Parent Meetings | Girl Scouts

Girls succeed when families are involved.

When families understand the importance of the Cookie Program, they give it their full support and help girls do everything it takes to be successful. As a volunteer, you play a key role in helping families understand the importance of the Cookie Program. Hosting a family cookie meeting is a fun and easy way to give girls the tremendous advantage of family support.

The family cookie meeting:

Encourage girls to plan the family meeting, play leading roles, and make it fun for everyone with games and songs. Let girls take the stage and inspire their families with their exciting goals!

Sample Agenda toggle arrow

Girls greet families at the door and take them to their seats.
A girl calls the meeting to order and welcomes parents. She introduces the adult volunteer.
The adult volunteer discusses the following:
1. Skills Gained - In addition to being a money-earning project, the Cookie Program is a unique and valuable way the Girl Scouts learn five skills that are core to the Girl Scout Leadership Experience. These skills are:
  - Goal Setting as she sets cookie sales goals and makes a plan to reach them
  - Decision-Making as she decides how her team will spend the cookie money
  - Money Management as she takes orders and handles customers' money
  - People Skills as she learns to talk and listen to all kinds of people while selling cookies
  - Business Ethics as she is honest and responsible every step of the way
2. Parent Involvement Appreciated - Explain how important it is to girls that they get to spend more time with their parents during the cookie sale.
3. Proceeds Critical to Girl Scouting - The Cookie Program supports all of the girls in the local council and makes it possible to provide girl programs, low-cost council events, training, resources and support for adult programs.
4. The Cookie Sale logistics - permission forms, rewards, dates, money collection, etc. Girls who use Digital Cookie as well as other traditional sales methods have a much higher per girl sales average and earn additional rewards.
5. Online Sales - Inform parents that Girl Scouts of Manitou Council will be sending them "How to's" to help their daughter set up her online sales as a supplement to person-to-person sales.
6. Explain to parents that they can submit cookie orders from their daughter's cookie order card via Digital Cookie. This information will flow into eBudde. They cannot submit the total of packages from the donated column on their daughter's order card. They must contact the Troop Cookie Sale Manager; give her the total of donated cookies, and she will manually enter that order. All other variety totals from a girl's order card may be submitted via Digital Cookie. Caution parents to double check that their data entry is correct before submitting.
7. Permission forms - send a link to the online Parent Permission form to parents, they can complete this form and submit. Parents must enter the Troop Cookie Sale Manager's email in the form, so a copy of the submitted form is automatically sent to the Troop Cookie Manager.
Girls take turns explaining the group's goals. They may wish to share songs, projects, or games.
A girl thanks everyone for coming and says goodbye.