January is Girl Scout Cookie Sale season, and Emma came home from her Brownie meeting with a lofty goal...to sell 200 boxes! I just laughed and suggested she just aim for the troop goal of 160 boxes per girl. After all, last year we'd sold 117 boxes and thought that was pretty good, and we were sure we'd asked as many people as we could. Not only that, but since Emma's Brownie meeting was a week after sales had already started, we really only had just over a week left to sell. However, Emma wasn't shy this year about asking people at church during the 50th anniversary luncheon, soliciting sales on her own in our crowded social hall. In spite of the snow and ice on our neighborhood sidewalks, Emma insisted on stopping at nearly every house on our block. Of course, it also didn't hurt that I didn't have any competition at work this year, either. One day before the initial sale ended, Emma had surpassed the 160 mark and we figured we were finished. At her friend's birthday party, I took along her order form but didn't want to ask during the party, and quite frankly, I think we were both worn out from asking all week. At the end of the party, I decided to ask one more parent who was there to pick up his daughter...and he ordered 16 boxes! Suddenly, the 200 goal didn't seem so impossible. Emma called several family members to ask if any of them would order just one more box. Finally, late Saturday night on the last day of sales, Emma had surpassed the 200 mark. Of course, it didn't hurt to have an incentive. Reaching 200 boxes in initial sales meant that Emma had earned a special edition stuffed animal (and you know how she is about those)!
Now, if only the delivery process was as quick and easy as the sale...as I write this in May, we still have 2 more boxes to deliver today!
