# Anyone else out there a GS cookie mom?



## RikiDaisyDixie (Apr 15, 2008)

Ladies, some of us were born volunteers. Right now I do volunteer work for Havanese Rescue, and I am more than glad to do it. It does not ask me to ask folks for money or sell anything. I help advertise the quilts and also co-chair the quilt committee. This year I am even helping make a square or two.

My daughter has been in GS for nine years. The cookie kick-off is tomorrow...and I must say I DREAD it. The girls only "earn" 75 cents for each box for their troop, not the half they earn at other school fundraisers which also she must sell.

I know it is for a good cause and they tell us we are teaching the girls to set goals and earn money to do certain things. I always think it would be better to learn to set goals with something with a much higher percentage of profit...that is real entrepreneurship! Sort of like Junior Achievement. I know that this is a big part of what GS is...and that to be a GS also means cookie sales. 

How do you all get through it year after year? I know a lot of you are parents with all sorts of constant fundraising in addition to Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. I don't mind the cookie booths...it is just the pressure to sell a certain number of boxes...ah well.

We have friends and neighbors who see us coming and they always say...so what you selling today! A lot of the time I am just walking the dogs!


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## dschles (Jan 23, 2007)

My 9-year old daughter loves selling Girl Scout cookies. I think it is her favorite thing about Girl Scouts. Our troop puts no pressure on the girls to sell a certain amount of boxes. My daughter usually sells more than 200 boxes, but that's because she enjoys it. Other girls sell 10-20 boxes, and that's fine.


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## RikiDaisyDixie (Apr 15, 2008)

*How does she do it?*

Good for her...does she have any trade secrets? She does enjoy it!

Seems like no one is home in our neck of the woods. This year I was thinking of putting little notes in our neighbors mailboxes. Everyone works or is out!


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## dschles (Jan 23, 2007)

Where we live, the houses are all pretty far apart. So, we have never tried door-to-door (we don't trick or treat in our neighborhood at Halloween either). My daughter sells most of her cookies at her dad's office. The rest she sells to moms at school who don't have girl scouts. 

I find that many people (including myself) have an emotional attachment to Girl Scout cookies, so they are a pretty easy sell.


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## RikiDaisyDixie (Apr 15, 2008)

*You will laugh*

Our lots are 25 feet by 100 feet! And our homes are 20 feet by 60 feet, three levels called tall and skinnies! We are one mile to the beach, so land is at a premium! Isn't it sort of silly!

I do miss a big back yard though!


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## dschles (Jan 23, 2007)

I am a So Cal girl (we lived in Westwood), stuck living in Wisconsin for my husband's job. We live in a community where almost all of the lots are 5 acres. We have a big fenced backyard (many people here have electronic fences, but I insisted on a real fence). Big lots are nice, but you sacrifice a neighborhood feeling. We don't have sidewalks here, and we only know a few of our neighbors. 

Tiny lot near the beach sounds good to me.


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## RikiDaisyDixie (Apr 15, 2008)

*Wow Diane...*

I'm a Virginia girl who lived in a few cold winters in Missouri, who decided to permanently avoid scraping my windows in the morning!


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

Our neighbor sent out an e-mail to the neighborhood and also hung a sign on her mailbox stating "GIRL SCOUT COOKIES FOR SALE". I thought that was a great idea instead of having her daughter walk the neighborhood. 

I don't do fundraisers anymore. With 3 kids living in a neighborhood where all the kids are selling the same thing I just chose to not participate. I order if it's something I do want but don't have the kids go door to door. I don't ask DH to take it to work either as I don't want his employees to feel pressured to buy since they work for him. IMHO the fundraising has gotten out of hand. Seems like they spend so much on the junky little prizes that you wonder how much they net from the sale.


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## Judy A (Jan 13, 2007)

I understand the embarrassment of your kids constantly selling something.....I'm not missing that aspect of parenthood! As they got older, they refused to do it and I didn't make them. We would usually just donate to the cause......

Some people really look forward to Girl Scout cookies and are upset if they don't get any. I do agree, though, that the local troupe gets taken for a ride on the profit end of things. For what the cookies cost, you would think their profit margin would be greater. In this day and age, I would think phone sales would be OK.


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## Pixiesmom (Jul 31, 2008)

I love the email idea.
I remember selling GS calenders door to door as a Brownie-and I remember how much I hated it. GS cookies have been around forever, but it seems like kids are asked to sell something at every turn (cookie dough, wrapping paper, wreaths, coupon books, etc....).

Beth and Pixie Puff


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## cjsud (Oct 26, 2008)

I just picked up my first 2 boxes yesterday. 2 girls and their moms set up outside the train station.


