Acton Children’s Business Fairs inspire children to discover their inner entrepreneur. The largest entrepreneurship event for kids in North America, this one-day market gives children the opportunity to showcase their very own businesses. This event intends to give kids their very first opportunity to run a booth on their own.

Based on venue size, we estimate welcoming 6-8 businesses. Because we want to spread the opportunity to many families, returning applicants should expect to wait for final approval until about 5 weeks before the fair. We want a majority of brand-new, first-time vendors participating at each event.

Start with our resources page. Read inspiring stories about other young entrepreneurs and play games to hone your business skills. Then visit The Collective website, follow us @thecollectivekailua, and be sure to come get a treat at Perfect Day Ice Cream located right inside our shop!

Application must be submitted online. Please submit one application for each business. Children working as a group should submit one application that includes each child’s information. No more than 3 participants per business.
How much is the booth fee?
A very modest booth fee $25 (Venmo Link available, or cash on game day) will be set to help the organizers cover operational costs. Full disclosure of accounting will be available -- we are doing this so that kids grow businesses, and expressly not to make money. Accepting booth fees via PayPal after submitting your application, and cash or venmo can also be arranged separately.

The application asks kids to think through some simple, but important elements of their business:

What product or service do you plan to sell?
What price will you charge for each product/service?
How much will each product/service cost you?
How will you pay for your startup costs? If someone is helping you with your startup costs, how will you pay that person back?
How will you advertise/market your business before the fair?
At the end of the fair, how will you determine if your business was a success?

Because the fair is small, we want to avoid having two competing businesses. In general, we will let market forces play out, though we will let later entries know if another applicant has a similar idea so the later entrant can decide what to do.

The fair will be an outdoor event with 10'x10' booths established under a large covered parking structure. Plan to provide your own tent, tables, chairs -- as if you were operating at the end of your driveway.

Unfortunately, we do not provide electricity to the booths, as we cannot provide it to all participants uniformly. Please contact us if you need electricity.

This event is designed to give children the experience of selling a product or service. Active Parent/Guardian presence/participation in vendor booths goes against the spirit and intent of the fair. *I will not tell you how to parent*, but I am sure that the kids will get the most out of the experience if parents can manage to avoid being directly involved in sales operations.
Also, our fair is held as an adjunct to an existing grownup market. There will be live shoppers, and other live businesses at the event. Ideally, any sound generation or music will not interfere with adjacent businesses. Use your good judgement.

Jeff and Laura Sandefer and a few other families wanted to spark a sense of wonder and entrepreneurship in their children so they created the first Acton Children’s Business Fair in Austin, Texas, in 2007. That year, there were seven entrepreneurs and around 25 attendees. Now, there are over 115 entrepreneurs and 1,500 attendees at the Acton Children's Business Fair in Austin.