Cookies and Dough Interest Project Award
For Girl Scouts 11-17

Girl Scouts have been selling cookies since the 1920s, when Juliette Gordon Low began the practice as a way for Girl Scouts to become self-reliant and fund their own activities.

In the beginning, girls baked their own cookies. Today, Girl Scouts develop their entrepreneurial and public-speaking skills while earning money for special events and projects, and for supplies, equipment maintenance, and facilities.

To earn this award, Girl Scouts ages 11-17 must complete two activities in the Skill Builders section, one activity from each of the other three sections, and two activities of their own choosing.

1. Skill Builders

• Hone your marketing skills, by writing a 30- or 60-second television or radio commercial for this year's Girl Scout cookie varieties. Or create a public service announcement (PSA) on the benefits of cookie sales for Girl Scout activities, projects, and trips.

• Choose an activity that your group/troop would like to do, research the expenses involved (including things like admission fees, transportation, food), and then figure out how many boxes of cookies you would need to sell to finance the project. Read page 44 in the Cadette Girl Scout Handbook (1995) or pages 120-121 in A Resource Book for Senior Girl Scouts (1995) to learn how to create a budget.

• Design a cookie campaign poster or flier that you could post at local stores, businesses, religious institutions, etc.

• Brainstorm 10 new locations in your community for selling cookies, for example at train stations, parades, tag sales, malls. Then narrow down the choices by conducting an informal test: Keep track of the sales made in each location over the course of one week.

• Research the history of Girl Scout cookie production and sales. Then, with your troop, recreate some of the old ad campaigns for fun. Would they still generate sales today? Take a poll.

• Develop a marketing plan to improve sales. Conduct a survey of your community to determine the ages and occupations of those who buy certain kinds of cookies, and use the results in next year's campaign.

• Role-play different scenarios that might occur during a sale. Selling cookies requires perseverance and skills in customer service and public speaking so include a customer who is cranky, obnoxious, or very inquisitive.

 

Our Mission Statement:

Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.

2. Technology

• Surf the Internet for marketing ideas for food products. Download information for your troop/group's cookie campaign.

• Analyze the ingredients of your favorite flavor, then ask at least 10 people for their favorites. Using a computer or by hand, make a bar graph or chart showing the results, and interpret them.

• Study the package design on a Girl Scout cookie box. How does it protect the product? How is it appealing? Look at the colors, print styles, artwork, and photography. Can you list five things the design says about Girl Scouting?

• Prepare a spreadsheet to track your troop, group, or council's cookie sales and profits. Use graph paper or a computer program.

• Create a press kit to send to media outlets, such as local newspapers and radio stations, and places where cookies are sold. Include information on Girl Scouting; the cookie campaign's purpose; a current council newsletter or list of projects and activities for girls; and a glossy flier of the cookie order form.

3. Service Projects

• Develop a cookie board game for Brownie Girl Scouts to teach skills like counting, matching, and following rules. Hold an informal contest to come up with a great name.

• Hold a cookie-tasting party at a senior citizens' facility, child-care center, or homeless shelter.

• Swap sales techniques with another troop/group.

• Recycle cookie boxes into an art project you design, construct, and decorate. Or create something functional like a small toolbox or tissue holder.

• Send thank-you notes to major supporters or helpers of your cookie campaign, and tell them about one project that resulted from the cookie sale.

• Create a poster for a younger troop promoting the benefits of a healthful beverage, such as milk or juice, to go with cookies.

4. Career Exploration

• Examine different careers in the food industry. Don't forget jobs in marketing, sales, photography, and advertising, including graphic arts and copywriting. Interview a professional in at least two of these fields. Ask about the job's responsibilities, education requirements or training, and benefits.

• Be an entrepreneur and start your own business selling a product or service that you think will appeal to a specific group, for example weekend baby-sitting services or a lemonade and cookie stand. Read about one Girl Scout's experiences setting up her business in the Cadette Girl Scout Handbook (1995 pages 97-98). Learn how to create a budget.

• Get some writing tips from a local reporter, freelance writer, or teacher, and write a feature story about your cookie campaign for the council newsletter.

• Arrange a factory tour for a food product, and see what is involved in making and packaging the item. Share what you learned with your Girl Scout troop/group or others.