Northern Illinois – On September 9, 2025, Girl Scouts announced that Exploremores, a rocky road ice cream–inspired sandwich cookie, will be joining the lineup for the 2026 Girl Scout Cookie season. Filled with delicious flavors of chocolate, marshmallow and toasted almond–flavored crème, Exploremores reflect the spirit of exploration at the heart of every Girl Scout. Girl Scouts across the United States will offer the Exploremores cookie nationally online, in person, and at local cookie booths, during the upcoming 2026 Girl Scout Cookie season.

Local Girl Scouts will get to taste Exploremores before the 2026 cookie season at community Explore Cookies & S’more events. These open house-style events will be held at Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois Resource Centers in Lake Zurich, Oswego, Rockford, and South Elgin. Events are open to all current Girl Scouts and anyone who might be interested in joining or volunteering with Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois.

Explore Cookies & S’more events will be held from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. on Saturday, December 6, at:

• 499 Ela Road, Lake Zurich, IL 60047
• 3425 Orchard Road, Oswego, IL 60543
• 1886 Daimler Road, Rockford, IL 61112
• 353 Randall Road, South Elgin, IL 60177

The events will also feature cookie activities for Girl Scouts including practicing cookie booth skills at a mock cookie booth, recording Digital Cookie videos, crafts, games, photo booth, and more. Girl Scouts who visit all the stations at the event receive a free Cookie Rally fun patch while supplies last. The organization’s Build-A-Bear Workshop will also be available at the South Elgin and Rockford locations.

The upcoming Girl Scout Cookie program will run from January 6–March 22, 2026.

About the Girl Scout Cookie Program 

Girl Scouts do more than sell delicious treats—they’re entrepreneurial powerhouses creating a more equitable future for themselves and the world. Every box of cookies sold provides invaluable experiences for Girl Scouts such as service projects, troop travel, and summer camp. During Girl Scout Cookie season, each entrepreneur sets out to sell delicious cookies while also building entrepreneurial and business skills imperative for leadership and future success. All net revenues raised—100 percent of it—stays within the northern Illinois area.

Nearly 700k Girl Scouts participate in the Girl Scout Cookie Program, which provides vital entrepreneurial skills that build courage, confidence, and character. As a result, they obtain limitless barrier-breaking futures outside the box with transferable life skills. Girl Scouts can also earn badges and awards to develop valuable business skills including Cookie Business badges, Financial Literacy badges, Cookie Entrepreneur Family pins, and Entrepreneur badges.

Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois uses cookie earnings to power amazing experiences through their programming, while Girl Scouts and their troops decide how to invest in community projects, personal enrichment opportunities, and more. Skills learned through the cookie program also influence later success as data shows more than half (57 percent) of Girl Scout alums in business say the cookie program was beneficial to skills they possess today, such as money management, goal-setting, and public speaking.

We’re Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois

Girl Scouts bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world. Through programs from coast to coast, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges—whether they want to climb to the top of a tree or the top of their class, lace up their boots for a hike or advocate for climate justice, or make their first best friends. Backed by trusted adult volunteers, mentors, and millions of alums, Girl Scouts lead the way as they find their voices and make changes that affect the issues most important to them. To join us, volunteer, reconnect, or donate, visit www.girlscoutsni.org.

We serve 16 counties, including parts or all of Boone, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Jo Daviess, Kane, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Lee, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside, and Winnebago. To volunteer, reconnect, donate, or join, visit www.girlscoutsni.org or call 844-GSNI-4-ME (844-476-4463).