Traditional sale started out with a simple recipe in 1917

The birth of the Thin Mint occurred in the 1950s.
The Girl Scout cookie sale started out in a small way. The earliest record of a Girl Scout cookie sale dates from 1917 when the Mistletoe Troop of Muskogee, Okla., baked cookies and sold them as a service project.
The first councilwide project started in 1922 in Chicago. A local scout director distributed a cookie recipe to the council's 2,000 Scouts, who made the sugar cookies. Packaged in wax-paper bags sealed with a sticker, Scouts sold them door to door for 25 to 35 cents a dozen.
The mid-1930s marked a turning point in the cookie projects. In 1934, the Philadelphia Council came up with the idea to sell commercially baked cookies. The next year, the Girl Scout Federation of New York also sold commercial cookies in the shape of a trefoil. They had the words Girl Scout Cookies put on the boxes.
In 1936, the national Girl Scout organization licensed the first commercial baker to produce cookies that were sold by many Girl Scout councils. With that, the nationwide Scout project was born. The next year, more than 125 Girl Scout councils held cookie sales.
Sales suspended
Cookie sales were suspended when the United States entered World War II and there was rationing of sugar, flour and butter. But the interruption of cookie sales led to the development of Girl Scout calendars to raise money for activities. Sales resumed after the war and 29 bakers throughout the United States were licensed to make Girl Scout cookies.
During the 1950s and the boom of living in the suburbs, troops often sold cookies at local shopping sites. At this time, varieties were: vanilla- and chocolate-based filled cookies, shortbread and chocolate mint, which would eventually be known as Thin Mints.
The 1960s saw an increase in cookie sales as the baby boomers became Girl Scouts and the sales force increased.
And in the 1970s, the bakeries were limited to four to help lower prices and promote uniform quality, packaging and distribution. The national scout organization started to supply bakers with a standard cookie package layout and pictures. For the first time, boxes showed Girl Scouts in various activities including hiking and canoeing. 1979 saw the first use of the contemporary Girl Scout logo on packages, which also promoted the benefits of Scout participation.
During the mid-1980s, some of the licensed bakers produced gift samplings in decorative tins. In 1998, the national organization introduced age-appropriate awards for sales.
Current Girl Scout cookie boxes depict colorful photos of Girl Scouts, depicting the spirit of the organization. There are eight cookie varieties including the newest, Caf & eacute; Cookies.
XSource: Girl Scouts of the USA Web site.