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

My daughter has been a GS since 2nd grade. I've been a registered adult in our troop and a cookie and nut mom for the troop ever since. I love it. My daughter throughly enjoys GS even as a junior in HS when it's "not cool". As she has gotten older,it is less of a priority(the product sales)....but what we did--was she would set her goal(as an individual)and she had a secret...besides me being very involved in the sales,we came up with new ideas to sell. We would walk uptown and sell to the business people in the stores,and we sold in apartment buildings. We made fliers and she really pounded the sidewalk and I drove her around like a **** loon! I really did. We never knew 90% of the people we sold to,but only a few times did we get "burned"....I learned I never bought my cookies till the end of the sale,just in case someone burnt us and I ended up buying their order. My daughter I am very proud to say earned every red cent to go on a 10 day trip to Savannah Georgia. It was a trip of a lifetime...and she sold cookies and nuts till she was blue in the face,we had bake sales and garage sales,washed dishes at the VFW,all sorts of things----but she earned her entire trip plus spending money and even came home with 250.00 in her pocket! Gosh----I was so proud of her! I think the trick is to have her get a goal and have total support and an active Mom in the troop. Lacy also earned 57 brownie badges(all of them) in 2nd and 3rd grade)---earned 117 junior badges(all of them+a few old ones) and earned her bronze award. She earned her silver award a couple years ago and is currently working on her gold...though it has taken a back seat lately. She is a remarkable,responsible,wonderful young lady....and that is partly due to Girl Scouts. It has given her opportunities she otherwise wouldn't have,have made her responsible,goal setting,follow through,able to approach people and talk,made her confident etc....I can not tell you how much I wish I had had these opportunities as a young girl. Girl Scouts is good...it is......

By the way---our council's merged now and things have changed----but I used to be on the product sales task force as well. This is where you pick the product and the prizes. Now the prizes kinda suck.......


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## Pixiesmom (Jul 31, 2008)

That is fantastic Julie. 
Do they have a GS equivalent to an Eagle Scout I wonder??...


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

Unfortunately they do not. It is kinda sad really.

Of course,I should of said the following earlier:
I think part of the reason my daughter did so well in GS was because she has always been tormented,teased and ridiculed my other kids in school. From about 5th grade till 9th---it was horrible. She was and is very pretty and smart,but did not excel in sports. It was difficult for her to fit in in our town because she wasn't good in sports. She was a book worm and the top reader in the state,reading at college level in the 6th grade...so the other kids were just nasty to her--pushing her,throwing things in her hair,taking her books and homework,exploding ink pens on her--just nasty ash kids. But with GS she could fit in. She was an achiever and the other kids looked up to her. She has since helped alot of little GS girls because she can relate,make them feel good about being themselves,and she has been a great mentor...plus her GS leader did not allow that nasty behavior. We FINALLY found something together as Mom and Daughter that we both enjoyed,and we ran with it.

I was a basketball player,in track and was a cheerleader and dancer. I couldn't believe my daughter could hardly run and dribble a ball at the same time and wasn't aggressive in playing sports. She tried them all and dance----but no-----GS was her thing. I would encourage everyone with a daughter to hang in there and get involved as much as possible. Lacy got to experience so many wonderful things we were not able to do on our own,and she made friends outside of the troop. It has been wonderful for us.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

My oldest son is a bit like that, he doesn't get picked on but has a few friends and doesn't venture outside his group. He would be described as a nerd, makes no difference to me as long as he's happy! Very tall and thin, no interest in playing sports but lives for college football, and gets straight A's in advanced and AP classes. He's a good kid who can't wait to graduate, he's a junior, and go on to college. Already knows what he's going to study which is impressive to me because I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up!:biggrin1:

Scouting is a wonderful thing, for boys and girls. I don't have any problem with GS cookie sales, it's all the other junk I don't want to participate in. We see many GS set up in front of grocery stores and Wal-Mart/Target type places. I could eat Samoas until I exploded!!!


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

Oh yes Ann--I agree.....those Samoas are fantastic! Of course,I like them all! :hungry:

They do not make much on a box,but by the time the cookie company gets their money,the council,it hardly leaves anything left. I used to have the break down per box,but I'm not sure I have it anymore. We switched up cookie companies as well being a different council now--which I don't care for as much,but what we do as a troop is use the proceeds for something more gratifying for the girls...particularly when they were younger. We used to have a lock in at the church and a pizza party or something like that. We used to make swaps etc. I have been a resource person for our troop for over 10 years and help the girls anyway I can. Last Sunday we sewed "bootie bags" from old worn out blue jeans. Remember making these in the 70's anyone? :ear: Of course we didn't call them bootie bags back then,but the girls loved them. I just like the idea that the girls can try so many different things through GS-- adventures,going places,camping,overnights,swaps,making things,baking,sewing,quilting,ceramincs etc. I always told Lacy that she didn't have to like it or even be good at it---but trying it is what matters,because you don't know till you try.


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