Girl Scout Cookie Sale 2014

It's that time of year again.

That time when a leader's life is partially overtaken by:

• inventory pick ups in snowy parking lots,
• towering cases of every flavor in every open space of the house
• anxiety about girls selling enough cookies to meet their goals
• late nights logging sales records for each girls scout
• counting, recounting and recounting again to make sure all funds are present.
• freezing my touchy off at booth sales.

But it's not all misery. There is still plenty of fun with my daughter, and with the other girls in the troop. And these fun moments far outweigh the passing frustration at PDF excel spreadsheets.

At the last two troop meetings, with a little help from the Lehigh University girl scout helpers, the girls designed the tri-fold poster board for the booth sales. Lady B and I finished it today. Here's what it looks like:

Yes, there's actually lights embedded into it. No glitter... yet. Camila just may go rogue on it. If she comes to a booth sale with glitter, she can bomb the poster. I'm sure we'll find more space to add more ideas throughout the sale.

Being a troop leader is a lot of time, but it's well spent when you see the girls grow and take ownership of their learning and goals. Two

weeks ago, Bridget, Nicole and Jackie went to a Cookie Rally organized by some more seasoned leaders and a few college students from Cedar Crest College. The scouts went though 9 stations to teach them skills learned through the cookie sale.  As a volunteer, I was able to see what kind of activities are age appropriate for exploring ideas and turning them into a plan the girls create on their own. Of course, lots of the girls' ideas are taken from these events, but still they are doing it themselves.

The girls I lead TAKE the lead. We'll see how they do with customer service, inventory placement, counting change and helping to cheer each other on.

We've scheduled some Booth Sales to help the girls increase their profit potential; three at Lehigh University, two days at Church, and one at Lowe's in Bethlehem. Tomorrow from 10am-2pm is our first Booth Sale at Lehigh. I hope it goes well enough that I'll need to get more inventory for the second booth sale on Tuesday afternoon.  Crossing fingers.

Bridget's Commercial

A couple of years ago, the National Girl Scout Council created this video:

Sure it's a nicely produced commercial. But my daughter did her own, posted it on my Facebook Page and is already taking orders through the comments under the video. As she starts to see success on her own terms, she'll be able to apply the lessons of planning, determination and patience.

Here's her commercial:

We showed the other girls this video at the troop meeting. I hope that if they have supportive parents with their own Facebook network, they could try this idea, too.

The girls in our troop have set a pretty high goal. They want to go outdoor camping. These girls have never build a campfire. Most of them have never roasted a marshmallow on a stick. Peps, yes. S'mores... nope. We have a lot of work to earn funds to cover expenses. We also have a few overnights to get ready to live in the wild.