“Each year, more than 200 MILLION BOXES of Girl Scout cookies are sold around the United States – almost enough to give a box to every person in BRAZIL.”

National Geographic 5,000 Awesome Facts, fact #35 on Decadent Desserts

Girl Scout Cookies are delicious and have been around since 1917.

Girl Scout Cookies are cookies sold by Girl Scouts in the United States to raise funds for their councils and troops. They are typically sold from January to April through door-to-door sales, cookie stands outside stores, online, and at events. The initiative aims to “promote financial literacy among young girls”, with over 1 million participants selling more than 200 million packages and raising over $800 million. That equates to almost 1 package to each person in the 216.4 million population of Brazil.

It is the largest girl -led entrepreneur in the world according to https://www.girlscouts.org/en/cookies.html.

The first known sale of cookies by Girl Scouts occurred in 1917. Juliette Gordon Low of the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma, started selling them at their local high school. The cookies were baked at home. The girls used the profits to send gifts to the troops in World War I. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Scout_Cookies)

Girl Scouts learn personal relationship and budgeting skills from selling cookies. They also gain a sense of community while having fun.

During WWII, they sold calendars along with the cookies because there was a shortage of flour, sugar and butter due to the war.

Success began with nationwide sales in July 1922 and continued with Girl Scouts holding sales at the 2016 Academy Awards for A-listers.

In 2005 they moved to remove trans fat in their cookies and provided nutritional information on the boxes.

Three main mandatory cookie flavors are Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Sandwich/Do-si-dos, and Shortbread/Trifoils.
The Thin Mints are crispy chocolate wafers coated with mint chocolate coating.
The Peanut Butter Sandwich is a crunchy oatmeal sandwich cookie with peanut butter filling.
Shortbread/Trifoils is a cookie that was inspired by the original Girl Scout Cookie, which was a simple sugar cookie.

Thin Mints are the top-selling cookies, followed by Caramel De-Lites/Samoas, and Peanut Butter Patties/Tagalongs.

Some cookies have different names based on the bakery, which are from 2 bakeries, Little Brown Bakers and ABC Bakers.

If somebody is looking for gluten free cookies, then try the Toffee-tastic and Caramel Chocolate Chip cookies.
Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Patties, Lemonades, and Toast-Yay cookies are vegan.
All cookies are kosher and Halal certified.

Being that cookie season is here, one way to support the Girl Scouts is by buying cookies! Or give them as gifts.

But, if there’s not a nearby stand they can be bought online on the Girl Scout website. The prices vary because each of the 111 Girl Scout councils set their own prices. (https://www.girlscouts.org/en/cookies/how-to-buy-cookies/cookies-frequently-asked-questions.html)

Special accomplishments include that in 1985, Elizabeth Brinton, the “Cookie Queen,” sold 18,000 boxes of cookies and over 100,000 boxes during her time as a Girl Scout.
Her record held for 29 years until Katie Francis, 12, sold 18,107 boxes in 2014. In 2017, Charlotte McCourt sold over 25,00 boxes, followed by Lily Bumpus in 2021.

There are now 12 different cookie varieties available.