到女童子軍團的攤位賣餅乾 Booth Sale of Girl Scout Cookies

Today was our Girl Scout Troop's second (and final) Cookies Booth Sale in front of a grocery store. Last week, we went to Ralph's. This week, we were assigned to go to Bristol Farm. Although it was sunny, it was still very windy and cold. My daughter was wearing 4 layers of clothing (turtle neck, t-shirt, sweater, and a heavy hoodie) and she was still cold. Luckily we didn't have many cookies to sell as our Troop ordered cookies conservatively for our booth sale. I brought from home the 11 boxes I still had left, hoping to sell them at the booth. When we got there, the Troop only had 3 flavors of cookies left--Thin Mints, Tagalongs, and the Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips. I added a box of Dulce de Leche and 4 boxes of Samoas to the mix. We quickly sold those. Around 4:30, we had 2 boxes of Tagalongs left on the table and everyone just decided to call it the day. There wasn't a lot of foot traffic at Bristol Farm, not sure if it was the windy weather. Last week at Ralph's, we sold 57 boxes of cookies. I think we sold less than 20 boxes today. I guess location mattered. The girls had a lot of fun selling the cookies together, despite the cold and windy condition.

今天又輪到我女兒到她的女童子軍團的攤位賣餅乾。上星期天已經到過 Ralph's 擺攤位賣餅乾了。這星期我們到了Bristol Farm 擺餅乾攤位。可能是因為到 Bristol Farm 買菜的人少,再加上又冷、風又大的天氣,今天的賣氣不佳。不過一群小女生在一起不管在做什麼都可以玩得很開心。我和女兒大概三點到場,一直賣到剩下兩盒餅乾才跟其他媽媽決定不要再賣了。實在是在外面站得太冷了,大概四點半就收攤了。今年賣女童子軍餅乾的活動就到此為止,要再等到明年二月才又會開始此活動。 ()

再過幾天,在市面上可能就要看不到女童子軍的餅乾了。如果妳們想嚐一嚐這些餅乾的滋味,大家可能要等到明年三月了。順便在此介紹女童子軍餅乾的八種口味:

THIN MINTS (Top-Selling Girl Scout Cookies)

Thin, mint-flavored chocolate wafers dipped in a chocolate coating.
巧克力漬薄荷味的巧克力薄片。




SAMOAS
Also known as Caramel deLites: Vanilla cookies coated in caramel, sprinkled with toasted coconut and laced with chocolate swirls.
巧克力醬漬住香草餅乾的底部,餅乾上頭灑著香脆的椰子肉及可口的焦糖和旋轉式的巧克力醬。



TAGALONGS
Also known as Peanut Butter Patties: Crispy vanilla cookies layered with peanut butter and covered with a chocolate coating.
巧克力醬漬滿二片香脆的香草餅乾夾加花生醬。
今年所有含有花生原料的餅乾銷售成績都不甚理想。原因出自於前些日子美國最大的花生廠所製造的花生產品被查出含有沙門氏菌。所以很多人都不敢買有花生成份的餅乾。

DO-SI-DOS
Also known as Peanut Butter Sandwiches: Peanut butter filling sandwiched between crunchy oatmeal cookies.
二片香脆的麥片餅乾,中間夾著花生醬。




TREFOILS
Also known as Shortbread: A traditional shortbread cookie made in the shape of the Girl Scout trefoil logo.
傳統的酥油餅乾。餅乾上面印著女童子軍的 "Trefoil" 標誌




LEMON CHALET CREMES

Cinnamon sandwich cookies with lemon creme filling.
桂皮香料三明治餅乾,檸檬夾心。





DULCE DE LECHE

Introduced in 2009, these are Latin caramel cookies.
拉丁奶油焦糖餅乾。




SUGAR-FREE CHOCOLATE CHIPS COOKIES

Introduced in 2008, they are small sugar-free cookies.
無糖巧克力曲奇餅乾。

什麼是女童子軍餅乾? Girl Scout Cookies

The Girl Scout Cookies are a familiar part of American culture. For more than 90 years, Girl Scouts, with the enthusiastic support of their families, have helped ensure the success of local Girl Scout Cookie activities. From its earliest beginnings to its current popularity, the sale of cookies has helped Girl Scout Brownies, Juniors, and Girl Scouts 11-17 have fun, develop valuable life skills, and make the world a better place by helping to support Girl Scouting in their communities. Girls are proud that their efforts provide resources for their local Girl Scout councils and for their own Girl Scout troops/groups.

