First Cookie Booth

Juliette did NOT earn a new badge! This is not a drill! Yes, I’m goofing around, but these posts are usually about earned badges. Instead, this time it’s all about the booth… and several patches… unless she earns a badge in the next couple of days lol. (Update: she didn’t, but she did 2 weeks later…)

OUR First Cookie Booth!

Today was Juliette’s very first cookie booth ever! It was also MY first cookie booth ever – and I was (what they sometimes now call a Sprout and) a Girl Scout for 6-8 years. Apparently, my parents chose not to do cookie booths when they were troop leaders and I rarely saw my final trip because they met at the same time as my dance class (I think?). Either way, with no experience, and little guidance as a Juliette, I asked several members of our council and then sought out more answers in Girl Scout Facebook groups. The advice I found was exceedingly helpful.

Prep:

Table and tablecloth (since our booth was outside a council shop, they were provided)
Folding chairs (unless provided – ours weren’t, but my parents provided since I couldn’t find mine)
Posters announcing sale (also provided, but we made one to display so it would be personalized)
Tracking sheet and clipboard (we were directed to the baker’s website to find the sheet)
Drinks with covers
Donation jar (our glass one is being used so we used a plastic one that unfortunately didn’t have a lid – even with a hand sanitizer to weigh it down, it tipped and the money flew away – luckily a customer was able to grab and return it, and I kept the money in my pocket after that)
Activities for when it was quiet (I printed out coloring pages but didn’t get them out because it was windy and we had a steady stream of customers with short lulls)
Small bills for change (I followed advice from a group with $50 each in ones, fives, and tens)
Money bag or box – and never put it down so it can’t walk away (I had a branded money bag that I got from the GS Shop when we attended the rally – also had a pin and a sign that we brought and used at the booth)
App downloaded on phone and phone charged/ bring portable charger
Wear uniform
Cookie math cheat sheet (I printed 4 and used clear packing tape to laminate and attached to lanyards)

I think that was it? It felt pretty extensive but made it easy to sell without worrying. I also brought snacks because no one had mentioned not eating and little kids need snacks.

Booth Time

Once everything was packed and ready to go, we headed to the GS Shop for the sale! It was me, Juliette, and Cub, and I asked my mom to come meet us to help watch Cub since I knew it was going to be long and I couldn’t watch him and take money. Luckily, my mom brought reinforcements – my dad and my niece and nephew also came to surprise Juliette! I don’t know the rules about it, but they were invaluable to our booth. Mom and Dad helped wrangle the kids (especially Cub, whose sense of safety is just being developed), Dad helped with the miscellaneous details. nephew kept Juliette company and played with her when she was bored of the booth, and Mom also helped with setting up the table, staying organized, and helping hold onto the money anytime I had to handle my kids. There were a couple of sales that Juliette tried to help with, but she’s 5.5 years old, and it was cold, so there was more playing than anything. She did help with waving the cars, and even Cub tried to call out “Girl Scout Cookies” in his toddler voice.

I didn’t mention my niece because, wow. Niece turned into gung-ho Girl Scout-to-be as soon as I handed her the “Ask Me About Girl Scout Cookies” pin to wear. She told people about the cookies, caught on to the answers quickly (how much are they? which ones are peanut butter?), noticed me mentioning the S’mores were retiring this year and made sure to tell everyone, and she was usually the first kid to try to figure out how much was owed. When we hit our first lull, I told the kids to wave at the cars coming in and out of the plaza, and she took it to the next level by calling out “Girl Scout Cookies. Get your Girl Scout Cookies here!” She was totally in her element, so much so that I asked my sister if I could gift her a GS membership, but she chose to buy it herself if Niece wanted it (no surprise, she jumped for joy at the idea of becoming a Girl Scout!). So now, my sister and I are lifetime Girl Scouts (she’s been one forever, and I became one finally a few days ago) and our daughters are each Girl Scout Juliettes!

