Oh No or is it Oh Yay, GirlGuide Biscuit time again!

Well it's that time of year again. We have lots and lots of yummy GirlGuide Biscuits to sell to fund raise for our GirlGuide unit.

Now if I am being very truthful I have not really enjoyed selling biscuits in the past. I am not sure why, I suppose it's because it was my job to try and ensure all the families mucked in and did their share and quite honestly in the early years it seemed as though I spent thrice as much time selling the darn things as anyone else as there always those families who are "too busy" or "I have no-one to sell them too". Also because the girls were so young it came down to The Papa and I doing all the selling. We had no other clubs we belonged to, and no family close to sell them to, nor could we sell them at our school, cause we homeschool. We ended up doing a lot of stalls to get rid of them. It was a bit of a choir if I am honest.

These days whilst I don't exactly jump for joy when the selling time comes around, I don't mind it so much. We have some great parents who get in and do their share which makes life a lot easier but, something else has happened which is more important. Both my girls simply LOVE selling them! They don't mind knocking on peoples doors, whilst I wait at the front gate (imagine a pack horse that's me all loaded up) as they are quite confident to ask people to purchase them. They are equally good at working out how much is owed and what change to give back and they just love manning a table outside our local dairy (milk bar/corner store) and selling to the locals. I think they'd like to hold their own stalls down the street if I let them and if we lived in town I know for certain they'd have a lemonade stand or similar.

 

(an old pic from March 2010)

Their joy and delight and yes even pride at how well they manage selling these biscuits ("no, mum we can do it, you just sit there") is amazing and I find that I quite enjoy watching them plying their trade amongst the people passing by. They have learnt to say thank you for the support and also how to take a "no thanks" from some people and not to take it to heart but to try again next time. So it is a valuable learning experience for them.

They have developed their own little system. they say hello or good morning as people pass us when they walk into the store but they don't try to sell them then. As the people leave the store they will then ask them if they would care to support their unit by purchasing a packet or two of biscuits and most people just automatically will walk out of our wee 4 Square (mini mart) and walk straight over to buy a pack or two.

We have quite an older aged township, with the local retirement near the shops, so lots of the elderly will stop for a morning chat or donate money even if they are diabetic and can't eat the biscuits. We have even had an elderly gentleman purchase a packet only to hand them back to the girls to eat them for him as he wasn't allowed to. The girls love the elderly men as they can't seem to resist purchasing off them and always have the sweetest chats with them about what they do at Guides or comment on their badges. The elderly really engage with them. I have met some lovely people myself who remember back when they sat outside stalls or went door to door selling Guide biscuits with their daughters. I can see on their faces how precious those memories are and how they would switch places with me in a heartbeat to go back to that time.

So not only do the children learn some valuable lessons selling Guide Biscuits but this Mama has seen first hand that her girls are maturing and developing some great life skills and learnt that one day I will be looking back and remembering those mornings selling biscuits with both my beautiful girls with much fondness (and a slightly thicker waist, yes they are that good!).