5 Skills for Girls: Shaping Your Girl's FutureEverything girls do in Girl Scouting is designed to help them grow into leaders of Courage, Confidence and Character.

The 5 Skills that girls learn through the Girl Scout Cookie Program are valuable life skills that she can apply to her everyday life. [Download Five Skills for Girls Overview]


What are the 5 Skills and why do they matter to my Girl Scout?

GOAL SETTING: Your Girl Scout will set sales goals when she participates in the Fall Product Program. Learning how to set a goal individually and as a group and then creating a plan to reach them helps her develop cooperation and team building skills. Goal setting is a valuable skill that she can use every single day of her life and can apply to most everything she does.



DECISION MAKING: Helping to decide how her troop will spend their Fall Product money will require her to make decisions. Learning to make decisions and working as a group will help her to develop her critical thinking and problem solving skills. Becoming a confident decision maker will always serve her well.



 MONEY MANAGEMENT: Your Girl Scout takes cookie orders, handles customers' money, and gains valuable and practical life skills around financial literacy. From deciding how to use program proceeds to deciding how much she can afford to spend on a car payment, learning to manage money is a necessary skill for everyone.



PEOPLE SKILLS: Your Girl Scout learns how to talk to, listen to and work with all kinds of people while selling cookies. These experiences will allow your Girl Scout to develop healthy relationship and conflict resolution skills she can use throughout her life. She can learn to ask a teacher for help, work with others on school projects, or become part of a sports team.



BUSINESS ETHICS: Your Girl Scout is honest and responsible at every step of the cookie sale. Her business ethics reinforce the positive values she is developing as a Girl Scout. Because she is honest, her friends, classmates, and teachers count on her and think of her as trustworthy. Everyone likes knowing and working with someone that is honest and responsible.

Tips for Helping Your Girl Scout:

• Ask questions
• Listen
• Never do things for her that she can do for herself
• Talk to her about what she learned each day
• Have fun with her

Q and A's

What is my initial order?  Initial orders are any sales you make between today and January 24th.  On February 9th (pending) you will pick up cookies that you order on January 24th ONLY.

So do I stop selling cookies on January 24th?  No, keep selling and any orders you collect between January 24th and February 12th will be your SECOND ORDER that is due to your leader on February 12th.  After February 12th, you can submit orders to your leader anytime until the sale is over.  Your leader will let you know when you can pick up additional orders-usually 24 hours after you ask for them but sometimes as much as 3 days depending on when the "Cookie Cupboards" are open for us to go get more.

How do I submit an order?  Send your order in to your leader, she will send it to me.  Orders will be accepted via e-mail ONLY.  This is to protect you, and ensure that you get the right cookies that you ask for.  Remember, your leaders are VOLUNTEERS and this is a HUGE job for them so please understand that in order to keep things running smoothly, we are taking orders vi-a email only.  If you do not have email access, contact Jamila directly at 864-346-9651

Wait, you only gave me part of my Initial Order, what happened?  This year, our troop is going to be enforcing Girl Scout's policy of 'Only $300.00 of product may be released to any Girl at a time.'  Yes, we know that this is inconvenient and means that you might not only get part of your order but it is to protect the girl's bank account funds.  Only $300 of product per person is Insured.  Yes, that is 75 boxes-even if your initial order was for 200+ in order to receive the incentive.

How do I get the rest of my cookies then?  You can collect more cookies when you have turned in money to your leader.  You may not pay for all of the boxes upfront and then collect money from your customer because this jeopardizes Girl Scout's Non-Profit Status with the IRS.  Every box of cookies we sell is a donation in funds to GS so we need to collect up the cash and not have large checks from each family covering the whole amount.

What are the incentives?  How many boxes should I sell? That is up to you.  The girls earn incentives based on the number of boxes they sell, the incentives are listed on the back of the order forms.  Each group has a goal based on an activity that they would like to do with their cookie money.  That goal is the target you should try to reach.  Effort is rewarded, we know that not every girl will meet these goals and we will work with you if you can not meet the goal but put forth 100% effort.  This includes attending booths and cookie sales events.