After this booth, Juliette has now earned a Techie Patch for selling over 100 boxes of cookies online, Booth Sales Patch for selling at least 25 boxes at a booth, Gift of Caring Patch for making sales of over 20 boxes for donation, a 200+ Bar Patch for over 200 boxes sold (in 100 increments, so she may get a higher number based on how the rest of cookie season goes), and several reward patches – Embrace Possibilities, Charm Patch with Embrace Possibilities Charm, 2025 Year Bar Patch. I think it’s good that Daisies is only for two years because I think the back of her vest will be filled after one and that doesn’t include the extra badges that will likely need to be added once the front is filled! I also got her a My First Cookie Sale 2025 patch for posterity.

Use Resources Wisely

So the entire family got sick (bronchitis) and now, two weeks later, Juliette has earned her second-to-last petal and another fun patch so I’m including them in this post.

Reduce your use

Reuse everyday things

Recycle what is left

We used the Daisy Handbook as our primary source of activities for this petal. For step one, we learned about composting from this video that Juliette chose to watch. Step two was easy because Juliette had recently grabbed random materials from around the house (like the inside of a roll of gift wrap) and began to make things out of them. We spoke about other things that could be reused (jars, etc) to round out her understanding. For step three, we spoke about recycling. We already have a recycling bin in our home, but we also looked up a local recycling center to learn more about what kinds of things can be recycled. She asked if the toilet insert from potty training was recyclable (yes, it’s plastic) and wanted to recycle one of our couches (yes, it’s recyclable, but it would be wasteful since we still use it and it’s in good condition).

STEM Box

I think I previously mentioned that Juliette’s STEM Sisters program came with a coupon code for $5 off a STEM-related program or activity from that council. We used it to purchase their STEM Box. It was worth way more than $5 but they had a partnership to create it. Anyway, the box came with a fun patch and I decided that Juliette needed to do at least 3 activities in the box to earn the patch. She made jelly soap (basically mixing gelatin into soap) to learn about polymers, metallic slime (slime with iron filings – her first slime ever!) to learn about magnets, and catapults (out of popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and plastic spoons) to learn about catapults… and stored energy.

They now have a Science of Color Box for $5 that we ordered and will be shipping in April.

An Update on Progress

Here’s my usual update on the badges, journeys, and awards that we’re working on or have planned.

Be a Sister to Every Girl Scout petal – the last petal! Juliette should earn soon.
Between Earth and Sky Journey – earned the Bucket and the Firefly and finished reading the story. We have the Take Action Project planned to do in March/April.
Money Explorer Badge/ Good Neighbor Badge – we haven’t started yet, but they seem to go well with all of the cookie badges.
How Robots Move Badge/ Design a Robot Badge – would make sense to follow up the first robotic badge with these
Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden Journey – we haven’t started, but we have the books and this would be a great third journey that would also earn her Daisy Journey Summit Award Pin
Automotive badges – she’s signed up for a virtual event with NASCAR in April to earn all three badges
Daisy Craft and Tinker Badge – we plan to work on this badge at an upcoming Home Depot or Lowe’s kids workshop

Badge Number 16

Promise Center (and Home School patch)
Democracy for Daisies (and 2024 Election patch)
Make the World a Better Place
Honest and Fair
Space Science Explorer (and Mars patch)
Friendly and Helpful
Animal Observer (and fun patches: Girl Scouts of Hawai’i, Queen Liliʻuokalani, WWII Remembrance, I Love to Travel, Cruise Ship, Hawaiian Luau, STEM Sisters, Space Science)
Considerate and Caring
Courageous and Strong (and My Promise, My Faith Pin Year 1)
Responsible for What I Say and Do (and Daisy Global Action Award Year 1)
Think Like a Citizen Scientist Journey
Respect Myself and Others
What Robots Do (Robotics fun patch and Total Eclipse)
My First Cookie Business (GS Council CEO, GS Council, and Cookie Rally fun patches, and Cookie Entrepreneur Family Pin Year 1)
Respect Authority (Safety Award Pin and World Thinking Day Award 2025)
Use Resources Wisely (Techie, Booth Sales, Gift of Caring, 200+ bar, Embrace Possibilities, 2025 Year bar, Charm patch with Embrace Possibilities charm, My First Cookie Sale 2025, STEM box)