Lemonade Stand: A Summertime Tradition

There’s nothing that screams SUMMER more than a lemonade stand! Lemonade stands are a quintessential summer experience and a great way to embrace the heat, but they can also teach your kids valuable skills.

So, here in Houston, Texas we’ve been in the mid 90’s with “feels like” temperatures around 105! It’s freaking hot! Besides jumping in the pool or putting your feet in an ice bath 🙂 what better way to cool off than with a refreshing, cold glass of lemonade?

Now I know that there are some pretty good store bought lemonades out there, but we decided to make our own homemade lemonade. It tastes better, you know it’s fresh, and it’s super simple!

Here’s what you’ll need for a pitcher:

10 lemons
4 cups of cold water
1 cup of sugar (or adjust to your liking)
citrus juicer
pitcher for serving

Here’s what you’ll do:

halve the lemons and squeeze juice out with the citrus juicer – we did ours into a large measuring cup
add water and sugar
mix well
pour into pitcher and chill in the fridge

That’s it! Easy peasy! After a little time in the fridge we are ready for our lemonade stand! Oh, and I forgot to mention. For this particular lemonade stand and one we had a few weeks ago the girls are donating the profits to K-9 Angels Rescue here in Houston!

With these 10 Tips for a Successful Lemonade Stand not only will you have the best lemonade stand on the block, but you and your kids are guaranteed to have a great time!

1. Location, Location, Location!

You’ve heard it before but location is key, if you want your lemonade stand to earn lots of money you’ve got to pick the right location. Consider setting up your stand on a busy street corner, near the neighborhood swimming pool. And if you decide to set-up in front of your house make sure you pay special attention to tip #3.

2. Curb Appeal

Sure you can throw out a card table and a few chairs, but a few extra details will go a long way to making your lemonade stand “stand-out!”

3. Advertise

It’s no fun setting up a lemonade stand and waiting all day for customers to come. Teach your kids about marketing and the power of advertising. We made signs and posted on the corner under the stop sign. We even walked our street and knocked on a few doors. Now, everyone knows where to stop by for a refreshing glass of lemonade.

4. Be Creative, Think Outside the Lemonade Box

Don’t just limit yourselves to serving lemonade at your lemonade stand, consider offering additional treats for customers to buy. We offered popsicles too. But you could also have bubblegum, cookies, or stickers for the kids.

5. Quality is Best!

Don’t skimp on the quality, serve good lemonade that will keep them coming back for more. Now that doesn’t mean you need to spend days squeezing fresh lemons to have the best lemonade, you just need to make sure that what you are serving tastes good.

6. Price it Right!

Don’t be afraid to charge a lot. People don’t buy for the lemonade, they buy because your kids are so darn cute! Honestly, who can resist a lemonade stand?!? We usually sell our lemonade for $o.50, but occasionally we’ll sell it for $0.75 and the extra stuff is what we will price higher.

7. Share the Wealth

Now that you’ve priced it right, advertised and given your stand some curb appeal make sure you spread the wealth and share. We like to add a charity component to our lemonade stand and let the kids pick a charity they would like to donate half of their earnings to. Not only are you teaching them about earning and saving money, but you are showing them the importance of giving and helping others. We decided to give to a local animal shelter called K9 Angels!

8. Be Friendly and Polite

Talk to your kids before hand about what good customer service looks like. Remind them to use their manners and be friendly and polite. Please and thank you’s!

10. Have Fun!

Now that you’ve planned and created an extraordinary lemonade stand don’t forget to have lots of fun! That’s what this summertime staple is all about, having fun and being a kid, the extra learning and creativity is just an added bonus!