Thin Mints are everyone's favorite Girl Scout cookie. Or are they? Take our poll! (Photo by The Suss-Man (Mike) on flickr)
by Rachael McMillan
Still mourning the sudden disappearance of holiday cookie platters? Looking for a way to celebrate the end of your New Year’s salt, fat, and sugar detox? Here’s an idea: order up a few boxes of your favorite Girl Scout Cookies. (Take our poll on your favorite at the end of this post!)
Oh, yes—it’s that time again. Cookie sales start Friday.
For answers about the ins and outs of everyone’s favorite annual fundraiser, I spoke with Ann Fouke, a local troop co-leader, and Erica Douglas, the public relations specialist for Girl Scouts of Central Illinois.
The pre-sale (with Scouts taking orders) runs from Jan. 15-31. Cookies will be delivered beginning March 2. If you don’t know a Scout, but still want to get in on the pre-sale, Douglas suggests calling the local office at (217) 328-5112. They will be able to connect you with a Scout who will happily take your order.
If you miss the pre-sale, there’s still hope for your sweet tooth: “booth sales” at Schnucks, Wal-Mart, and other retailers run from March 2—31.
New this year is online selling. Beginning the first week of February, with parental permission, Girl Scouts can peddle the treats via Facebook, Twitter, and so on.
Fouke, herself a former Scout, remembers when the cookies cost $.75 a box (the current price is $3.50) but feels that online selling represents one of the biggest changes in the fundraiser since she’s been involved with the organization.
Douglas explained that the move reflects the fact that so much is done online these days. The girls are only allowed to promote the sale and take orders this way—they can’t accept online payment. They also take a pledge to use the Internet in a safe way, she said.
“We think it is important that we teach our girls to use the Internet safely,” she said.
I asked Fouke who does most of the actual selling: the parents or the Scouts. She acknowledges that order forms do wind up on break room tables, but states: “We encourage our girls to do most of the selling, but with a parent or caregiver.” She adds that Scouts still go door-to-door, but are only supposed to visit the homes of people they know.
According to Douglas, having the girls conduct the sales themselves is important to the Scouting curriculum. It is meant to help them develop confidence and the beginnings of job skills.
Of each box sold, $.50 goes to a Scout’s troop, and $.20 gets put on a “Cookie Dough Card” which she can use to purchase Scouting accessories. This applies to the pre-sale only; when the booth sales start the $.50 per box still goes to the troop but no Cookie Dough money is earned.
Whether you are a pre-sale or booth customer, this year you will have the opportunity to take part in Operation Cookie Share, which will send donated boxes of cookies to members of the armed services stationed overseas.
Here’s wishing you blissful snacking and the Thinnest of Mints.
What’s your favorite Girl Scout cookie? Take our poll!
Related posts:
Boo on Thin Mints. I am definitely a Trefoil girl:)
I like the caramel delights better when they’re “Samoas”– it’s a different baker. Wish they had then here in IL, but I’ll settle for what I can get!
where are people selling girl scout cookies around town?