Girl Scout Cookie Season & Me, ‘Honorary Girl Scout’

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Girl Scouts of America just launched a new campaign, Year of the Girl. Visit their website for more info.

No post today!

Instead, please head on over to check out my latest blog for The Huffington Post, where you’ll find out why I, a Latina from Queens, never became a girl scout—except from afar, that is. And why, despite this, I believe in the Girl Scouts of the USA and their mission to empower girls.

Which brings me to my next question: Are you planning to buy any cookies this year? I sure hope so, because, when you do, know that it’s for a great cause.

So, after you read the post, Girl Scout Cookie Season: How Cookies Led Me to Become and ‘Honorary’ Girl Scout, be sure to come back, and tell me which is your favorite Girl Scout cookie. Mine is Thin Mints–no, I mean, Tagalongs! No, Thin Mints, I think.

Oh, and, if you were a girl scout—or a member of Campfire USA, Boy Scouts or 4-H Club, for that matter—please be sure to share your favorite experience in the comment section. After all, I just love hearing from you!

33 thoughts on “Girl Scout Cookie Season & Me, ‘Honorary Girl Scout’”

  1. Read your article after our Council posted a link on their facebook page! My mom was a girl scout, I was a girl scout, and now I am a girl scout leader with 2 daughters in 2 different troops. It was a great experience for me and I am hoping to make it a good experience for my daughters as well. The problem with having 2 daughters selling cookies? I currently have approximately 100+ boxes sitting in my living room calling my name each time I walk by! 😉 We don’t take orders anymore – the girls are issued boxes to sell, no pre-ordering required!

    • I love when girl scouting runs in the family. It’s a wonderful tradition and a great way to instill important values and help shape the next generation of women leaders. Good for you! It’s nice to see how the Girl Scouts makes changes over the years. Much more efficient not having to take orders and feeds into our need to have things right now instead of waiting. Which is why I need my cookie fix! I recently tried the Savannah Smiles and LOVE them!

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting! 🙂

  3. Monica, that was an incredible piece you did for the Huffpo! I too yearned to be a Girl Scout! But alas, my mother, couldn’t be bothered. I think this had something to do with the fact that meetings intruded upon her “novela” time. I mean, there was no way she was going to abandon watching how Mariana was in love with the village priest, who was in love with Sara, who was married to Juan, who was blind but worked as a welder, in his wife’s lover’s shop. No way. Okay, just got an idea for a blog post! I’ll keep you posted! Back to the Girl Scouts. How wonderful that you were able to live vicariously through your daughter. I tell you, if you can’t do it yourself, then get your kids to do it for you, carajo! Reminds me of the Daughter, ballet, and me! Loved your piece! 🙂

    • I’m so glad you read and enjoyed my HuffPo piece, and that this post gave you an idea for another one. I love when that happens. My mother wasn’t the kind to watch telenovelas, but my father in later years became obsessed with them. When he retired, he was glued to his telenovelas!

  4. Monica, I’m heading over to read your post but couldn’t resist letting you know that my favorite cookies are thin mints and Samoas! The Daughter buys them for me and sends them in a tiny care package and I wait anxiously every year for them to arrive! hee hee! Viva the Girl Scouts! 🙂

    • I think Samoas are the second most popular after Thin Mints, but I’ll be honest. I never developed a taste for them. But then again, I’m not fond of chewy type cookies. What a nice daughter you have to send you such a perfect care package. Thank you for checking out the HuffPo piece! 🙂

  5. Oh gosh… after reading your post and the comments, I must find a Girl Scout and buy cookies. It’s been years as they don’t go door-to-door anymore. I totally agree with you about Thin Mints – they must be frozen! I’ll have to buy the fabulous one with caramel, too. As for the religious-think-they’re-right targeting the Girl Scouts, some had issues as far back as the 1960s as I was not allowed to be a Girl Scout, but I could be an “Indian Maiden” in Caravans, a church version of scouts. I wanted to be a Girl Scout. They had cookies.

    • Nancy, We still go door to door, here in So. Cal. If you are in the area, someone from my troop will be happy to come to your door.

  6. Would you believe the conservative Christians are even trying to get their flocks to not buy cookies or otherwise support the Girl Scouts? They think they’re too “liberal” in their views. I guess because they require their girls wear shoes and not be pregnant.

    • I sure have heard that. I’m afraid it is there passion to “weed” out the “liberal agenda” wherever they see it and boy, do they seem to see it everywhere. So I’m not surprised they’re now targeting the Girl Scouts. What will be next, I wonder?

