The South Padre Island Children’s Business Fair inspires kiddos to discover their inner entrepreneur: the entrepreneurial energy was electric last year and we're looking forward to doing it again!

For our third fair, we will accept around 20 businesses.

Start with our resources page. Read inspiring stories about other young entrepreneurs and play games to hone your business skills.

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.

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?

Two cupcake businesses? Not a problem. 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 entirely indoors at the South Padre Island Community Center. Each business will be given a table and 1-2 chairs. Table cloths will not be provided. We are not able to accommodate businesses requiring electricity.

This event is designed to give children the experience of selling a product or service. Parents may support but ultimately children should run the show.

Parents of younger children may sit in the booth, but the children should be responsible for set up, customer interaction, and sales.

Parents may help their child fill out the application, but we expect the children to do as much as possible by themselves.

There is a wave of entrepreneurial spirit taking off across the United States and Children's Markets can also be found across the world. Initially 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.