Girl Scouts and cookies share a rich history. While recipes and box designs have changed, selling cookies remains an important part of today's Girl Scout program.
The activity of selling cookies is directly related to our purpose of helping all girls realize their full potential and become strong, confident and resourceful citizens.
. Girl Scouts practice life skills like goal setting, money management and teamwork - and they have fun!
. Customers get the chance to a great product and have the chance to support girls in their own community.
. All of the proceeds support Girl Scouting in the local community.
Learning Life Skills
Many successful businesswomen today say they got their start selling Girl Scout Cookies. Girls practice useful life skills such as planning, decision-making and customer service. During cookie activities, girls are members of a team working toward a common goal, with each girl striving to do her best. Every Girl Scout troop is encouraged to set realistic goals, such as planning field trips and community-service projects, to accomplish during the year. The money earned from cookie activities helps the troop achieve its goals. So when your local Girl Scouts come calling with this year's best-selling cookies, remember you're saying hello to tomorrow's business leaders.
Fund the Future
The cookie sale gives girls the opportunity to learn skills that they can use throughout their lives. These skills will not only help them become productive young women, but also the leaders of the future. In addition to the skills the girls learn, cookie sale proceeds enable the Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland and troops to provide exciting programs and leadership opportunities for the Girl Scouts of today and tomorrow.
The amount girls and troops earn are determined by the volunteer Board of Directors. Your daughter's troop earns 10 percent of each box of cookies sold. Each earns incentives and Cookie Credits based on the number of boxes she sells. The remaining amount is used by the Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland to provide programs and services for the girls. Cookie sale proceeds are also used to provide summer programs, maintain and improve the facilities and insure that Girl Scouting will be available in the future.
*** For the safety and security of the girls who are selling cookies, Girl Scout Cookies are not available for purchase online.***
Baking the Best
The national Girl Scout organization, Girl Scouts of the USA , approves and licenses the bakers of Girl Scout Cookies. At the bakeries, the cookies are produced by American labor union members from American-grown agricultural products and wrapped in American-made packaging materials. The approved bakers work directly with local Girl Scout councils. Each council selects which baker it will work with and sets the price per box in its area. Currently two licensed bakers supply local Girl Scout councils with cookies for girls to sell: ABC Bakers/Interbake Foods and Little Brownie Bakers.
Cookie Timeline
1917 - Sale of cookies used as a way to finance troop activities, five years after Juliette Gordon Low started Girl Scouting in the United States. The earliest mention of a cookie sale found to date was that of the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee , Okla. , which baked cookies and sold them in its high school cafeteria as a service project in December 1917.
1920s -1930s - Girl Scouts in different parts of the country continued to bake their own simple sugar cookies with their mothers. These cookies were packaged in wax paper bags, sealed with a sticker, and sold door-to-door for 25 to 35 cents per dozen.
1936 - National Girl Scout organization began the process to license the first commercial baker to produce cookies that would be sold by girls in Girl Scout councils.
1940s - Girl Scout Cookies were sold annually by local councils around the country until World War II, when sugar, flour and butter shortages led Girl Scouts to begin selling Girl Scout calendars to raise money for their activities.
1948 - A total of 29 bakers throughout the nation were licensed to bake Girl Scout Cookies.
1951 - Girl Scout Cookies came in three varieties: Sandwich , Shortbread and Chocolate Mints (now known as Thin Mints).
1956 - Girl Scouts sold four basic types of cookies: a vanilla-based filled cookie, a chocolate-based filled cookie, shortbread and a chocolate mint. Some bakers also offered an optional flavor.
1961 - 14 licensed bakers were mixing batter for thousands upon thousands of Girl Scout Cookies annually.
1979 - New contemporary Girl Scout logo appeared on cookie boxes. Cookie packaging became more creative and began to promote the benefits of Girl Scouting.
1982 - Four bakers produced a maximum of seven varieties of cookies - three mandatory (Thin Mint, Sandwich and Shortbread) and four optional ones.
1990s - Two licensed bakers supplied local Girl Scout councils with cookies for girls to sell. Eight varieties are now available, including low fat and sugar-free selections.
1998 - Girl Scouts of the USA licensed three bakers to produce cookies.
Girl Scout Cookie boxes are bold and bright and capture the spirit of Girl Scouting. Introduced in the fall of 2000, these boxes clearly show girls having fun and growing strong. Two licensed bakers produce a maximum of eight varieties, including three mandatory ones (Thin Mint, Peanut Butter Sandwich, and Shortbread). All cookies are kosher.
| back to top
|
