It's Girl Scout Cookie Time!

Girl Scout Cookies, don't cha just love 'em?

Buying and selling Girl Scout cookies has come a long way since I was a scout. I started in 2nd grade as a Brownie. I graduated with a ceremony from the Girl Scouts at the Old Stone Church on Public Square in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, in the 12th grade, celebrating all 10 years of scouting: Brownies, Juniors, Cadettes, and Seniors.

I wonder what Juliette Low (the founder of USA Girl Scouts) would think about selling cookies to finance activities? Then I investigated a little further, and here is what I found on the Internet: The sale of cookies to finance troop activities began as early as 1917, five years after Juliette Gordon Low started Girl Scouts in the United States. The Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma, baked cookies and sold them in its high school cafeteria as a service project. A Girl Scout sells cookies door-to-door, 1928.

Every year since the beginning (Brownies), I was (along with the other girls in my troop) responsible for selling Girl Scout cookies, and boy, did I ever! But I also had built-in “help.” I even think I won a few incentives on how many boxes sold, like a teddy bear or something comparable. Let me explain.

Not only did I take out the red radio flyer wagon and schlep a mountain of cookies, canvassing my neighborhood and beyond (door to door, mind you). My Dad also helped the cause by taking boxes to work at National Acme of Cleveland.

At its height, National Acme was one of the largest manufacturers of machine tools in the United States. As one would figure, hundreds of hungry men were ready to eat cookies by lunchtime! My dad probably sold hundreds over the years while working there (Thanks, Dad in heaven!).

Back then, the cookies were between $1.00 to $1.50 per box.

Today, they are $6.00/box.

Thankfully, the names of all the GS cookies remain pretty much the same: Do-si-Dos, Thin Mints, and Trefoils, to name a few.

In the years I have lived in Crofton, Maryland, we have had no sales efforts for door-to-door Girl Scouts in my neighborhood.

However, my little friend Isabelle, age 10, from Sandusky, Ohio, reached out by email to sell GS cookies for her troop.

I bought (12) boxes—total costs for them and shipping costs: $86.99.

My wish for Isabelle is to have some of the same experiences I had through scouting; camping, earning badges, traveling, and learning to work as a team on projects. The monies earned when I was a scout helped finance those ambitions, as they did back in 1928.

When those cookies finally arrive, I’ll celebrate with a hot cup of tea and a cookie or two, then reflect on that long-held Girl Scout tradition of selling iconic GS cookies to those who love them.

Cheers to eating a couple of my favorites, do-si-dos!

What is your favorite?

bSolielle!

Terri

L-R - Trefoil, Thin Mint, Caramel deLites (previously called Samoas), Peanut Butter Patties, and Do-si-Do's.