Month #6 -- Earning our Orange Petals

I apologize, I missed a meeting in my blog entries! This should have been between the first cookie shop entry and the end of cookie sales.
Cookie sales gave us a nice opportunity to teach the girls about being responsible. During our March meeting we went over the basics of how to behave at the cookie shops. We talked about the rules and asked the girls for their ideas. Then we set up a mock cookie shop and I pretended to be the Girl Scout selling cookies. Becke was the customer. We showed the girls that they must speak politely to the customer if they want to sell cookies. We also showed the girls possible scenarios they might encounter at cookie shops. We discussed things like:
1. Speaking clearly to customers
2. Answering questions for the customers and not being afraid to ask Mom, Dad or the troop leaders for help.
3. Never following a customer to their car.
4. Always saying thank-you after speaking to a customer, even if they don't buy cookies from us.
Our goal was to help the girls be responsible for their own words and actions. I think it worked pretty well. We also talked with them about listening to the volunteer Moms, Dads & the troop leaders when we are selling in public. People might not want to buy cookies from a Girl Scout who does not respect authority, so we were able to sneak in an early lesson towards our Purple and Magenta petals.

We survived cookie sales!!

I must say I am very excited to report that we made it through cookie sales and we did great! The girls did great individually and as a whole the troop sold 1764 boxes of cookies!! The girls each reached their personal goals and most went beyond that. Our cookie shops went well, thanks to being allowed to set up indoors. South Dakota doesn't have the most predictable weather, and it was cold and windy most of the days we were selling. We finished up with 21 extra boxes of cookies, not bad at all considering 8 have already been requested by troop moms! The girls earned so much money that we are "celebrating" by going on a buffalo adventure! It's actually a Girl Scouts event, but I am hoping my whole troop can go. It will be our first event out of town. Here is the link: The Possibility Farm
I am excited, with the cookie money we can afford to do some fun projects, camps and get patches! I love my troop a whole lot, I am so glad I decided to be a leader!

Our First Cookie Shop!

I am so proud of how well my troop has done selling cookies this year. For a small troop of first-year Girl Scouts, they did great! Most of the girls reached their goals and all of the girls earned the basic cookie patch. Our cookies came in last week and we have been delivering ever since. Today was our first cookie shop at a local truck stop. We are very thankful to the truck stop because they have allowed us to set up or table inside -- out of the rain and cold -- and they have agreed to let us have 5 cookie shops over the course of the month. The cookie shops are broken up into 2 hour shifts. Saturdays from 9-11am, 11-1pm and Sundays 1-3pm. I asked the girls' parents to committ to 2 cookie shop shifts. The girls who have signed up are asked to work their shift with one of their parents. I am there as well. The girls also know they can work extra shifts to earn more incentives, since some were close to big prizes but just not quite there.
Today was hard at first because the girls were wound up and giggly. But at the end of our day we had sold 73 boxes of cookies. Becke, my assistant, and I have talked and we would like to spend some time at our next meeting learning how to behave at cookie shops. We'd like the girls to be more willing to ask people to buy cookies and to prepare the peoples' orders. Moms should just be there to supervise and make sure people are given the correct change. Overall, it went well and we're excited for next weekend.

Time to sell some cookies!

The girls are very excited for cookie sales, and they can officially start today. We had a cookie rally a few weeks ago and the girls who were able to attend had a ton of fun! I helped with putting the girls' pictures on their own box of cookies. At our last meeting I went over all the rules of the cookie sales with the parents but I did not hand out the forms, since it was over a week before our sales could start. Our council has set the rule that early sales would result in the entire troop losing it's proceeds, so my assistant and I felt it was better to be safe than sorry. We discussed earning a badge by taking an online safety quiz and about our goals for this sale. I also asked the parents about ideas for locations for Cookie sales in the community. We had lots of great ideas and I am hoping that we will be able to set up a table indoors since the weather here is still so cold!