My daughter, Emma, is 7 and a proud Brownie. Her troop enjoys various fun activities, like visiting the animal shelter and delivering care packages to local veterans. I genuinely appreciate the other moms who coordinate these events, as organizing isn’t my forte, and we’ve been trying to keep up as somewhat uninvolved Brownie parents. That is, until cookie season rolled around.
Typically, I’m the laid-back parent who lets my kids tackle these tasks, but for some reason, I felt the urge to dive deep into this endeavor. It seemed like a fantastic opportunity at the time. After all, selling Girl Scout cookies comes with valuable life lessons, as a former Girl Scout recently highlighted on CNN:
- Marketing Skills: My daughter would need to persuade people to buy cookies.
- Handling Rejection: She would face potential no’s, teaching her resilience.
- Building Courage: Approaching strangers at her age can be daunting, yet selling cookies requires that bravery.
We checked all these boxes, and Emma excelled in her marketing, rejection, and courage challenges. So, where did I go wrong?
It all began with a questionable decision to sell cookies to my former colleagues. At the time, I was underemployed, and the kids had another day off school (don’t even get me started on that), so we took the train to the city and visited three different offices where I still knew many people. Emma enthusiastically walked around with her order forms, pen in hand, and her adorable smile, while I managed the cash.
She sold an impressive amount! I patted myself on the back for my brilliant strategy.
Then I got home to a call from my mother-in-law. I excitedly shared how well we did, and she innocently asked how I planned to transport all those cookie boxes on the train when they arrived.
Oops.
Carrying a form and an envelope of cash is one thing; lugging a mountain of cookie boxes through a train station and two subway lines is a whole different ballgame. By the time the cookies arrived, I had started a new job, which likely meant I would need to take half a day off just to distribute all those cookies.
Now for my biggest blunder. The cookies had to be picked up from one of the other Brownie moms’ houses. In my chaotic rush to ensure I had my lists of who ordered what—which I later learned I didn’t need since the official Cookie Mom was far more organized than I could ever be—I accidentally spilled an entire cup of coffee onto my laptop.
It didn’t stop there.
After collecting the cookies, I had to navigate out of the Cookie Mom’s stone driveway in reverse and ended up crashing into their iron gate. It took me an excruciating ten minutes to finally escape her driveway. When I got home, I saw the damage I had done to my brother’s car and, in a moment of despair, consumed an entire box of Samoas by myself, as if that could fix anything.
So here I am with a damaged vehicle, a belly full of Samoas, and ten boxes of cookies to sort and deliver—possibly solo or with Emma, who I might have turned into a delinquent by pulling her out of school for cookie distribution.
Here’s my final advice on how NOT to sell Girl Scout cookies:
- Avoid selling in locations that are difficult to access, require multiple subway rides, or are only open during weekdays. Selling near the perpetually crowded Times Square? Definitely a no-go.
- Don’t aim to sell a massive quantity. Be content with just a few.
- Avoid ordering extra cookies “just in case,” because you will end up eating them.
- Steer clear of ordering Samoas for yourself. They are dangerously tempting. You can’t just eat one; it’s always the whole box.
- If you struggle with the Samoa temptation like I do, check out this article for some helpful insights. If you’re wiser than I am, it might just prevent you from reaching for that second box!
Originally published on April 22, 2015.