Cookie Booths: Direct Sales

This year, it was Direct Sales for cookies.

I.N.S.A.N.E.

I can't tell you how many times I went to the Service Center to get cookies, or TRIED to get cookies. At one point, they had 106 troops on the list and were waiting for the baker to deliver to the warehouse so they could get cookies for all of us.

I know it is the best fundraiser for my troop - but it took SO MUCH of my time this year that there simply has to be a better system for this.

It was their first year trying it -- and I KNOW the girls sold more by having them in hand for instant delivery but the suppliers simply couldn't keep up.

A tad frustrating...

However, the girls ROCKED it. They learned about customer service, making change, patience and even how to set up an eye appealing booth. (they colorized the cookies, LOL)

We had seen a lot of other booths set up --no table cloth, messy tables, girls standing in store displays or in their outside flower gardens - all things that made me cringe!

A simple tablecloth makes such a HUGE difference! Add a little seasonal decoration and it really draws the eye....
Our signs were in frames from the local dollar store - for a neater presentation.
Never underestimate the power of pigtails, lol!
They brought their "a' game, used their manners and "worked" on their 2 hour shift. (I split the troop up).
I couldn't be prouder of them!

We made enough troop money for all the things we want to do: service project - events - awards and more...but I already dread this for next year, LOL!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Meeting Number 5: Blue Bucket!

We started with Turkey Hand Art!

I made a sheet that had an old poem on the top of it:

This isn’t just a turkey, as anyone can see…
I make it with my hand, which is part of me.
It comes with lots of love, especially to say …
I hope you have a VERY happy Thanksgiving Day!

Then, we painted the girls hands with Tempera Paints and they made a giant, colorful, Turkey hand print on it.
We did this FIRST so they could dry as the meeting progressed.I know from experience that there is nothing more fun that getting a wet, painted item to take home.{not!}

 

THEN... on to the regular meeting...

 

Circle Time

·Review Caper Chart. Leader Helper sits on my right

Girl Scout Promise

·How do we think the gal on our left feels today? Go around the circle and ask - as we are working on feelings (Blue Bucket)

Independent Petal Pack Award Pass Out.

Theme of the day:  You, Me, How Different We Can Be - where they learned about other people’s feelings. I went to the board and asked them to describe me. I am a hefty gal and was hoping for someone to hit on that... and they said everything BUT that, I had to prompt them, LOL!
That opened up the door to explain WHY I am a larger woman. I have been cut out of not one, but TWO major car accidents. I have had 18 broken bones, have more arthritis than my grandmother. I was on crutches, had casts, braces and more on my legs. That led into a great explanation on how we are ALL different.
Then, I held up a paper heart... crumpled it up... opened it up again. This was to show how the words you say to someone can hurt them and even, after you say "I'm sorry", the marks can still be there.

Yes, I love visuals.

They already understood this because none of them wanted to pull the fat/chubby card with me. They are AWESOME girls.

{grin}

THEN -- back to our journey books! They were to finish chapter 1 before coming back to a meeting, and they did.

Talk about nature’s colors and how we made the Handprint Turkey Craft.

They earned their Blue Bucket Award.

 

Time to Finish our Safety Badge training!

We tested them on their address and phone number. It was the LAST thing that they needed to know for this. If they passed, they got their pin. They all DID pass and you could see how proud some of them were to get their awards!
-->It was SUPER cute!

Snack Time

·Snack and beverage helpers pass out treats. It was Root week... the snack helper brought in little plates of carrot sticks with dip and the beverage helper had juice boxes. Simple and easy -- healthy and still working with our "plant" theme.

Circle time

·Christmas Songs: Rudolph, Jingle Bells, any others?  We came up with "We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Mr Snowman (from kindergarten) and an "echo" song.
That gives us a grand total of 5 songs for our caroling at the senior center in December...that we will practice at the next meeting and sing while they ring bells for our Salvation Army shift.

Clean Up helpers helped pack up cart and clear the message board... A LOT of girls helped clean up - it was super!

Take home: Their craft, The Blue Bucket patches, Safety pin and reminder for the next meeting. It was a lot of fun!
:)

The Brownie Story

This is an OOOOOLD story that goes back as far as the 1200s -- but has been adapted to work with the Girl Scouts. In my Petal Independent Study Pack, I have them read this with their families and then they have a bunch of "A Girl Scout Was Here" slips to leave around the house as they do helpful things.



Once upon a time, there were two little girls who lived in England with their granny and their father. The girls played all day while the granny and father had to work very hard. One day granny told the girls about the Brownies, who used to do lots of things to help around the house. They are gone now, she said, but we were always so much happier when they helped. The girls wanted to know where the Brownies had gone and how to get them to come back. Granny said, "Only the wise old owl knows!"

That night, when everyone else was asleep, one of the girls ran out of the house into the magic forest. There she found the wise old owl. "Please", said the girl, "where can I find the Brownies to come and live with us? The owl said, "I know where two live – right in your house!" She was very surprised! Tell me how to find them, she begged. He told her to go to the pond in the magic forest, turn around three times and say, "twist me and turn me and show me the elf… I looked in the water and saw…….!" The wise old owl said, "When you finish the rhyme, you will see the Brownie in the magic pond."

The girl went to the pond in the magic forest and did as she had been told. She went back to the forest and found the wise old owl and said, " something must be wrong, I did all you told me to do and I only saw myself! And I am not a Brownie!" " Are you sure?" said the owl. To be a Brownie, you must be ready to help those around you, make friends wherever you can, and every day try to discover something new. "I'd like to be a Brownie", said the girl. Then go home and try, the wise old owl said kindly. He touched her hand with his feathers, and suddenly she was back in her house, in her own bed.

