Cookie Time is Here!

Yes, it's the most wonderful time of year...Girl Scout Cookie Season! 2 1/2 wonderful months of begging, pleading and cajoling, pleeeease buy Girl Scout Cookies.

My daughter has been a Girl Scout since she was in kindergarten and I've had my share of sitting in the freezing cold, burning heat, wind, sleet and snow, o.k. not the sleet and snow part, but it could happen...selling Girl Scout Cookies. In fact last year, I sold on my birthday AND had a school fundraiser at the skate rink that evening, Happy Birthday to me!! I've put more hours boothing (which is selling cookies outside establishments, for the unschooled) then I did at my actual job!

Selling Girl Scout Cookies is a fine art. When they were cute little Brownies, all they had to do is smile all cutesy and the cookies are sold. As Juniors in their green uniforms, they had to finesse their skill, offering up what the cookie selling will bring them, white water rafting, camping in Yosemite and how grateful they would be if you could please help them reach this goal. Or if they would like to donate to the troops, Girl's home or homeless shelter. People were pleased that they were doing a community service.

As teen Cadettes in nondescript khaki, most people don't believe they are actual Girl Scouts! Where are your badges? Some even asked them to recite the promise. We hear stories about when cookies were fifty cents and gruff old men say they only support the Boy Scouts! Hmph! After all these years of selling, our girls are getting clever. They have gimmicks, wearing sandwich board signs, they sing, they offer partnerships of cookies with videos people are renting (Thin Mints for romance movies-fresh breath for kissing, Do-Si-Dos for westerns, and cleverly All Abouts* for Woody Allen films because most people don't know what they're all about), they offer that cookies go great with items in their cart, milk, beer, laundry detergent?

So I implore you, when you see these cookie wielding soldierettes in front of your local grocery, video store or bank, please don't pretend they're invisible! Say hello back when they greet you. On a diet? We have Trefoils, only 170 calories for 5 cookies! Diabetic? We have Sugar Free Chocolate Chip. No cash? We take checks! Worried about having too many? Cookies freeze well! Don't eat cookies? Buy some to donate to our charity. Already got some from your Girl Scout daughter, granddaughter, niece, friend's child, etc? Thank you for supporting the Girl Scouts!The girls get a thrill hearing stories about, "When I was a Girl Scout", so feel free to share. They're working hard and learning sales skills, supply and demand, perseverence and Girl Scout pride.

This happens once a year people-limited time offer. We only get .75 from the $4.00 price. We trudge out every weekend, usually 6-8 hrs. a day for a whole month so we can raise money for our summer trip to Washington D.C. You know you want those Samoas and Thin Mints, so be kind to yourself and to the girls, indulge!

P.S. My daughter has sold over 500 cookies for the past 3 yrs. That ain't chopped liver!

*All Abouts were discontinued this year which is very sad. Tagalongs and Do-Si-Dos are safe to eat, the bakery supplies their own peanut butter.