NORTHAMPTON — Girl Scouts have come a long way when it comes to selling cookies. This year, they celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first known cookie sale with a new flavor and old traditions.
In honor of the cookie centennial, the national Girl Scouts organization has introduced a new S’mores cookie with two variations in a nod to the campfire snack favorite, for which the organization first published a recipe in 1925.
Other cookies come in classic flavors like Thin Mints, Caramel deLites, Shortbread, Peanut Butter Patties and Savannah Smiles.
Girl Scouts began in 1912 in Savannah, Georgia, as a way to foster courage, confidence and character in girls through outdoor education.
Five years later in 1917, a troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma, sold its first batch of cookies, baked in their home kitchens, to fund projects and activities. In 1933, the first “Girl Scout Cookies” were sold in Philadelphia. By 1937, communities from coast to coast could purchase these sweet treats to fund opportunities, trainings, trips, activities and supplies for local troops.
Today, there are over 3 million Girl Scouts in 92 countries, including 1.8 million in the U.S.
Cookie sales are more than just a way for troops to raise money. It teaches them lifelong interpersonal and business skills. They sell door-to-door, online and at tables in high-traffic areas.
Most members of the Hadley Senior Girl Scouts have sold cookies since their Daisy Scout days in first grade. From the beginning, they learned money managing, business ethics, decision-making, goal-setting and people skills.
“When we sell cookies, we have to figure out how to budget that money, and decide which things we want the most,” said ninth-grader Felicia Fil on her way back from a troop field trip in Springfield. “It’s a lot more independent now that we’re older.”
Not only do Fil and the rest of her Hadley troop handle the finances from cookie sales, but they strategize the best business practices to sell the greatest amount of cookies. The senior troop in Hadley plays music and dances with signs to draw people in. They even figured that selling outside Liquors 44 near the University of Massachusetts Amherst would be a good way to draw in large numbers of college-aged customers.
“You have to have fun, that’s the key to selling,” said ninth-grader Hailey Boisvert. “If you’re just standing there not wanting to do anything you’re not going to sell cookies because you’re not trying.”
Girl Scouts develop these skills throughout their time selling cookies, and take them with them throughout the rest of their lives.
According to the organization’s website, 57 percent of Girl Scouts alumnae say that selling cookies was “key in developing their skills today.”
Roselee Conklin, a 42-year-old Girl Scout alumna, Hadley troop leader and mother of two Girl Scouts, remembers selling cookies as a Scout, including in high school when her troop ordered large amounts of cookies ahead of time to sell at tables around town.
“We didn’t know it at the time, but we did what no one else was doing,” Conklin said. “We were setting a goal and using an innovative business strategy to achieve our goals.
“That’s what Girl Scouts is — a progression of taking on more and more leadership and creativity,” she added.
Conklin’s troops have used their funds for things like jackknives and uniforms for every troop member, archery training, camping trips and even a sleepover at the Connecticut Science Center.
“It’s something that works, something that people know and something that people like,” Conklin said of the century-old tradition. “It just goes to show that people are really in favor of Girl Scouting and everything it represents.”
Morgan Hughes can be reached at mahughes@umass.edu.