January Foodie Pen Pal Reveal

It’s Foodie Pen Pal reveal day.  Ummm….do you have any idea that that means?  It’s this really cool program where you send a food package to someone, and in turn, someone sends you a package.  Before you send your package out, you contact your pen pal to get a little information on them: their likes, dislikes, preferences, etc, etc. etc.

You send the package in the mail.  O…M…G….  People still use snail mail.  It's so exciting to find something in your mail box that isn't a bill.

Here’s the package I got this month from Ilona, who blogs over at Ilona's Kitchen.  I let her know that I LOVE POPCORN, but never mentioned my unhealthy infatuation with Cracker Jacks.   Jiffy Pop!  I’ve been telling my monkey about this for months and never bought it.  Thanks to Ilona, we get to try it! The gummy worms were great too -- I actually threw them in the Monkey's lunch bag.   

I wish I had taken a picture of what I sent to Lauren, but guess what? I don’t have to, because she wrote about it here.  I found from her site that she is a health enthusiast, and she told me she liked peanut butter.  It only made sense to send her peanut butter Girl Scout cookies!

If you are interested in becoming a Food Pen Pal, click here.  You do not have to be a blogger -- you just have to love getting surprised in the mail, and be committed to sending a box to another pal.  The maximum you spent on the package is $15, plus the shipping.  It's so worth it!

To Infinity and Beyond

The end of any Girl Scout meeting must include snacks.  There is an unwritten rule stating such.  I wanted the girls to be able to make something, but I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of cleaning things up.  I couldn’t think of anything off the top of my head, so I went to my new best friend à Pinterest.  I came across a pin, which led me to this site.  I have since found that a lot of Girl Scout leaders had also pinned it.  It’s a pretty popular one.

When I explained to the girls what we were going to do, I heard a lot of this: “Eww!!” and “That’s gross!”.  They were provided with their directions, and silence filled the room.  It took them just about five minutes to make the snack, and even less time to eat it.  After they were finished, I heard a lot of this: “I liked it.  Can I have more?”.  Bonus fact -- without knowing it, the girls had worked on one of the requirements necessary to earn the Brownie Snack badge.

My Monkey, the astronaut

Astronaut Pudding

Materials Needed:

• Box instant pudding
• Whole milk
• Ziploc bags
• Scissors
• Measuring spoon and cup

Scoop 1 tablespoon of the pudding mix into the bag.  Pour ¼ cup of milk in the bag.  BE SURE THE BAG IS SEALED!  Gently knead the mix until the pudding forms.  Snip off one of the corners, and squeeze out the pudding from the bag.  No utensils are needed – just like how the astronauts eat.

Silent Sunday

Phillie Phanatic in buttercream form

I'm so ready for Spring Training to begin

Another idea from Pinterest

That's How the Cookie Crumbles

Selling Girl Scout cookies can be a cut throat business.  Really, it can be.  Think about it.  Troops are basically in competition with other troops to sell the most cookies.  You try to get the better booths, and you try to get them at the best times.  Some girls try to get to the school staff before others do.  God forbid you live in a neighborhood saturated with scouts.  I feel bad for my neighbors. Part of the Girl Scout law is to Be A Sister to Every Girl Scout, but sometimes it feels likes it should be Every (Wo)Man for Herself.

I have to push those thoughts to the back of my mind, because the cookie sale is the biggest fundraiser that the girls do.  The money made helps to run the troop, and to help continue to provide great programs for the girls.  The Monkey joined scouts when she started Kindergarten, and over the past four years, she has taken part in many fun and educational activities.

Can I offer you a cookie?

I found myself searching Pinterest each night to find the next great idea for the cookie sale, and I discovered that everyone else had the same idea.  Sell door-to-door, put a sign on the lawn, decorate your wagon and walk around the neighborhood, gift wrap the boxes, include thank you notes….the list is endless.  I pinned every suggestion I found, but was never WOW’ed by anything.  Until I found this picture.  This would be a great way to “advertise” at a booth.  Problem is – it was the picture only, and no instructions.  Not a problem.  I’m a Girl Scout, so I am prepared for anything. 

Our new Miss America, the beautiful Thin Mint

I made the costumes in an afternoon, and posted the photo to Facebook.  Everyone thought it was cute, and I have been asked by several people how I made them.  Hopefully other leaders will be able to follow these instructions and make costumes for their booths.  I’m sorry that I did not take pictures to show how I did things, and I apologize for the graininess of the only picture I did take.

Thin Mint

1 yard brown felt (I had this cut at Jo Ann Fabrics)

2 sheets white felt

2 sheets black felt

½ yard pink felt (this will be used for the Thin Mint & the Caramel DeLite cookie)

White puffy paint

Green satin ribbon (found at Jo Ann Fabrics)

Hot Glue

Foam board or heavy cardboard

Pencil

Box cutter (or heavy duty scissors)

Caramel DeLite (sometimes called Samoas)

1 yard light brown felt

2 sheets white felt

2 sheets black felt

Pink felt (leftover from the Thin Mint)

Brown (leftover from the Thin Mint)

Purple satin ribbon

White puffy pain

Hot Glue

Foam board or heavy cardboard

Pencil

Box cutter (or heavy duty scissors)

These are the instructions to make the Thin Mint. 

·         Using your scout as a guide, “eyeball” how large the actual cookie should be.  I was fortunate to have an extra large serving tray that I used as a guide.  Draw the circle of the board, and using your knive/cutter/scissors, cut the circle.
·         Lay the circle on top of the brown felt, and cut the felt to be one inch larger than the circle (that make sense?).  Basically, your felt should be larger than the cardboard.
·         In small sections, begin to hot glue the felt to the cardboard.  At this point, you are wrapping the felt around the cardboard.  Do this until the board is completely wrapped.  Turn it over so the felt side is facing up.
·         Cut two large eyes from the white felt, and glue towards the top of the felt circle.
·         Cut out two small pupils from the black felt, and glue on top of the white felt.
·         Draw a smile on the pink felt, cut it out, and glue to the cookie shape.  At this point, you should have a happy looking cookie.
·         Take the green ribbon, and cut it a bit longer than the length of the cookie.  You want it to be able to wrap around to the back of the board.  This will be the cookie sash.  Once cut, hot glue to the cookie shape.  You now have what looks like a Miss America cookie.
·         Cut another strip of the green ribbon large enough to comfortably fit over your scout’s head, and hot glue to the back of the board.  It should look like a large handle.
·         Using the white puffy paint, write the words THIN MINT on the green sash. The paint needs about four hours to dry so be sure to leave it alone!

The Caramel DeLite is made exactly as the Thin Mint is, except I used purple ribbon, and I cut “squiggles” out of the extra brown felt.  Those squiggles are supposed to be the chocolate part of the cookie.  As for the sunflowers I put on the costumes – we had an old flower arrangement that we decided to throw away that morning.  I thought it would “pretty” things up, so I glued them to the cookie.  You can do the same thing, or let your imagination run wild.  Do you have a Brownie troop?  How about putting a Brownie Beanie on the cookie?

Really?  How can you resist?

We used these for our booth last week, and received many compliments on them.  The girls wore them without being asked to, which is always a good thing.  My daughter did have one complaint – the ribbon around her neck bothered her.  I plan on putting some felt around that portion of the ribbon, in the hopes that will help.

To my fellow leaders out there that attempt this craft – best of luck!  I hope you find these instructions useful.  Please be sure to share pictures, as I would love to see what you come up with.  And for those currently participating in the sale – Happy Selling!