So CootieBoy joined Cub Scouts a few months ago. And like the Girl Scouts, they have annual fundraisers (but instead of cookies, the boys sell popcorn). And so at some point in early September we got all the documentation about the fall sales mission.
We could have taken CB door to door to do sales, but we didn’t feel like it. Instead, we took the forms to work, where Denis got over a dozen people to buy stuff, and I got about 5-6. We also posted links on Facebook to allow people to order online. Other than that, we put no effort into it whatsoever. His personal hope was to sell $600 so that he could qualify for a marshmallow shooter prize. But then we saw that if he sold $750 he could get a free 2GB iPod shuffle. And then we saw if he sold over $850 he could also get a $40 Wal-Mart giftcard. And so in the end, he (read: Denis and I) managed to sell $872 worth of popcorn.
So on Tuesday they had the big Popcorn Sales Wrapup meeting for the whole pack of 60 boys. During the meeting they announced advancements (kids who earned patches and such) as well as individual and den prize winners for the popcorn sale. Given our lack of initiative, I knew CB wouldn’t even be in consideration for a prize because some of the boys in the pack are die-hard Scouts.
They began with advancements, and CB was called up to the stage – he is now a Bobcat instead of a Tiger Cub Scout. He’s very excited about the patch he got.
Once the advancements were done, they began by announcing the individual top 15 sellers. They called up those who were in the 15 to 11 rankings. When they announced that #15 had sold about $700 in popcorn, CB and I looked at each other in shock, and he whispered, “Did I make the Top 10?” I said yes, and he began bouncing in his seat because being in the Top 10 meant he would get to ride in a limo to the big banquet in December. Later in the meeting they called the names for those ranked 10-6 and sure enough, CB’s name was called. He all but floated up to the stage, where he found out that he was in 8th place. He was on cloud nine!!
And now I found out that he was the top seller online. Of his $872 in sales, over $300 of that was online – and he was the top seller online, which allowed him to earn another gift card, this one for $25!! So all total, he earned a marshmallow shooter, two gift cards totaling $65, a 2GB iPod and a $25 iTunes giftcard, as well as some Cub Scouts gear. Not bad for no effort!
We’ve decided that if CB sticks with this Cub Scout thing, we’re going to be more aggressive on the popcorn sale next year. In addition to work, family and Facebook we’re going to go ahead and hit up the neighborhoods the day after we get the paper work. I’m sure that if we just go out for one or two days we can easily double what he earned this year.
The thing I’m most excited about? The popcorn arrives in 10 days. Yummy, yummy goodness abounds!