The Girl Scouts didn’t sell cookies during WWII. Here’s what they sold instead

Michael Bartiromo

With the possible exception of the first Girl Scouts to sell cookies in front of marijuana dispensaries, the Scouts of the early to mid-1940s were perhaps the most innovative in the history of the organization.

Due to wartime rationing during World War II, the councils and bakeries supplying Girl Scouts with cookies were facing a shortage of the ingredients needed to make their signature offerings. But instead of halting their fundraising activities altogether, the Scouts pivoted and began selling non-food items: specifically, calendars.

Canceling the cookies

The 1944 Girl Scout calendar — the first of its kind — featured staged photos of Girl Scout troops alongside “the Girl Scout laws,” according to a representative for the organization.

The 1944 and 1945 versions also “stressed the need for patriotism and good citizenship,” the National World War II Museum noted on its official site.

At 25 cents apiece (or around $4.50 in today’s money), the calendars soon became a “major source” of funding for the continued activities of troops, the museum added.

By 1946, cookie sales resumed. But production of the calendars continued, with subsequent editions featuring photos of troops from around the country, sometimes with information about their specific projects each month. Some councils even produced their own versions featuring news from local troops, like the Scouts of DuPage County, Illinois.

“The best thing I remember about the experience was that the girls really did all the work. We had a weekly schedule and weekly goals,” remembered former Girl Scout Ruth Caragher, who spoke with the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana about her work on the 1972 edition of their local calendar.

She added that she felt a sense of pride when the calendars came back from the printer, ready to be sold throughout the community.

“I wish I could do it again with the friends I made in Girl Scouts,” she said.

‘Rich history’

Girl Scout calendars continued to be produced for decades (and perhaps even into the 2000s, as suggested by online evidence), though a representative for the organization could not confirm when or why sales were discontinued on a national scale.

Cookie sales, meanwhile, are still as strong as ever, much to the delight of the Girl Scouts, their supporters, and customers exiting our nation’s many weed dispensaries.

“We always appreciate those who take interest not only in the excitement of Cookie Season, but the rich history of Girl Scouts,” a spokesperson for the organization said.

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