Cookies - They're Back!

I was driving through Citrus Heights this week and stopped at a red light behind an RT bus. On the back of the bus was the Girl Scout Cookie advertisement “They’re Back!” It made me smile. I love Girl Scout Cookies! I love everything about them! It’s no surprise that I’m the cookie manager for our troop. I’m also the mother of twin Brownies who typically want to sell a total of about 500 boxes to earn their desired incentive. At our house, early January through mid-March is all about Girl Scout Cookies!

At the beginning of January, we had a cookie kickoff party. We started our meeting by watching the Bakery Tour video from the ABC Smart Cookie website. This is a great video that showcases how Girl Scout cookies are made while sharing interesting facts and statistics about those cookies. After the video, I talked to the girls about safe selling. They gave me lots of good answers about staying safe while selling cookies. The ABC Smart Cookie website has a Cookie Activity Safety Guidelines flyer under the Volunteers-Training section of their website that is very helpful in teaching the girls that safety is the first priority.

In the spirit of all things cookie – we had a frosting party from Cookie Connection at the end of our meeting. Each girl got a plain sugar cookie and was able to frost and decorate it with her choice of colors and toppings. While the girls were busy creating their masterpieces, I went over the important details and paperwork with their parents.

At our troop meeting last Sunday our girls brainstormed to come up with ideas of how they’d like to spend the cookie money they earn this year. Some of their ideas included: a dinosaur museum, resident camp, Disneyland, ice skating, San Francisco, a fish hatchery, Six Flags and Apple Hill. After ruling out the ideas that were similar to things we had already done or were already in the works for the future, we settled on a trip to the snow!

I encourage our girls to set a personal goal based on the incentive they want to earn. Those incentives do a great job motivating our girls! The most desired incentives for our troop are the sitting plush frog, a movie ticket and the peace sign necklace! Additionally, I give each girl her sales number from last year to help set her goal for 2010. I encourage each girl to set a goal for herself that is a little higher than what she did last year.

The last thing our girls have to do this month (as far as cookies go) is complete the Catch GOALS! activity on the ABC Smart Cookie website. My daughters entered their personal sales goals and used online marketing tools to send e-mails to family & friends. Just a note, if your girl enters her goal by the end of January then updates it before cookie sales are over, she can earn a special patch!

We’re looking forward Mega Drop cookie pick up event on February 13th! In the meantime, we’re still taking orders and working towards our personal and troop goals!

~MM