Selling Girl Scout Cookies is more than just 'selling cookies' to us.  It is an opportunity to run our own “small business,” with setting goals, budgeting and marketing”

Lizzy and Ally Small, Queen Creek Girl Scout Troop 3632

If you’re looking to shed those extra pounds you gained during the holidays, now may not be the best time. Girl Scout cookie season is upon us and it's tough to resist those delicious concoctions.

For anyone looking to buy some thin mints, Lizzy and Ally Small, two Girl Scouts hailing from the town of Queen Creek, are ready to help.

For the next six weeks, the Girl Scouts–Arizona Cactus-Pine Council will host its cookie season Jan. 17-Feb. 27, featuring traditional walk-up booths as well as new drive-through cookie booths and online sales.

Known historically for its cookie sales and female leadership, the Girl Scouts organization dates to 1912 -- locally, the Arizona Cactus-Pine Council has grown since 1936. It now serves 11,000 girls grades K-12 in more than 90 communities across central and northern Arizona.

The Girl Scouts cookie sale is lauded as the “largest girl-led entrepreneurial program in the world.” Sales from the annual effort stay local, and go to funding programming, projects, trips and financial assistance.

As Arizona Girl Scouts set out on their six-week cookie sale, the Independent is spotlighting scouts across the Valley of the Sun. Read below to learn more about the Girl Scouts selling cookies in your neighborhood.

Name: Lizzy and Ally Small

Troop Number: 3632

Girl Scout Level: Cadettes

Tell us about you favorite badge, and what you did to earn it? One of our favorite badges we have earned as Cadettes is the Coding Basics: App Development badge.  After learning about several coding basics, we built our own prototype for an app that helped build a healthy habit (we did an app prototype for healthy eating!)

What did you do with your Girl Scout proceeds last year? Our troop started working on our Silver Project, the highest award a Girl Scout Cadette can earn, in 2021, so all of our proceeds from cookie sales went towards our project! A silver project is girl-led, and is something that impacts the community/solves a problem.  Our project is called “Sunshine Therapy,” which is a place we are building where patients, family members and staff at one of our local hospitals can go to “get away” from everything they are dealing with, and get some “sunshine therapy!” It will be in the courtyard, and includes concrete, benches, tables, fountain, shade structure and rock gardens.

What are you goals for selling this year, and what do you plan to do with your proceeds? Selling Girl Scout Cookies is more than just “selling cookies” to us.  It is an opportunity to run our own “small business,” with setting goals, budgeting and marketing (and getting out of our comfort zones!). Our personal goal is to sell 500 boxes each, along with enhancing our marketing strategies this year with the digital platform called Digital Cookie. Our Silver Project is a big project, so this year’s proceeds will also go towards our Silver Project, “Sunshine Therapy.”  

What is your favorite memory from being a Girl Scout so far? It is so hard to narrow it down to one favorite! We really loved Girl Scout Summer Camp this year with our troop! The week was packed with all things outdoor! Outdoor skills training and practice, leadership development, hiking, outdoor cooking, meeting new friends, and having a ton of fun!

What is your favorite Girl Scout cookie? Our favorite Girl Scout Cookie is the Samoas! How can you go wrong with chocolate, caramel and coconut? There is a new cookie this year, the Adventurefuls! The name definitely represents all of the incredible adventures we have had in our Girl Scout journey! The Adventureful cookie has chocolate brownie, caramel and a hint of sea salt! You will definitely want to try these!