NATIONAL DAYFOOD & DRINK

National Lemonade Day

A lemonade stand on a corner. A pitcher on the porch. A glass at a diner. National Lemonade Day on May 3 is the most earnest, most American holiday on the spring calendar — an invitation to set up a stand, teach kids entrepreneurship, and stay hydrated in a pleasant way.

MAY3

Sunday, May 3First Sunday in May

Roots: Houston, TX
Vibe: Sweet & Tart
Also on May 3: International Bereaved Mother’s Day · Wave® Day · Infertility Survival Day
Hashtag: #NationalLemonadeDay

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Ways to celebrate

Sweet-tart simplicity, with optional entrepreneurship:

🍋 Set up a lemonade stand with kids. This is the whole holiday. Lemonade, cups, a sign, a cardboard table, a box for the cash.
🍋 Make a real pitcher. Fresh lemons, real sugar, cold water. 5x better than any mix.
🍹 Try regional variants. Arnold Palmer (lemonade + iced tea), Pink Lemonade (with raspberry), Mint Lemonade, Lavender Lemonade.
💰 Donate your stand's proceeds. Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation has raised $200M+ for pediatric cancer research — all from kids' lemonade stands.
📚 Teach a business basic. Costs, price, profit, customer service. Real lessons in a single afternoon.

Make it your kind of celebration

Family
Turn lemonade stand day into a family project. Kids run it; parents help with materials and cash box. One of the great childhood memories available for $10 in supplies.
Kids
This is the day. Set up the table. Make a sign. Sell to neighbors. Most kids remember their first lemonade stand for life.
Couples
Lemonade on the porch is a perfect pre-dinner drink. Add bourbon for a grownup version; serve in chilled glasses.
Office
A lemonade pitcher in the break room on a hot May afternoon is a surprisingly popular surprise. Bonus: use it to fundraise for a charity.
School
The lemonade stand as business lesson. Costs, revenues, profit margins, customer service — all in an afternoon. Classic K-6 class project.
Community
Street-wide lemonade stand fundraiser — multiple kids, multiple stands, all proceeds to a local charity. Neighborhood tradition material.
Just me
A glass of homemade lemonade on a porch with a book. Perfect afternoon.

Plan ahead

National Lemonade Day is observed on the first Sunday in May. Here is where it lands for the next ten years, handy for planners, marketers and party people.

2026Sun, May 3this year

2027Sun, May 2

2028Sun, May 7

2029Sun, May 6

2030Sun, May 5

2031Sun, May 4

2032Sun, May 2

2033Sun, May 1

2034Sun, May 7

2035Sun, May 6

2036Sun, May 4

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Fast facts

2007

May 2, 2027

The story

National Lemonade Day is less about the drink than about what it teaches. It was founded as a citywide kids' entrepreneurship program, and grew from there.

Read the full story

National Lemonade Day was founded in 2007 by Michael Holthouse, a Houston entrepreneur who had noticed how powerful a simple lemonade stand could be as a kid's first encounter with running a business. He built a curriculum: planning, buying supplies, pricing, selling, profit, giving back. He partnered with Houston public schools and ran the first National Lemonade Day in 2007, 2,700 kids set up stands across the city.

The program grew fast. By 2019, it was operating in 40+ American cities with over 1 million kids having gone through the curriculum. Each participating child gets a free "Lemonade Day Entrepreneur Kit" workbook, lemonade supplies, business planning tools, and a mentor. The goal isn't really lemonade; it's teaching 8-year-olds how business works before cynicism sets in.

The other great lemonade-stand charity that shares the day's energy is Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, founded in 2005 in memory of Alexandra "Alex" Scott. Alex, a Philadelphia girl with neuroblastoma, set up her first lemonade stand at age 4 to raise money for childhood cancer research. She raised $2,000 that day. She kept running stands every year until her death in 2004 at age 8, having raised over $1 million personally. The foundation in her name has now raised over $250 million for pediatric cancer research, much of it through kids-run lemonade stands.

National Lemonade Day combines both traditions: the entrepreneurial curriculum and the charitable impulse. It's a shockingly pure American holiday, capitalism-as-civic-education, kids learning to work and give back at the same time.

Four rules for lemonade that beats anything from a powder or a plastic jug:

Six variations worth trying, each its own personality:

Did you know?

Pink Lemonade was (possibly) invented by a circus strongman.

In 1857, circus performer Pete Conklin claimed he ran out of water for lemonade and used dirty water from a tub where someone had rinsed pink tights. Circus audiences loved the color. Whether true or a publicity story, it's a great origin myth.

Alex's Lemonade Stand raised $1 million in 4 years.

Alex Scott, who started her first stand at age 4, personally raised over $1 million for pediatric cancer research before her death at 8. Her foundation has now raised over $250 million.

Lemonade is Arabic, originally.

The word 'lemonade' comes from the Arabic 'limunada,' a lemon-based drink popular in medieval Cairo. It reached Europe via the crusades.

Lemonade stands have been criminalized in 36+ states.

Many states have technically required permits for kids' lemonade stands. Country Time launched a "Legal-Ade" fund in 2018 to pay the fines for kids cited for running stands without permits. Most states have since changed their laws.