Big, few, bold
One word people read at driving speed — LEMONADE — as tall as your hand. The price under it. Nothing else needs to be big.
How to start a lemonade standEverything you need to open a lemonade stand.
How to start a lemonade stand, start to finish: how much to make, what to charge, how to make a sign nobody can drive past, and what to say when they stop. The whole thing, in one afternoon, for less than the price of a pizza.
- ~$15to start, lemons to cups
- 1 afternoonfrom idea to first customer
- 77 countiesand room in every one
- No permitasked by Oklahoma — here’s the law
How much to make
Slide to how many cups you think you’ll sell. A quiet afternoon is twenty; a hot Saturday on a busy corner, sixty or more.
Your shopping list
The recipe: half a lemon, two tablespoons of sugar and a cup of cold water per cup, plus ice. Taste it — some lemons are sourer than others.
What to charge
What stands across Oklahoma are charging today, read straight from their listings.
Picking your price
- Round numbers sell$1, $2, $3. Nobody wants to count out $1.75 at a card table.
- Two sizes beats oneA small at $1 and a big at $2 — most people take the big one.
- “Pay what you can” worksEspecially for a fundraiser. People are generous when it is their choice.
- Say it on the signA price on the sign means nobody has to ask, and nobody drives past wondering.
Make a sign people can’t miss
Your sign does the selling from fifty feet away. Give it the job.
Yellow on dark, or dark on yellow
Lemon yellow and deep green is the pair that pops. Thick marker, never pencil. A thin line disappears in sunlight.
An arrow, at the corner
A second sign at the end of the street with an arrow turns a drive-by into a stop. Tape it to a post, a chair, a bike.
Print the real one
Once your stand is listed, your stand kit prints a poster, a “find us” sign and a “vote for us” sign with QR codes. Free, like everything else.
What to say
Three lines, and you will never be stuck for words.
When they walk up
“Hi! Fresh lemonade, two dollars a cup. Want to try one?”
Look up, smile, say the price. Most people have already decided yes.
When they’ve bought one
“We’ve got strawberry too, if you want to try it next time.”
One extra thing, said once. That is the whole trick to selling.
When they go
“Thanks! We’re here every Saturday — we’re on The Squeeze if you forget.”
A thank-you and a reason to come back. Regulars are how a stand becomes a business.
Stand day
Pack it, pour it, count it. The list is yours to tick off — every tick pours a little more into the glass.
The day-of checklist
Nothing packed yet
Ticks stay on this device, so the list is ready next Saturday too.
Eight for eight
You’re ready to pour!
Everything is packed, the sign is up, and the change is counted. The only thing missing is the first customer. Go make some money.
Do we need a permit?
The question every family asks first. Here is the law itself, not a guess.
No.
Oklahoma asks no permit, no license and no inspection of a homemade lemonade stand sold by the people who made it. That has been the law since November 1, 2021, and there is no age limit on who the maker is.
- No state permit
- No license or inspection
- No age limit
“The production and sale of homemade food products that meet the following conditions shall be exempt from all licensing and other requirements of the State Department of Health and the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry.”
What the law does ask: one sign
Because a cup of lemonade is not packaged, the Act wants a sign where people order, and a small card anyone can take, saying:
- who made it, and a phone number
- the address where it was made
- what it is
- the ingredients, most first
- any of the common allergens in it
- the line “This product was produced in a private residence that is exempt from government licensing and inspection.”
Once your stand is listed, your stand kit prints that sign and the cards, filled in from your listing. You add the phone number and anything extra you put in the pitcher.
Your town
The state law is the state’s. Towns can have their own rules for selling in public places, and the Act says a county cannot block a stand that follows it.
- Your own driveway or yardPrivate property. Yours. No one to ask.
- A park, a sidewalk, a marketPublic. Ask whoever runs the place, or city hall, first.
Most are glad to say yes. A stand that asked first is a stand nobody moves along.
Sales tax, honestly
Oklahoma treats a cup of lemonade as “prepared food,” so state and local sales tax technically apply — and collecting it technically takes a sales tax permit. We would rather tell you that than pretend the line is not there.
- No exemption for kids’ standsNot in the law today. See the bill to watch, below.
- It is the grown-up’s callNobody on The Squeeze will tell you to collect it, or not to.
The Tax Commission’s own page on prepared food is in the sources below. This is the one line the law leaves to you.
We’re not lawyers, and this is not legal advice. It is the law as written, from the sources below, checked on October 13, 2026. The grown-up on the listing makes the call.
The sources
- 2 O.S. § 5-4.3 — Official Oklahoma Statutes
- House Bill 3720 (2026), enrolled — the Local Food Freedom Act rename, effective Nov. 1, 2026
- Oklahoma State Department of Health letter on the Act, Oct. 8, 2021
- OSU Extension fact sheet FAPC-242, Jan. 2025
- Oklahoma Tax Commission — state sales tax on food and prepared food
Good questions
The ones families ask before the first batch.
How much does it cost to start?
About the price of a bag of lemons, a bag of sugar, cups and ice — call it $15 to $20 for a first batch of forty cups. Sell them at $2 and you have paid for the next three batches.
Do we need a permit?
Not from the state. Oklahoma asks no permit, license or inspection of a homemade lemonade stand sold by the people who made it — the Homemade Food Freedom Act, 2 O.S. § 5-4.3. It asks for one sign at the stand, which your stand kit prints. Towns can have their own rules for parks and sidewalks; a driveway is private property. The whole answer, with the law quoted, is above.
What if nobody comes?
That is the one thing The Squeeze exists to fix. List the stand and people looking for lemonade near them can find it; flip it to open right now on the day and it lights up on the board. And a loud sign at the corner never hurts.
How old do you have to be?
There is no age limit on running a stand. The listing belongs to the grown-up whose email is on it, and they stay in charge of it.
Keep going
The guides take each part of the kit further. All the guides →
Pricing·6 min readLemonade stand prices: how much to chargeLemonade stand prices for 2027: how much kids charge per cup, the arithmetic behind a fair price, and a price list you can copy onto your sign.Read it →The sign·5 min readLemonade stand sign ideas people stop forLemonade stand sign ideas for kids: what goes on it, how big the letters need to be, the price sign, and where to put it so cars actually stop.Read it →Stand day·5 min readThe lemonade stand supplies list and first-day checklistThe complete lemonade stand supplies list, then the night-before and morning-of checklist, in the order you'll need it. Kid-sized and easy to tick off.Read it →
Batch made, sign up. Now get found.
Listing your stand on The Squeeze is free, takes about two minutes, and a grown-up finishes the last step.