Girl Scout Camp

Beyond cookies, another great Girl Scout experience is CAMP.  This one was awesome last year, and  I know at least my girl wants to go back:

Cookie, Cookie, COOKIE!

Ask any Girl Scout what they remember about scouting, and they'll come around to cookies.  (Songs, sure, camp, hopefully, cookies, definitely!)  For that matter, ask any non-Girl Scout what they know about Girl Scouts, and they'll come around to cookies.  So, guess what time it is?  That's right, 

COOKIE TIME!

This year's cookie sale begins on January 22.  Actually, many folks have already been working behind to the scenes to get things rolling (Sue, Martha, and Lynne all attended training in December), but, for your girl's purposes, the day is January 22nd.

We will be 'training' the girls for this year's cookie sales in the meeting Monday (January 11).  We will talk to them about their responsibilities, as well as discuss reasonable goals for participation.  While we do not require girls to sell cookies, we do use the proceeds for troop activities, so we encourage the girls to participate at their comfort level.

We are hoping to avoid a parent meeting because we are sensitive to everyone's tight time.  In lieu, we are asking all parents to pick up their girl's packet, including the order form, reference booklet, and some paper work we need signed. Paper work must be signed before your girl can sell cookies.  We will be providing information in the form of email, and with some of the materials provided in the packet.  Please do take some time to read the materials in the next week or so.  And please do ask any questions you may have! 

1.  We do not require participation, although we do encourage it.  Girl Scouts USA has a thoughtful program where girls learn about finances, public interaction, philanthropy through cookie sales.  We also use the proceeds to fund our activities.  Finally, and no less important to the girls, they earn prizes for meeting different sales goals.  (Prizes pictured on the back of the sales order form.)

2.  We are selling, for $4 per box, through out the cookie sale:

• Thin Mints
• Samoas
• Tagalongs
• Trefoils
• Do-si-dos
• Savanna Smiles lemon cookies

We will also have Toffe Tastic gluten free cookies available through Digital Cookie and during booth sales, for $5.50 per box.

Finally, patrons can buy boxes for 'Operation Cooke Drop'.  The way this works, someone buys a number of boxes, but instead of specifying a type and taking delivery, all the OCD cookes are shipped to active military recipients at the end of the sales period.  (This is a way for someone to 'make a donation' without buying boxes.)

3.  We do both pre-sales (girls go door-to-door with order forms and take commitments.  They do not collect money at this time), direct sales (girls can carry boxes around and sell them directly, they collect money as they sell), and booth sales (girls work in a team to sell cookies directly at a booth).

The girls have decided that there will BE NO SELLING AT SCHOOL during the pre-sale period.  We will organize a 'booth' day for girls to sell at school together, and all schools based sales will be divided evenly between the girls.  This is to prevent pressure on teachers or staff who may have relationships with many of our girls.

4.  Once your girl has taken possession of cookies she (you) are financially liable for them.  They can not be returned to the council.  If you think your girls can't sell all the cookies she has taken into her possession, please let us know - we can probably place them with someone who needs extra boxes.

You will be liable for the cost of the cookies.  Initial money is due on 3/7, and all the funds are due to the troop by 3/22.

5.  Important dates summarized:

1/11 - Packet pick up date

1/18 - No meeting (MLK day)

1/22 - Cookie sales start

2/7 - Pre-order sales due

2/28 - initial cookie shipment recieved

3/4 - 3/20 - booth sales

3/7 - initial money return due

3/22 - all money due

6.  Etiquette and safety - We will be discussing these issues on an on-going basis with the girls.  It is important for them to follow the safety rules laid out in the cookie booklet, and to observe Girl Scout etiquette guidelines.

7.  Girls should wear some part of their uniform during cookies sales.  The bare minimum is their brownie pin, but sashes, beanies, etc. are encouraged.  

Getting ready to represent

Cookie sales are coming up, so I figured it was about time to update M's sash.  Official troop designation, membership stars, and badges earned for projects go on the front.  The top set of badges is the World of Water journey set, and the bottom ones are stand-alone badges.

Patches from fun activities, or other small rewards go on the back.  Most of these are from cookie sales or summer camp.

Things I have learned:

1.  We're a little conservative in what we ask the girls to put on their uniforms.  This sash, for example, doesn't have a flag.  Madeleine doesn't have extra reward pins.  (She should have one more membership star, though.)  We don't have a troop crest.  She is still running out of room.  I mean, that's cool - that a bunch of badges for a year and a half in Brownies.

1b.  But sashes - they kind suck.  Maybe back int eh day when the badges were smaller and circular, but these triangular things are hard to get on there looking organized and neat.  If the troop earns all the badges I think they should earn by the end of the year, I'm not sure they will all fit.
I think the vests also just stay on the girls better - they are much easier to wear.
From here on out, it is vests!

2.  Badge magic seems to work.  (Badge magic is like double-sided sticky tape for badges.)  The badges seem secure, although we'll have to see how they wear.  A down side is, you can't combine ironing and badge-magic, because you aren't supposed to iron badge-magic, so now that I've started down this path I'm sort of stuck.
I think sewing is probably the best way, but I don't like sewing through the iron-on adhesive that comes on the badges.

I'm sort of proud of our girls, though - look at all that stuff they've done!

Philanthropy Badge

The girls donated 32 pounds of food to our closest foodbank.  We also got a great tour of the facility, and the near by family resource center.  

Pottery Badge

Hey everyone,

I'm setting up an activity for the girls to complete the pottery badge.  It will involve having a professional potter come in and teach the girls.  They will get to make a piece of pottery, glaze it, and then have it fired.  She suggested that they could make traditional bowls, to correspond with their study of indigenous people at schooo.  I think this experience is worthwhile, and will be popular.

My only hesitation is that the class costs $20/session/girl.  We will pay for one session out of our dues money.  But, I'd thought having two sessions would be beneficial, since our girls sometimes have a hard time completing something that complex in one session.

I wonder if anyone has comments on the following -
Should we a) do one session, for $20/girl, or b) do two sessions for $40/girl.  At the two session rate we'd be spending all of our dues money, so we'd probably want to ask for additional funds.  There may be an option c) do one session but expand our ending time for that meeting to 6pm.

Any commentary, suggestions, etc, are welcome.

Weekly meeting snacks

Hey guys,

Our new arrangement with snacks is working out awesomely.  It is really nice for Martha and I to know that they girls will have a snack, plus, the snack-bringer has generally been excited to be in charge of snacks and the girls have really liked the options.

Now that I have most of our forms in, I can re-affirm that we don't have any major allergies in our group, but we do have a number of vegetarians.

Here is a link to the sign up for future reference:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f084eaea82ba7f94-weekly/5815497

Bug Badge

Our first troop outing was a success.  The Bug Badge activity at the zoo was well organized, and most of our girls could attend.  The activities were fairly basic, but did cover things in a more organized fashion than we had when we explored bugs last spring.

The day was incredible, though, and having the girls all digging around in the mud and wandering around the zoo was worth every penny.

*Girls who attended will receive their badge from the troop, at some point when we get to the store to pick them up.  Girls who were unable to attend can complete the badge on their own, if they wish.  This one is pretty doable with some time outside and some reference books.