The time has arrived. Their time has come. Every year, you see them, hear them, and sometimes smell them in your neighborhood, uniformly tempting you and your neighbors with irresistible products that sometimes cause feelings of guilt, shame, and overall breaking of resolutions.
The Girl Scouts are here. And they brought cookies.
I’m a full supporter. I always have been. I’ve never been one to turn away at least two boxes of Thin Mints each year because, you see, I prepare. I work out all year long and even extra in October to prepare for the holiday season. In January, I work out even more. Why?
Thin mints, that’s why! How can you resist those thin mints, especially when you put them in your freezer for 20 minutes and just let one melt in your mouth? Or the Samoas, combining chocolate and coconut into a deadly morsel of cellulite doom? And don’t even get started on the Tagalongs….oh, man.
Yes, Girl Scout Cookies are an American tradition, but there is an actual purpose for selling them other than young children aspiring to poison the veins of will-less souls. All the proceeds collected do contribute to Girl Scouts of America, an organization designed to promote leadership and confidence of young women around the nation. The Girl Scouts regularly do fundraisers for charity or provide projects for girls to do like camping, building crafts, learning manners, and self-confidence projects.
For every box of cookies sold (they go for $3.50 a box now), 60 cents goes directly back to the troop of the girl selling them. People have regularly volunteered to help Girl Scouts since 1912. They grew from 18 members back then to over 3.5 million today, with 236,000 troops and almost one million volunteers! The Girl Scouts have even expanded their reach to other countries, reaching over 90 across the world.
That troop usually takes the funds from the Girl Scout cookies and uses them to rent buses for field trips or they buy craft supplies, patches and such. Often there are special functions like Favorite Fella where a girl takes her dad to a special event. They cost money, but funds from selling cookies offset those costs.
When selling the cookies, Girl Scouts and Brownie Scouts can often earn small rewards for selling boxes. A scout who sells 24 boxes gets a special patch for their vests and sashes. A girl who sells 1000 boxes can win a 2GB Apple Ipod!
Regardless of your preferred cookie, it got me to thinking: what’s everyone’s favorite cookie? It’s a tough survey because the Girl Scouts regularly change up their cookie products while keeping certain traditional ones in each menu (Samoas and Thin Mints are staples). From what my taste buds can tell, the recipe has changed over the years and the cookies taste somewhat healthier.
But it doesn’t matter to me because I’m still buying my Thin Mints. My daughter is a Brownie and she’s doing her first sale this year. Actually, I am doing her first sale this year and she’s providing the connections to the supplies. I’m the middle man. As the middle man, I polled those who bought and came up with these results:
– The top 3 preferred cookies are Samoas, Do-Si-Dos, and Thin Mints
– The bottom two was Café Cookies and Tagalongs (I like those!)
– Of 52 boxes sold, only 2 were of the sugar-free brand of cookies
– 12% bought multiple boxes of one flavor
– 90% of people approached bought at least one box of cookies
– Of those who turned them down, 75% were on a diet and were eliminating sweets
– 15% of those who purchased cookies referred to them as “the devil” (not the girls, the cookies)
– 18% of those who bought cookies intended to give them away or bought for charity purposes
– Some people will buy from multiple girls
So here are my questions for my fellow AC readers:
Do you buy Girl Scout cookies?
What’s your favorite flavor?
Do you buy more than one box of that flavor?
When you buy boxes, do you keep the cookies to yourself or do you give them away?
Do you buy from more than one girl?
Thanks for your participation. Keep buying’ those boxes!
