Over 1 million Girl Scout cookies will be distributed across Orange County, which may or may not be enough
Someone once gave 10-year-old Mia Tejeda of Newport Beach a fake $100 bill to pay for Girl Scout cookies, and she was gutted when she found out. But she bounced back the following year and managed to deal out 3,000 boxes of the coveted, seasonally available snacks, becoming her troop’s sales leader for the 2022 season.
At 8.5 ounces per box, that’s more than 22 times the average American fifth-grader’s mass in cookies. Tejeda hopes to sell just as many if not more this year, she said while creating signs to advertise the treats at the Argyros Girl Scout Leadership Center in Newport Beach Friday.
She, her 5-year-old sister Ava Tejeda, their mother and troop leader Adrianna Tejeda, as well as fellow Newport Beach Girl Scout Addison Barry, 9, and her mother Emily Barry, have been gearing up for this year’s cookie season for over a month. Shipments of Thin Mints, Caramel deLites, a new treat called Raspberry Rally and seven other varieties that are offered this year won’t even be distributed to most troops until Jan. 28, but they have already begun receiving a steady stream of orders from regulars.
“She’ll be walking back from a booth sale pulling her wagon behind her, and someone will usually stop us in the parking lot and say ‘Wait! Can we still buy some cookies from you?’” Emily Barry said.
She said the wildly popular goodies almost sell themselves, but that doesn’t mean Girl Scouts won’t have to hustle to meet the sales goals that each one decides upon ahead of the season. Adrianna Tejeda said her daughter would set up shop from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Saturdays, all while managing school and extracurricular activities last year.
Cookie sales, like practically all of a troop’s activities, teach girls how to plan, set budgets, manage expectations and think like entrepreneurs at an early age, Girl Scouts of Orange County chief executive Vikki Shepp said Friday. She added that youth who were a part of the program are more likely to graduate from college and become civically engaged as adults.
The girls also learn to work together, even in a competitive setting, Adrianna Tejeda said. They coordinate with each other to make sure they’re not all trying to make sales in the exact same area at the same time, and are told to never discourage people from buying from other Girl Scouts to benefit their own numbers.
This year, Addison and Mia’s troop plans to use a portion of profits from cookies to buy supplies for a local animal shelter. The rest will help fund educational trips and other experiences designed to teach life lessons while rewarding each Girl Scout for their hard work.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
