Community Chat

[Goodie2shoes]

I was reading about the girl scout cookies on another thread and started thinking about my days as a brownie and then a girl scout.  I remember my Brownie leaders name ( Mrs Jones) a very sweet little lady ! We had our meetings at her home across the street from my gradeschool. I remember the girl scout cookie form and my grandpa getting orders for me from the factory he worked at. I would sell the most cookies.

I also remember being a girl scout and my leaders home where we had meetings and camped out in her backyard.

I also remember going camping, roasting marshmellows and making a girl scout dish called "come again" which consisted of Franco American spaghetti mixed with cooked ground beef (so delicious) I remember making the dish at home for my family.

any other former girl scouts out there ?  I'm 73, do you have a girl scout story to tell ? Those were the good old days !!

 

[Desertdi]

Yeah.    Every kid on my block was a Girl Scout.    Sooooooo, my dad paid for my "cookie allotment"...and then gave them away at his job. 

Then my ma got tired of this situation, and took me OUT of the scout program.

[on the bay]

I was a Brownie and a Girl Scout. I remember I couldn't wait to get into Girl Scouts. It was a lot more fun.

What I remember was trying to get as many badges as we could, one of my best friends and I.

And we got to go ice skating every week!

It's weird but I don't remember very much about selling cookies. I'm sure we did though.I kind of do remember eating them though lol!

I think we did go on some kind of camping thing which I don't remember liking that much.

I think it's amazing that you remember your troop leader's name @Goodie2shoes. She must have made a good impression on you!

I don't remember mine at all but

I do remember all my elementary teacher's names.

[LuvSoCal]

Oh, yes, I fondly remember my scouting days. I was a Brownie and then a Girl Scout. I was the patrol leader (I got to wear a special gold braid on my shoulder lol).

I detested the cookie drives, however. My mom would have to sell them to friends and neighbors and then buy what was left. I was too shy to go door to door.

[Enufstuff]

@Goodie2shoes  I joined Brownies in 1954 ,when I was 7 years old in the third grade. I loved it. Our leader was Mrs. Killam, we were troop 132. We met in a church.

  It was fun doing crafts. I remember carving  a Jack O'Lantern

for Halloween with my Brownie, jack knife. My cousin was in the same troop. When we were carving our pumpkins, she cut her hand and had to get stitches.

 In the 50's , people thought that it was a good idea to give baby chicks as Easter gifts. Our Brownie leader gave each of us a little chicken for Easter. We lived in an apartment  and by summer that chicken was outgrowing the little pen we kept it in. My cousin had moved to a rural area in New Hampshire and we brought the chicken up there to stay.

 I remember that while we were in New Hampshire, the chicken laid a tiny egg and my mother cooked it and gave it to my baby brother for breakfast.

I'm glad the pet shops stopped selling baby chicks as Easter gifts. I hate to think what happened to most of them.

We sold Girl Scout cookies and they were 40 cents a box. The Thin Mints were 60 cents a box. I went door to door in the neighborhood, selling cookies. They were made by the Educator Company and they were delicious. The quality was so much better than what they sell now. The last time I bought some, I threw half of them out. I don't buy them anymore.

Mrs. Kane was the Girl Scout leader and had meetings at her house.

I remember when we "flew up" to become Girl Scouts. I loved Girl Scouts and doing the projects to earn badges. The best times I had were at Girl Scout camp during two summers.

We even did some over night tenting at a state park. We did eat

the Franco American Spaghetti with the ground beef on our weekend camping trip. I don't remember that anyone had a name for it. It tasted so good to me and I had never liked Franco American Spaghetti before that. I don't think that I have ever eaten any since then either.

We also made S'mores, which I never had before. I didn't really like those. I liked chocolate, I liked graham crackers and I liked marshmallows, but not together. I did love roasting  marshmallows over a campfire though, melty, toasty and so yummy. I loved camp, being in the woods, hiking and learning about the plants and animals.

