, any decent brand, and little individual packets of flavoring. I can't remember if he charged $1 or $2, but he made a profit. People who were squeamish about germs seemed reassured that everything was packaged. Plus bottles are more portable than cups. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 My kids have done 50c when it's smaller cups and $1 when it's larger, like a red solo cup size. They usually make it fresh if that makes a difference. It makes a difference to me. (Read your post after I posted, above.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustEm Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 When I was younger I made a butt load of money off of our lemonade stand on the days the local college had football games.Normal ball day was $300 profit. Homecoming or parents weekend was over $600. Of course your boys won't make that much but I learn pricing was key. We had small cups we charge .35 for a cup or 3 cups for $1. When purchasing 1 cup we were rarely asked for change when given .50 but we got more customers than when we priced it .50. So we were making more when we were charging less. People in groups loved the 3 cup for $1, even though it wasn't a huge savings it meant they didn't have to deal with change at all. Hope that info helps. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 We, too, have made a decent amount of money running a lemonade stand. We used to live 1/2 a block from the main entrance of the busy, very popular county fair in our town. We'd spend the five days of the fair selling lemonade on ice ($1), shaved iced in a cup ($.75), ice cold bottled water ($1), and licorice whips ($.10). In our experience, people enjoyed buying from the kids. For the lemonade, the first couple of years, we made it from concentrate. After that, we realized it wasn't that much more expensive to use Newman's Own lemonade in the box and life-at-the-table got so much easier. Open and pour. We had little shaved ice gizmos -- really, really cheapo, manual things. We'd freeze 100% juice in the cups ahead of time -- just the right amount for a cup of shaved ice -- and then pull one out of the freezer when we needed it. Bottled water is self-explanatory. People would throw dollars at us for the licorice and say "Keep the change." We had a hopscotch game drawn just before the table on the sidewalk, so people would do the hopscotch and end right where we were. We also wrote "You are thirsty!" a few houses down (and other messages as they approached the table). It was a lot of fun. We still own that house -- we should get down there and do it again! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IfIOnly Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I was actually wondering if there were rules. Like do you need a permit? But people have yard sales without them so it probably works like that. Ds wanted to do a lemonade stand so I was wondering. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. There are some crazy, stupid regs.; I wouldn't even ask. ;) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevergiveup Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I was actually wondering if there were rules. Like do you need a permit? But people have yard sales without them so it probably works like that. Ds wanted to do a lemonade stand so I was wondering. I have heard that some places require a business license. Imagine that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I think a small, clearly kid-run lemonade stand at a park on on your lawn or at the edges of something is generally going to be okay. Probably not strictly legal - but just don't investigate it and do it. I mean, the opening investment is pretty small, be willing to help your kid eat the cost if they're shut down. The times that I've seen articles where lemonade stands got into trouble, they were usually serious operations that the parents were clearly a big part of, making a good bit of money. There was one a couple of years ago not far from me where the kids and parents set up outside a sporting event that was near their home and they were sort of cleaning up money wise. They got shut down and tried to cry foul, but when it became clear it was not some kids and a little table, they lost sympathy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Btw, last year, ds put up signs for his lemonade stand around the neighborhood and some hipster snapped a picture and put it up on twitter with a note about it being adorable and it got some shares from local blog types. Dh just happened to see it a few days later. It was pretty funny - we were like, hey, that's ds's sign! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMamaBird Posted May 31, 2015 Author Share Posted May 31, 2015 Thank you for all the input! I've never done a lemonade stand before so I have no idea where to start with pricing. This helps a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I've paid anywhere from 25 cents up to a dollar. I think the 3 for a $1 idea is a great idea. I personally don't care if it's made from a mix, fresh, or bottled. I like supporting kids in their efforts to learn about business. Sure, it's nice if it's from real lemons, but it's not a deal breaker for me. I do think the idea of offering chilled bottles of water, with or without flavoring, is a good idea. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 In our area, kids who run stands like that either get donations of cups, lids, straws, or they buy them from GFS where you can buy just 50 of them. Having a lid and a straw is VERY attractive because it means you can easily carry the drink with you and take it in the car. Or buy for a little kid. Love the idea of water bottles and single serve powdered drink mix too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Our kids had one when we lived in Illinois. When the 4 year old very cute neighbor helped, they got a lot more business...of course, she also spilled half their product, but the sale was winding down anyway. They had a sign that said .25 or whatever you want to pay, people thought that was cute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I've paid anywhere from 25 cents up to a dollar. I think the 3 for a $1 idea is a great idea. I personally don't care if it's made from a mix, fresh, or bottled. I like supporting kids in their efforts to learn about business. Sure, it's nice if it's from real lemons, but it's not a deal breaker for me. I do think the idea of offering chilled bottles of water, with or without flavoring, is a good idea. :iagree: I can't imagine being particular about the lemonade ingredients at a kids' lemonade stand. They're just kids trying to make a few bucks, not adult businesspeople! I'm not about to get particular and quiz them on whether they used real lemons or a mix before I hand them my 50 cents. I usually buy whatever they're selling and take it with me even if I don't plan to drink it because I like to support kid' efforts to make money. :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 In our area, kids who run stands like that either get donations of cups, lids, straws, or they buy them from GFS where you can buy just 50 of them. Having a lid and a straw is VERY attractive because it means you can easily carry the drink with you and take it in the car. Or buy for a little kid. Love the idea of water bottles and single serve powdered drink mix too. :iagree: Kids can also sell cans of soda in addition to the bottled water. The bottled water could be a good money maker because when you buy it by the case, the per-bottle cost is very low, yet most people will pay $1.00 for a bottle of water without blinking an eye. I think people are more likely to only want to spend 50 cents on a cup of lemonade, and by the time you pay for lemonade mix, cups, lids, and straws, the profit on the water is much higher -- and the water and canned soda options are less messy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyJoy Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 My sister and I used to sell Otter Pops (or similar) at garage sales. I haven't priced recently but they used to be about $0.10 each so we'd sell for $0.25. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IfIOnly Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Anyone see this article today and think of this thread? http://www.usnews.com/news/offbeat/articles/2015/06/11/2-girls-told-to-close-lemonade-stand-for-lack-of-permit?src=usn_Fb 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeindeed Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 The neighborhood kids around here charge $0.50 a cup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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