For Troop Leaders and Troop Cookie Managers

For Community-Area Product Leaders

The Cookie Business Family Meeting helps to provide a foundation of understanding and agreement for both volunteers and families. River Valleys recommends hosting a meeting in early January. Use the Troop Family Cookie Meeting resources on Cookie Central to help you prep and run the meeting. Send out invites now so families can circle this important date on their calendars.

Our Troop Cookie Manager Guidebook is available now on Cookie Central! Along with your Troop Cookie Companion, you’ll use the guidebook for a deeper dive into all the details on the Cookie Program. You can access it online, to always ensure you are reviewing the most current info. Our Online Troop Cookie Manager Training will be added to gsLearn the week of December 16. If you are a new Troop Cookie Manager, complete the 477 Troop Cookie Foundations course in gsLearn prior reviewing these courses or attending your Community’s cookie training. This will help orient you to your role and responsibilities before learning more about the details of the 2025 season.

Volunteers will receive their links to access Smart Cookies, the online cookie management system, the week of December 16. The registration email comes from noreply@abcsmartcookies.com. Check your spam/junk/promo folder in case the email doesn’t land directly in your inbox. Two troop contacts are added to Smart Cookies: the Troop Leader and the Troop Cookie Manager. Troops can only have two contacts in the system but can add multiple users. Troop contacts receive emails from Smart Cookies and have access to all functions. Troop users do not receive the system emails but will have access to all functions. To add other troop users or change contacts, contact us at girlscouts@girlscoutsrv.org. Once you’ve registered, complete the important first steps:

All the information you need to navigate Smart Cookies is included in our Online Cookie Systems Guide on Cookie Central.

If your troop is planning to participate in in-person cookie sales or plans to hold Cookie Booths starting on Cookie Go Day, it's time to think about your initial cookie order. Use the River Valleys Cookie Calculator to assist with the order. It provides a recommendation for your initial order by cookie variety.

The Cookie Calculator provides a recommendation based on number of packages by variety. The initial cookie order in Smart Cookies is made in cases. There are 12 packages in each case of cookies. 

For troops that place an initial order based on the Cookie Calculator total case count, all Girl Scouts selling in the troop will receive the exclusive Ta-Ta Toast YAY patch (see below) as an initial order reward. Plus, the troop is entered into a drawing to be randomly selected to win Panda Pom-Pom hats for the entire troop! Winners will be announced in The Cookie Press. Troops do not need to follow the variety recommendation to earn the rewards, only the total case count. 

The GSRV Properties Team is looking for new warehouses in the Central, West, and South Metro areas to host a cookie cupboard for the season. Complete this form to submit any promising locations.

Our Rochester Cookie Cupboard is need of staff. If you or anyone you know might be interested in working at this location, email itsonesweetjob@girlscoutsrv.org.

River Valleys is holding a virtual Cookie Rally for Girl Scouts, which will be streamed on Facebook and YouTube. Girl Scouts can learn about goal setting, the cookie rewards, patch programs, Digital Cookie, and are eligible to win prizes for engaging in our rally chat.

This free rally is Tuesday, February 4, at 6:30 PM. Registration is not required, but Girl Scouts who complete our Cookie Rally interest form will receive a reminder email featuring the rally activities. Share the date and form with your troop. Can’t make it?  You can view the recording of the event on the Girl Scouts River Valleys Facebook or YouTube pages.

Thank you to all of you who attended one of our Virtual Community Cookie Volunteer Training sessions this past week! A post-training email has been sent to all attendees with our FAQ document and a short survey.

If you were unable to attend one of our Community-Area Virtual Product Leader training sessions, you can watch a recording of this training in gsLearn starting next week. You must complete either a virtual training session or the online training in gsLearn as a part of your Community or Area level role. Plus, one of the requirements to earn the annual Community cookie proceeds is to have at least one Community volunteer complete this training by February 1.

Our Community-Area Cookie Manager Guidebook is updated for the 2025 season. Along with the handy Community-Area Cookie Notebook, you’ll use this guidebook to dive deeper into your role in supporting troops through their program participation. You can review this webpage, which will always have the most current cookie info for your role.

One of the most important roles in cookie season is to hold a Troop Cookie Manager training. Connect with your troops to inform them of their training opportunities, whether you’ll be holding an in-person training or directing them to online opportunities. Use our Troop Training Toolkit which features training tips, and  presentations you can use “as is” or customize it for your Community. This toolkit will be available online by December 16. During training, don’t forget to direct troops to the Online Troop Cookie Responsibility Form which is due by February 1. 

If you’re hosting a cookie rally, this is the last chance to order your cookies and a sample rewards kit. No late orders will be accepted, so be sure to place your order by Sunday, December 22

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