Can I take a check, and who d-oes it get made out to? Simply, no.  We do not take checks because we have had problems with them bouncing in the past.  Every bounced check costs the troop $35.  IF you want to take a check from Grandma, or Aunt Sally, that is fine but not from customers.  You must write Grandma or Aunt Sally's phone number on the check.  Checks from family are made out to "TROOP 986"  If the checks bounce, we will attempt to reach the person that wrote the check, if they can not be reached, the girl's family will be responsible for the fees.

What is Boothing? Boothing is when we go sit outside of a market and ask customers if they would like to buy cookies.  You will get a Volunteer Spot Sign Up for Boothing.

Can I do my own Booth? Yes, you can booth ON YOUR OWN BLOCK anytime you like after February 12.  If you would like to set up a private booth anywhere else, we encourage you to do so!  Please contact Jamila directly at 864-346-9651 and I will help you set up a private booth.  You will only be given cookies to fill these booths if they are set up in the computer system-otherwise you have to work with your 75 boxes that you can pick up.  Private booths are split equally among all girls that work them.

I am going to be out of town on March 10, can I turn in the money when I get back? No. If you do not turn in the money to your leader on or before March 10, you are not going to receive your prizes that you earn from selling cookies.

What do I do with these Receipts?  SAVE EVERY RECEIPT WE GIVE YOU!  We make mistakes.  We are human.  They are the proof that you owe us for cookies you have picked up.  Likewise, they are proof that you have PAID us.  If you do not have receipt proof of paying us, then GS will try to collect at the end of the sale.  DO NOT take cookies or turn in money without a receipt-ever.  Do not trust us, we love you and love that you love us, so please do not loose your receipts in-case we make a mistake.

Some Cookie Rules to remember:
1.  You may sell to your teacher ONLY-no other teachers.  This rule is good for ALL schools.  This will not be taken lightly if violated.  All of the rest of school staff is fair game.  Teachers are receiving an email saying that it is cookie season and that they should buy from girls in their class ONLY and to tell other girls no thank you.

2.  If someone asks you to leave a booth site and you are not scheduled to be boothing there, call Julie immediately, and politely pack up and go home.  Likewise, if you see someone boothing in a place that they shouldn't be, call Julie immediately.  Cookie Booths on your own property can not be shut down by anyone other than the police-yes last year, some booths in LA County were shut down.  We DO have a permit to be selling and running a business but it is not worth arguing with the police over this matter.

3.  Your girls may only go Door-to-Door with an adult.

4.  Be kind to other girls, yes we all have goals but remember, this is not a competition and certainly is not worth upsetting a child over.

5.  You must have contact with the person to sell cookies, this means no "internet based" sales: ebay is off limits :)  You can sell online-I did today in fact, on Facebook!  But it will be delivered IN PERSON, WITH A GIRL PRESENT.

6.  THE GIRL NEEDS TO BE THE SALES PERSON!!  Please take order forms to work with you but when possible, please have your daughter deliver cookies.  At the very least, your daughter needs to send a thank-you note FROM HER if she can not deliver cookies in your office.

This is not a parent sale!  Cookies teach girls about business, about personal relations with adults, about how to handle money carefully, about gaining courage to ask people if they would like to help out, about properly handling a rejection or No answer, and mostly about the work/reward relationship.  Cookies are not just a money earner-they are about learning a skill set that girls learn by actively participating.  Cookies are not all about $$ and prizes

The Girl Scout Cookie Program is our premier business enterprise activity. The tradition of selling cookies dates back to 1917 when Girl Scouts sold home-baked cookies to raise money for their troops and communities.

Since then, the activity has grown into an opportunity for girls to practice leadership while earning money for their troops and council activities.

The five skills girls "learn by doing" through product sales are:

• goal setting
• decision making
• money management
• people skills
• business ethics