It’s that time of year! Yes, our chocolate and vanilla Girl Guide cookie season is underway… and with it comes the cardboard boxes and cases taking over meeting spaces, basements, and garages.
As we approach Earth Day (April 22), many units are focusing on green activities. Guiding has always been about teaching girls to use our resources wisely and protect our common environment, and cookie season is a great time to focus on those key Guiding principles by reducing, reusing, and recycling!
Creative Girl Guides members have found many ways to re-purpose materials leftover from cookie campaigns. I’ve rounded up some of my favourite ideas from my own area council and beyond – what are yours?
Giving back
Local non-profit organizations are often eager recipients of your cookie cases – even if there aren’t any cookies in them. 😉
In B.C., the Wildlife Rescue Association uses cookie cases to release small animals back into the wild. Contact a local rescue group to see if they wish to accept your donation of flattened boxes.
Use cases to pack up non-perishable donations to your local food bank, or to create a special gift like the Alberta Girl Guides’ awesome birthday party in a box.
Grabbing attention
Don’t forget about the cookie sales themselves! Re-purpose your empty boxes and cases for a fun promo to boost your fundraising. Borrow an idea from Girl Scouts down south: turn a case inside out to make a small display box, where you can place information about cookies or about joining Guiding.
Take your cue from Guides in Vancouver’s West Point Grey District who wear cases as costumes. Open up the bottom of the box, add easy suspenders made of ribbons or straps, and become a walking-talking-dancing cookie case! This is eye-catching and – bonus! – girls think it’s totally hilarious.
Getting crafty
Guiding wouldn’t be complete without some creative fun! Once you snack on the cookies inside, take the box, grab your scissors, and cut out the trefoils and clip art, before gluing small magnets on the back.
Or turn the whole box into a special notebook, an ideal size for girls to keep records of cookie sales or collect autographs at the end of a camp.
Go big with a giant scrapbook made from an entire cookie case! Use the book to chronicle a special adventure or just your year of unit activities.
Gathering gear
Cookie cases are a perfect carry-all! Toting supplies to and from your unit meetings? Looking for storage for files and forms? Cases are just the right size.
Those are just a few fun ideas! What are your best suggestions? Share them in the comments below or on on our Facebook page!
Guest post by Diamond Isinger. Diamond is a new arrival to Ottawa, serving as a Guider and as a Pathfinder patrol leader with the 1st Ottawa Mosaic Group – say ‘hi’ at Guiding Mosaic this summer! She previously volunteered as Area Commissioner and Public Relations Adviser for the 3,300 members of West Coast Area Council in B.C., leading programs and growing Guiding in Vancouver-and-area.