For a foodie, there are few things more exciting during the year than Girl Scout Cookie season. When that person walks into work, waving that color-coded form around, well it might as well be Christmas. From the very beginning of the Girl Scout cookie program history, the cookie sale has been the engine that powers them both during and after their time as a Scout.
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According to the Girl Scouts, 57 percent of alumnae in business say the program was key in the development of their skills today.
Girl Scout Cookie History
2017 was the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scout Cookie sale. In 1917, the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma was the first recorded troupe to sell cookies to raise money to send WWI soldiers gifts. The sale was a success and more troupes decided to take part in it.
In 1922, the first Girl Scout Cookie recipe was published in The American Girl magazine. The sugar cookie recipe appeared alongside a business plan for selling cookies to help start the cookie-selling revolution.
Back then, the cookies were home-baked. Today, there are specific manufacturers in charge of producing the world's favorite cookies. Since 1917, Girl Scout Cookies have seen their fair share of excitement.
In 1970, they helped power the first Earth Day and in 1992, they even made their way to outer space with Jan Smith, the first female space shuttle commander, and former Girl Scout.
In 1996, a Maryland troop used their cookie earnings to go to the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia by craftily micro-financing their cookie sales plan.
And nothing is as iconic as the Girl Scout troop that included Chris Rock's daughter selling cookies at the 88th Academy Awards in 2016 where stars like Leo DiCaprio and John Legend were seen fully enjoying the different varieties.
Regardless of the cookies' universal appeal, the Girl Scouts have consistently connected the importance of business to female empowerment since the sales began.
Today Daisies, Brownies, Jr. Girl Scouts and Girl Scouts sell favorites such as Thin Mints, Trefoils, Samoas, Do-Si-dos, and Tagalongs. Depending on where in the country you are, the cookies are baked by different commerical bakers, and because of that, some cookies are named differently. Caramel delites are Samoas, Peanut Butter Patties and Tagalongs, and Shortbread are Trefoils.
The Girl Scouts have remained at the forefront of trends, movements, and pop culture because they represent strong women, and strong women never go out of style.
Who Runs the World?
The point of the sale is for the Scouts to earn money to fund educational activities, community projects and to help transform girls into "G.I.R.L.s: Go-Getters, Innovators, Risk-takers, Leaders." They learn life skills and make lifelong friends in the process.
Plus, these girls literally run the world. The sale is the largest girl-led business in the United States. Last year's sales were nearly $800 million.
So go buy some Girl Scout cookies - what are you waiting for?
