Girl Scout Cookie Season Has Officially Arrived Across North Texas

The 2023 “Year of the Girl” may have come and gone, but in North Texas, the Season of the Girl (Scout) lives on. For a few precious winter weeks (January 12 to February 25), tiny, cookie-wielding entrepreneurs invade local Tom Thumbs, coffee shops, and neighborhood curbsides in the name of courage- and confidence-building. Life skills are learned and Thin Mints are procured — everybody wins. 

But select Dallas brands and businesses also benefit from the warm glow of Girl Scout Cooking Season. Last year, the interactive art museum Sweet Tooth Hotel, created by local cool couple Cole and Jencey Keeton, became home to the first authorized Girl Scout Cookies + Cocktails menu. (The coconut-flecked Samoa martini was a particular favorite.) 

“This is the embodiment of Girl Scouts — the entrepreneurship, the creativity, and the fun,” shared Jennifer Bartkowski, CEO of Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, at the Sweet Tooth Hotel last year. “Girl Scouts today is different from your grandmother’s Girl Scouts.”

For under-21 sipping, the newly opened Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer in Victory Park has spun up two milkshakes inspired by Thin Mints and Samoas. The Dallas outpost of the popular New York concept, known for its over-the-top “CrazyShakes,” will be donating $2 from every classic cookie-inspired purchase back to Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas. 

A focus on supporting young women’s mental health is one of the more modern initiatives of the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas. In 2019, the Scouts partnered with community organizations like UT Southwestern Medical Center to form the Okay to Say mental health patch program, which launched statewide in 2020. Thousands of Texas girls have since earned their mental health patch. Of course, no conversation about young women’s mental health can be had without touching on social media. This year, the Galleria Dallas and the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas have partnered for the “Redefining Influencers” campaign, an exhibit highlighting five local role models on view from January 26 to February 25. Three North Texas women are highlighted: Amber Williams (chef and author of Surviving the Food Desert), Devyn Walker (founder of Transcend Wellness), and Texas representative Linda Garcia. They’re joined by two local teens, Kelsey Jahnke and Anya Aggarwal, who have each received the Gold Award, the highest honor in Girl Scouting. 

Girl Scout Cookie Season comes and goes in a flurry of Adventurefuls and Do-si-dos, but this go around, hot on the heels of The Year of the Girl, take some time to celebrate the women of North Texas. Slow down with a Samoa crumble-covered milkshake, toast with Tagalong cocktails, and treat yourself to an informative Galleria Dallas shopping trip. Everybody wins.