50 Fun Facts About Girl Scout Cookie

In what year did a Girl Scout troop first sell cookies?

The Mistletoe Troop of Muskogee, Oklahoma, baked and sold them in their high school cafeteria as a service project.

In which state was that first troop cookie sale held?

Muskogee's Mistletoe Troop did it in December 1917, five years after the Girl Scouts were founded in Savannah.

Which magazine printed a sugar cookie recipe in 1922 and suggested selling them as a fundraiser?

Regional director Florence E. Neil estimated six to seven dozen cookies would cost 26 to 36 cents to make.

According to the 1922 recipe, roughly how much did the ingredients for six to seven dozen cookies cost?

They were to be sold at 25 or 30 cents a dozen.

In 1933, Girl Scouts of Greater Philadelphia sold cookies in the windows of what?

A year later the council became the first to sell commercially baked cookies.

In which year did the first official council cookie sale using a commercial bakery take place?

National licensing of bakers began in 1936, starting with Keebler-Weyl.

Which company was the first commercial baker licensed by Girl Scouts of the USA in 1936?

Southern Biscuit and Burry Biscuit were added the next year, when 125 troops launched sales.

What did Girl Scouts sell during World War II because of shortages of flour, sugar and butter?

The first Girl Scout calendars went on sale in 1944.

How many cookies came in a box in 1943?

Box counts and even cookie sizes were trimmed again as recently as 2018.

In 1951 the cookies came in three varieties: Sandwich, Shortbread and what?

Chocolate Mints are the cookies now known as Thin Mints.

How many types of cookie were being sold nationwide by 1956?

Samoas did not arrive until later.

In which decade were Samoas added to the line-up?

They are now the second-best seller, with about 38 million boxes sold in 2013.

How many bakeries have been licensed to make Girl Scout Cookies since the 1990s?

ABC Bakers and Little Brownie Bakers; the count had been cut to four in 1978.

Why can the same Girl Scout cookie have two different names?

Each council picks one of the two licensed bakers, so one troop's Samoas are another's Caramel deLites.

What does ABC Bakers call the cookie that Little Brownie Bakers sells as Samoas?

Vanilla cookies coated in caramel, sprinkled with toasted coconut and striped with chocolate.

What are Tagalongs called by the other bakery?

They are vanilla cookies layered with peanut butter and covered in chocolate coating.

Do-si-dos, also sold as Peanut Butter Sandwiches, are peanut butter filling between what kind of cookies?

Trefoils, by contrast, are plain shortbread shaped like the Girl Scout emblem.

Which cookie is the best seller?

Tens of millions of boxes were sold in 2013, roughly 32 cookies to a box.

Roughly how many boxes of the best-selling mint wafer were sold in 2013?

Samoas came second with about 38 million.

How many cookies are in an average box of the mint wafers?

A box of Samoas holds only about 15.

Which of these is true of the mint wafers?

They are one of five vegan varieties on offer.

Roughly how many Samoas cookies come in a box?

Their caramel and coconut make them heavier than the wafers.

Adventurefuls, launched in 2022, are brownie-inspired cookies topped with what?

They joined the lineup alongside the lemon-iced Lemon-Ups from ABC.

Which cookie launched as an online-only, limited-supply item in 2023 and was dropped that year?

Boxes were flipped on eBay for many times their price within days.

Girl Scout S'mores were sold from 2016 to 2025 and replaced in 2026 by which rocky-road-inspired cookie?

Exploremores are filled with chocolate, marshmallow and toasted almond creme.

ABC's short-lived 'Yay!' cookie, discontinued after 2025, was inspired by which breakfast dish?

Toast-Yay! were French-toast cookies dipped in icing.

Which company owns Little Brownie Bakers, through its Keebler subsidiary?

ABC Bakers belongs to Interbake Foods, owned by George Weston Limited.

In an average selling season, roughly how many packages of cookies do Girl Scouts sell?

More than a million girls take part and raise over $800 million.

How much money do Girl Scout Cookie sales raise in an average season?

Roughly 70 per cent stays with the local council to fund Girl Scouting in that area.

Roughly what share of cookie proceeds stays with the local Girl Scout council?

Net proceeds never go to the national organisation.

In which months do councils generally run cookie season?

Timing varies by council, which is why your neighbour's troop may sell before yours.

Who sets the price of a box of Girl Scout Cookies?

That is why a box can cost more in one city than the next.

How does the national organisation describe its cookie operation?

It is built around five skills: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics.

Are Girl Scout Cookies halal certified?

They are kosher certified too, and none use high-fructose corn syrup.

What was the name of the online sales platform launched in the 2014-15 season?

It teaches online marketing, app usage and e-commerce alongside the traditional door-to-door sale.

Which 'Cookie Queen' scout sold a record 18,000 boxes in 1985 and over 100,000 in her career?

Katie Francis matched her single-season mark with 18,107 in 2014.

How many boxes did cancer survivor Lilly Bumpus sell in 2021 to set a new record?

Charlotte McCourt of New Jersey had passed 25,000 in 2017.

About how many boxes went unsold in June 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Councils donated and discounted stock to clear it.

In which year did the Girl Scouts announce all their cookies had under 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving?

The move to eliminate trans fat had begun in 2005.

Who founded the Girl Scouts of the USA in Savannah, Georgia on March 12, 1912?

She designed the trefoil emblem herself, and the youngest scouts, Daisies, are named for her nickname.

Which unit made the first known Girl Scout cookie sale, in December 1917?

They sold at their local high school in Muskogee; it took until 1936 for the national organisation to license its first commercial baker.

To how many bakeries did the National Council cut its cookie suppliers in 1978?

The same 1978 move standardised packaging and pricing; the list was trimmed again in the 1990s.

The 1980s 'Cookie Queen' famously sold cookies to which sitting US president?

Her single-season record stood for more than 29 years until 12-year-old Katie Francis sold 18,107 boxes in 2014.

Two Girl Scouts' campaign over palm oil in the cookies began with a project to protect which animal?

Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen started at age 11 and won the UN Forest Heroes Award in 2011, the year GSUSA adopted a palm-oil policy.

Which cookie replaced the powdered-sugar citrus wedges Savannah Smiles in 2020?

Savannah Smiles had run from 2011 to 2019 and were themselves the successor to the Lemon Chalet Cremes.

Which sweetener is used in none of the Girl Scout cookies?

The recipes were also reformulated in the 2000s so every variety could carry 'zero trans fat' labelling.

What is the 'Cookie CEO' in Girl Scouting?

Other sales badges include Count It Up, Talk It Up, Customer Insights, P&L and Research and Development.

Golden Yangles, sold in the 1980s, were unusual for being which kind of snack?

They came from the Burry bakery, which also sold Kookaburras, Hoedowns and the cheese-free Scot-Teas shortbread.

Some councils let customers sponsor boxes of cookies that are shipped to whom?

Councils can also let girls bank extra troop money instead of prizes when saving for a trip or big activity.

Which safety practice must Girl Scouts always follow when selling cookies?

Depending on age, sellers must also be accompanied or supervised by an adult, and the online link can be shared with friends and family only.