Please help - source for Brownie Girl Scout merit badge booklets

[peg2001]

Does anyone know of a source where I can find Brownie Girl Scout merit badge booklets for less than full retail cost? I think it is silly to pay $4 per book from the Girl Scout shop when we will use it for a week to earn a badge. Used books would be fine!

Thank you,
Peggy

 

[ltldeb]

Peggy, are you looking for particular badge requirements or do you need the whole book for ideas? I have some girl scout software where I can list the requirements for you and send them to you. If this is what you're looking for, PM me and I'll be more than happy to help you out.

 

[December99]

You can also just get one book and copy the pages that you need to give to the girls. Generally for Brownies, because they generally don't work on badges on their own, I have found they don't NEED the books and the leaders have a set so that they can plan and sit with the girls and give them ideas and ask them for help with plans for those ideas.

 

[peg2001]

Ok, thank you! I am starting to feel better. My DD6 is currently in Daisies and will be "bridging" to Brownies soon. Her current troop leader brought a few booklets and badges to the last meeting that they can apparently earn now and wear on their brownie uniform. She implied that each parent would need to buy each book ($4) and each patch ($0.90).

So, I was picturing having to shell out $5 for every badge my daughter wanted to earn, which could quickly become expensive!

ltldeb, thank you so much for the offer. I'm not currently looking for specific badge requirements.

Peggy

 

[December99]

Okay...I thought something didn't seem right, the price seemed awful low. These might be special badges that can be earned and yes, there is a booklet that would need to be purchased as well as the badge. But if you are talking about the try-its and the Brownie book that goes along with the descriptions of those, then you don't need to buy that one. Now the leader may be able to copy the pages of the booklet for this specialty patch. Usually if they are going to work on these they are worked into troop dues and the troop pays for them rather than nickle and diming the troop everytime they want to earn a badge. And technically, until she starts up next year or bridges - she can't earn Brownie badges yet. Sorry to be a smudge on the page. Sounds like you need a bit more information from this leader to find out what badge exactly they are going to work on and if there is any way that she can copy the booklets (would be cheaper than $4 a book).

The regular Brownie books are like $8 (close to it) a book so that just didn't seem right that there was a book that was $4. My advice would be to get a little more info from this leader on what exactly they are going to be working on.

I'm sitting here going through the GSUSA site and I don't see any booklets that are $4 (I see lots of patches that are $.90). They are either the handbooks that are almost $10 or they are booklets that are $2.50 or $2.00 or $3.00. Oh wait - I just found one called Connections. I have no idea what these are because we didn't do much outside of the Try-Its. But I would definitely ask this leader if there is any way these items can just be copied and given to the girls. I'm guessing they don't have to be turned in to the council office or anything like that. Also, I believe these patches will go on the back of their uniform vest or sash because they are not "official" patches.

 

[ltldeb]

I was a Brownie leader and am now a Junior leader. Any badge the girls earn should be purchased with troop funds. The parents are not required/expected to pay for badges each girl earns. I would talk to the troop leader again. Maybe she doesn't know this. If you need any help, just let me know. There are enough of us on these boards to help sort this out for you.

 

[CarolA]

There is a catch 22 here. First year Brownies have no funds since Daisy's can't do Product Sales.

However, this does sound kind of strange. You need to get some details.

We did have our girls buy the badge book. We will be buying thier try its from the cookie sale money however.

 

[December99]

AND I believe, technically, if she has not gone through her Brownie leader training, she can't be having the girls work on Brownie things. And you really won't want to ask her but you do have a right to if you'd like. And like Carol said - this does seem a bit strange. I'm guessing that she isn't sure about using troop funds to purchase things, etc, like ltldeb suggested.

When I was a Brownie leader we sat down twice a year and decided what badges we were going to work on what the cost would be for them. We then figured how much the dues would be and the dues covered the cost of the badges. We then, to keep money down, asked the parents to provide some items for crafts that would be worked on and if anyone had access to be able to make copies for us. We were able to do alot with a little money. I do have to say - the first year we asked for $25 in dues because we had no start up funds. Then once we could start selling cookies, we went down to $10 - FOR THE YEAR!

 

[ltldeb]

Actually when you get right down to it, only leaders are able to purchase the badges.

From the time my daughter began scouts, we always paid $5 a month for dues. Because of this, we didn't have to ask the parents to chip in for anything and they were happier this way than having to remember to buy stuff for meetings. We handled it all....they just dropped off their daughters.