I started high school when I was 13 and that fall, Mrs Kane gave up being a Girl Scout leader. I was so disappointed, I wished that I could have continued with scouting, I loved it, but no one volunteered to continue the troop for us.

Scouting was such a great experience and so much fun.

When my girls were old enough, I tried to get them interested in becoming Brownies, but Campfire was more popular with the kids then. I would have loved being a Brownie leader, then a Girl Scout leader.

Anyway, my girls wanted Campfire, so I became a Bluebird leader and did that for a few years, until a couple of parents

wanted a babysitter and didn't pick their girls up after meetings. One girl said to me, my father said I can stay and play here. I said, no, I have to make dinner. The meetings were from 3-4 after school. I had four children of my own and that particular girl was handful.

 I was happy to volunteer, but not to be taken advantage of.

The next year, I did all those fun crafts and hikes with my own children and discontinued Bluebirds.

[beach-mom]

@Goodie2shoes - YES! I posted on the cookie thread- my mom was a GS all the way through school. I have her original handbook. I started in 2nd grade and was one of 4 who finished as a Senior. .

In college our Dean got three of us who had been GS together. We didn't know each other. The Dean asked if we would lead a Brownie troop of underprivileged girls. The Dean picked them up and brought them to us. We had so much fun! I was asked to talk to different groups about my experiences.

After I married most of the women I met had boys, and one of them asked me to be an assistant den leader, so I was for a while. 

When DD was in kindergarten the two kindergarten teachers led the Daisy troop. I was asked to take a mixed grade Junior troop. I stayed with those girls until DD was a sophomore in college. One of them is now a famous restaurant owner! DD went all the way through too.  :smileyhappy 

[Wsmom]

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@LuvSoCal wrote:

Oh, yes, I fondly remember my scouting days. I was a Brownie and then a Girl Scout. I was the patrol leader (I got to wear a special gold braid on my shoulder lol).

I detested the cookie drives, however. My mom would have to sell them to friends and neighbors and then buy what was left. I was too shy to go door to door.

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@LuvSoCal , now the girls have it made.  Mom just posts it on FB for people to place their orders and Venmo the money or last weekend a girl and boy rollerskated to the doors to drop a little flyer at the door with how to place our orders.  I think it has been a couple of years since a girl showed up at the door and her mom had her give the whole sales pitch.  Of course she is who I bought from and far more than I really wanted!

[Goodie2shoes]

@ Enufstuff wrote: I joined Brownies in 1954 ,when I was 7 years old in the third grade. I loved it. Our leader was Mrs. Killam, we were troop 132. We met in a church.

Amazing memory you have there !! So many details ! I do remember earning badges and S'mores. I was about 7 or 8 when I joined the Brownies. Yes the Franco american spaghetti and hamburger was called "come again" I loved that stuff !! Thanks for your input, those were the days !

[patbz]

I was a Brownie and then a Girl Scout all the way through H.S. Included with years of Summer G.S. Camp I was also a Sea Scout ( sailing and canoeing) and also learned to hike ( we were going to do a section of Apalachean Trail. I earned A lot of badges ( still have my sash) but really would have preferred to be a Boy Scout ( my brother was one and I read all of their handbook: much better and more in depth than G.S.Handbook). I still fondly remember Camp Misty Mount ( on the same mountain as Camp David; even saw Eisenhower one Sunday as we were on our way to Mass in town).

[Desert Lily]

I was a Brownie and a Girl Scout. My mom was a Girl Scout Leader. We used to go to a large park and cook on bunsen burners made with a coffee can. We'd collect leaves to save on wax paper and make things with the pine cones & raw elbow macaroni.

My mom decided we should make planters for our mothers. She brought old 78 records from my grand parents' Victrola and we spray painted them gold. Then she heated them so that they crinkled like a handkerchief vase. My grandfather was heartbroken over his records though. Yikes.

She also had us make some kind of decoration with glass marbles that she fried in a frying pan. I can't remember what we made with them.

I've never liked GS cookies.