Basically, Girl Scout cookies are cookies sold by Girl Scouts of America as a fundraiser for their local scout units. Each box of Girl Scout cookies is priced at $4 per box. $0.75 from each box of cookies sold by a Girl Scou will go back to the Troop that Girl Scout belongs to. Top-selling girls can earn prizes for their efforts. There are also unit incentives if the unit as a whole does well. In 2005, over 200 million boxes were sold.

For the last 2 years, as the parent of a Junior Scout, I accompanied my daughter when she went door-to-door selling Girl Scout cookies for her troop. This is the first year that she didn't sell door-to-door. She simply did not have the time to do it anymore. I ended up buying 20 boxes and supported her troop that way. I know it defeats the spirit of the Girl Scout cookies for me to buy the cookies, but she happened to have school projects due during the 3 weeks she was allowed to sell the Girl Scout cookies. It was simply too time-consuming for my daughter to sell Girl Scout cookies door-to-door this year.

First, she needs to pre-sell the cookies door-to-door. She has to ask the people who responded to the door whether they want any Girl Scout cookies, then she needs to take the orders down and make sure the Troop's cookie mom get the order and the money (Yes, the Troop collects the money from the girls/parents first so they can pay the Girl Scout organization when the cookie moms pick up the cookies). Then when the cookies arrive, she needs to deliver the cookies to the people on her order list and collects the money. In many incidences, she had to go back to the same address several times because people were not home for the delivery to be made.

I do think the experience of selling Girl Scout Cookies is a valuable one, especially for shy girls. At 6 years old, my daughter learned that selling door-to-door is not as easy as it looks, especially when the product she is selling is slightly more expensive than its counterparts at supermarkets. She had to learn about rejections and the joy of making a sale. It's very "real world".

Selling door-to-door presented a challenge for us as well weather-wise each year. Although the weather in southern California is better than most other states, early- to mid-February (when the cookies pre-sale takes place) is usually when our worst weather presents itself. I don't let my daughter out to do any door-to-door sales when it's raining outside. In our neighborhood, where the roads are windy and have no sidewalks, rain usually means poor visibility. It's just not safe for anyone to walk outside in the rain, let alone a small child selling cookies door-to-door, even if she's accompanied by her parent.
Although we didn't participate in the door-to-door selling of Girl Scout cookies this year, we will be at the Troop's cookies booth sale at 2 local grocery stores in March. That's when each Girl Scout Troop takes turns staking out in front of grocery stores, trying to get people who walk by to buy Girl Scout Cookies.

每年二月至三月是美國女童子軍賣餅乾的季節。所有的女童子軍會到自家附近去賣餅乾。在家長陪同下,小女童子軍必需要到陌生人家去按門鈴。當有人開門時,小女童子軍就要問開門的人要不要買“Girl Scout Cookies”。美國人很好,通常一半以上的人都會買。一盒女童子軍餅乾並不便宜。一盒要賣四元美金,但是買餅乾的人都知道這些餅乾錢是要用來贊助女童子軍的,所以一點都不吝嗇。但是賣女童子軍餅乾是一件很辛苦的事情。每個女童子軍得挨家挨戶地按門鈴詢問買餅乾的意願。確定要買之後,小女童子軍就要把買方的姓名、地址、電話抄下來方便一個月後交貨。回到家後,小女童子軍要算出每個餅乾口味賣出幾盒以及賣出的餅乾之總盒數。算好之後,把總盒數及支票(賣出的金額)交給負責餅乾業務的媽媽們,好讓她們有錢去女童子軍的餅乾總部提貨。收到餅乾之後,小女童子軍又得挨家挨戶地去送貨、要錢。我和我的女兒常常碰到買主剛好不在家而讓我們多跑好幾趟才如願交貨、收到錢。

今年我的女兒實在太忙了。在二月初她剛好連續有好幾個週末都在趕功課,無法出去賣餅乾。為了減少女兒的負擔,我買了二十盒女童子軍餅乾留給親朋好友吃。雖然這不是女童子軍賣餅乾的基本精神,但是小孩子實在是太累了,只好這樣子了。不過我的女兒在前二年的確曾經挨家挨戶地、按步就班的學著賣餅乾。她的最高記錄是賣過125盒女童子軍餅乾。雖然今年她無法挨家挨戶地去賣餅乾,她在三月十五日及三月二十二日會去她的女童子軍團的攤位賣餅乾。