Quietly, she woke up her sister, told her all that had happened. Together the girls tip-toed into the kitchen and began to clean the house. In the morning, when granny and father saw the house, they wanted to know what had happened. "Who did this?" said granny and father! The girls danced around and shouted,

"It's the Brownies!"

And from that day on, theirs was a very happy house near the forest, all because of the Brownies!

Meeting Number Four: Happy Birthday Juliette!

We had two girls as guests tonight - they decided to join our troop!

We are up to 13 girls now - yippee!
We are also now a very full troop - and I am telling the council that we are full.

This meeting was the day after Juliette Gordon Low's birthday (10/31) so we made it a festive occasion! It was more of a party than a traditional meeting.

I hit the local dollar store and got daisy balloons (enough so each girl would have one to take home) and they were hanging over our craft/snack tables. I LOVE our dollar store -- filled helium balloons for $1.00 instead of $7 at the local card or floral shop! I wanted it to be fun to walk into - what could be more fun than balloons?

Early Bird Activity: Still working on coloring the boxes for December's Senior Center Visit

Circle Time

·Review Daisy Wheel. Leader Helper sits on my right. This is the last meeting for the Daisy Wheel - it only had 8 petals and we are now at 13 girls. I have to make a kaper chart. {sigh}

·Theme of the day: Happy Birthday Juliette!
 

Old business first: We ran out of time last meeting and couldn't do the craft because of all the silliness. Don't get me wrong, we like fun, but it was NOT Girl Scout behavior and I shared with the girls that we can do a LOT in our meeting or we can wait for everyone to be ready to listen/participate. We are guests in a local church and need to respect the room as well as the other people in the building that are having their own meetings.
:)

Then, we passed out any patches that were due, saw if anyone had earned any of their petals from the independent study packs (everyone clapped for them), passed out birthday cards/patches for anyone that had a birthday close. It seems like all my girls were born June-December, LOL!

We tested if they remembered their address and phone number - an assignment from the last meeting to earn their safety award. If yes, they were going to get their pin. They were SOOOOO close!! I am sure they will get it by the next meeting.
 
We talked about cookie booth expectations as it was our first year selling cookies and we have seven booths set up for November:

• Wear our vests
• Bring our smiles
• Use our manners: Please and Thank you.
• Customer's come first. (in case it gets slow and they were coloring, etc)

Then we did the Girl Scout Promise.

PARTY TIME!

Parties come with games so we did this one. It had them all cracking up!

THE JULIETTE LOW AND GIRL SCOUTING GAME
(An Action Story) As the story is read, players do the following actions when certain words are said. Practice the motion first so everyone understands. This is easier to play standing up.

"JULIETTE LOW" - Join hands with persons on right and left

"SCOUT’ OR SCOUTING"- Smile and salute
"WORLD" - Spin around once
“FUND” - Punch a button with one finger and say “cha-ching”

In 1912, Juliette Low became interested in scouting while visiting her friends, Lord and Lady Baden-Powell, who lived in England and who started Boy Scouting and Girl Guiding in their part of the world.

When Juliette Low came back to America, she thought scouting was so wonderful that she decided to start the first Girl Scout Troop in her own home town of Savannah, Georgia. This she did on March 12, 1912 and this first little troop of eight girls was the first Girl Scout troop in this part of the world.
 

This first Girl Scout troop was so successful that Juliette Low wanted to see Girl Scout troops all over the world. She knew that Girl Scouting would help girls all over the world become friends and to help build world peace and good will.

Girl Scouting grew and grew until now you are not only a member of your own little troop, but also a member of the Girl Scouts of the USA and the world Association of the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.

Juliette Low died in 1927 and her friends wanted to pay her a great tribute. They knew that her greatest dream was of world friendship and of world peace and that she hoped to accomplish this through Girl Scouting. So her friends started a memorial fund in her honor and called it the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund and each year all Girl Scouts in the United States contributed to this Fund which helps Girl Scouting all over the world.

Your contributions to this Fund will travel to all parts of the world and help Girl Scouts in many ways; maybe it will help to send older Girl Scouts from our country to Our Chalet in Switzerland, where Girl Scouts from all over the world get together to exchange ideas and to help build world peace.

We have no way of knowing how far our contribution may travel; we have no way of knowing what ways it may be returned to us in new friendships and world peace. But we do know that the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund is doing a lot of good. We do know that we are helping the fund to spread Girl Scouting around the world when we make our contribution to the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund.
 (They loved it and we all were laughing)

Craft time!
As Juliette sold her treasured pearl necklace to start the Girl Scouts, we let them make their own with pearlish plastic beads and string. Each girl had 5 pearls and clear cord - the 5 pearls were for being able to start scouts when you are 5.

Gift time!
I picked up fun patches for each girl that had Juliette on it. They were wrapped up like little gifts.

Snack time!
We have been doing healthy snacks all year and this time, we made an exception: cupcakes. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Juliette before enjoying them with the juice boxes.

Circle time
Leader Helper passed out Juliette coloring sheets and then we did the friendship squeeze.

Clean Up helpers helped pack up cart... A LOT of girls helped clean up - it was super!

Take home: Their craft, a Juliette fun patch and coloring sheet

Next meeting - we will finish our Blue Bucket award, safety award and do a Thanksgiving craft!