Many of our members have asked us to share our thoughts about concession stands at garage sales, especially if they’re set up and run by kids. Are they worth it? Is it a distraction? Too much extra work/stress?
Here’s our opinion (from both sides of the table):
Garage sale concession stands (lemonade stands & baked goods) can work well if you are participating in a multi-family yard sale or a sale at your church parking lot where many people will be around and they won’t necessarily mind kids around and running a concession stand set up aside of things. It’s a great activity to keep them occupied and teaching them the value of selling work and earning a little bit of money. Also, if you plan to have an all day sale at your home, a lemonade stand run by your kids might make sense, just be sure you prepare a lot of lemonade or baked goods in advance so you’re not distracted from your sale if they run out of stuff.
We suggest if you’re going to have a concession stand you limit it to a couple of hours, kids can get tired and distracted fast so make sure you set them up with a schedule.
Garage sale concession stands are the seller’s call though. Sometimes it makes people feel obligated that they have to spend a little bit of money for the kids. Also, many of the die-hard garage sale enthusiasts won’t even make notice of the concession stands, they’re strictly looking for bargains and treasures and don’t want to be bothered.
If you’re sale is small and limited to 5 hours or less, forget the concessions! You have enough things to do to squeeze the most out of your time and focus on the goal of selling your stuff!
Leave a Reply