  7. My person says Thin Mints are her all time favorite, but she’s never given me even one. She was a Camp Fire Girl and her favorite memories are of a camp she went to for a couple years on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.

    • How lovely that your person was a Camp Fire Girl. It would have been nice to be part of that group, too. I love the Olympic Peninsula so I can see why that is one of her favorite memories. And, Bongo, she’s right not to give you any Thin Mints. Dogs can’t eat chocolate, but I’m sure she gives you other treats you enjoy. 😉

  8. You crack me up. When I was living in England, I missed so many things, but I confess Girl Scout cookies was not on my list. Don’t shoot me. I do buy them every year for mi familia, but not a one ever passes my lips. I do LOVE COOKIES, a weakness, but I must be fussy. Going over to the HP now. Had to comment first. (hope we’re still friends now that you know I am not GS cookie lover).

    • Brenda, Brenda, Brenda. What are we going to do with you?

      The point is, you buy the cookies for your family. So, what if you yourself don’t care for them? We can’t all have exquisite taste now, can we? 😉

      But seriously, I’m glad you told me. Now I know what NOT to get you for your birthday. Still friends? Why, my dear, I adore you and your writing too much to be anything but friends. 🙂

  9. When I read the title and something about Girl Scout Cookies I instantly imagined myself stuffing my face with their deliciousness hahah…so thanks for making me want them now! 😛 Time to go read your article!

  10. I’m with you, Monica. (I think) It’s Thin Mints for me and yes, I can eat the entire box in a couple of sittings. (Yeah, I shouldn’t say it but it’s so true). I think my daughter has committed me to buying…Oh, yes. She has. Four boxes, I think. I must be careful, however. I envy folk who can eat cookies and not have consequences, as I.

    • Thin Mints have always been a weakness. They are a classic cookie and so chocolately, too!
      Everyone should keep some handy. 😉

      And don’t worry about the consequences–not when it’s for such a good cause!

  11. I was a Blue Bird in Atlanta, then became a Camp Fire Girl, then a Girl Scout in either Rabat, French Morocco or Ramstein, Germany. My mother always thought I looked so cute in the Camp Fire Girl outfit, can’t believe how thin I was then. Looking forward to trying the lemony cookies this year, but then the ones with coconut are pretty great, too. Do you ever feel guilty if you go into the supermarket without buying any? I sure do.

    • Wow, Karen, you did it all! What an experience. Did you have any favorite one?

      I just tried the new Savannah Smiles. It is so, so good and lemony. You can’t go wrong! The only reason I wouldn’t buy cookies is if I already purchased some. In which case, I’d let the Girl Scout know and they know to thank you for supporting the Girl Scouts in general. Whether the funds trickle down to their troop or not is not as important as knowing that the money is going to help the organization’s support of girls.

  12. Pingback: The Girl Scouts Launches ToGetHerThere, To Develop Female Leaders « The Fab Girls

  13. Aw, Monica, I never was a Girl Scout, either. When I was that age, my folks had one car — my dad’s work car — and my mom didn’t have a way to get me to meetings and such. So, I, too, got to watch the Brownies practice saying their pledge and marvel at their cool uniforms without being a part of it all. Favorite cookie? Thin mints, definitely!

    • Well, Debbie, you’re most welcome to join my honorary troop. We meet once in a blue moon, at the 11th hour. Hope you can make it! 😉

      Re the cookies, I feel like Thin Mints are the original Girl Scout cookie and you know what they say. Accept no imitations!

  14. Great piece! I was a Girl Scout and some of my best childhood memories are of camp. The people I was most excited to find when I signed up for FB? My old GS troop. And I have to say the worst part about not working in an office is that I can’t buy cookies from a colleague. I’ll be looking for them in front of my grocery store. Frozen Thin Mints. Yum! Hubby loves Tagalongs, so I guess I’d better buy them, too.

    • Oh, Shary, I can picture you as a Girl Scout. You have such great memories. I’m sure I would have had great memories, too, had I been able to join. Ironically, by the time my sister came along (she’s eight years younger than me), she got to join the Girl Scouts.

      I really, really do like Tagalongs, as do my kids. It’s really hard to choose. Plus, yesterday I tried their latest flavor, Savannah Smiles. They’re so lemony. Yum! A colleague brought her daughter in to sell cookies, but, unfortunately, by the time they got to me, she had run out! Luckily she’s coming back soon.

    • Let me see what I can do. After all, after my story posted on HuffPo, I was contacted by the Girl Scouts of USA’s marketing firm. Perhaps I can swing it so they send a troop over to Shanghai to set up a cookie stand by your home. Then Mrs. GG can buy all the cookies she wants! 😉

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