Sending a care package

[BriarfoxinWA]

So a good friend of ours is stationed in Afghanistan and I'm going to send him a care package. I got ahold of his wife and found some ideas of what he would like. Mostly food like cookies and chips.

I'm looking for other ideas of things I could put in the package for him... any suggestions?

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Hard candies.

Those little packets of drink mixes, the individual ones.

Lip balm, and good quality sunscreen.

Individually wrapped face/hand wipes.

 

[dawson5]

local newspaper. music and movies. twizzlers.

 

[lovemygoofy]

cheap movies/tv shows on dvds
books/magazines/newspapers
stationary/envelopes/blank cards that he can write inside to mail out

pringles
can dip like bean dip or cheese whiz
ritz crackers
tuna/can chicken
soup/spaghettio things in the can with the pop top
little debbie snack cakes
hot sauce
pks sweetened kool-aid/gatorade/crystal light
ziploc bags


good ground coffee
coffee flavoring
biscotti
tea bags


I don't know if you have mailed a box before but the post office has flat rate priority boxes for shipping to an APO. Don't forget you'll have to fill out a customs form.

 

[piglet too]

My nephew is currently deployed, and he asked for a football.

 

[daisy2jae]

If you have kids you could make stationary for him. Let them decorate the tops or bottom of the pages. We did this for a friend and he thought it was nice. He used it to write letters to our kids and his own kids. Plus when he wrote thank yous to the kids at a local school that were writing as penpals.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Find out his preferred tooth paste, deodorant, etc. Things that would make him feel closer to home.

 

[Luvchefmic]

Here's a website that can either help you or give you plenty of ideas
www.tdysupply.com

I haven't personally used them but have heard good things

DD & DSIL are both USMC and the biggest requests were chocolate chip cookies (vacuum packed & arrived Iraq fine) cotton socks DVDs and lip balm

 

[Ilivetogo]

Magazines that appeal to him.

.

 

[scrapquitler]

I've been sending packages to my nephew in Afghanistan.

First, go to the post office and get a LARGE FLAT RATE PRIORITY BOX. The boxes are free, and you can send any weight amount of stuff that fits in the box for a flat fee (I think it was about $11 or $12), and they also give you $2.00 discount off the 'regular' flat rate price if it is going APO or APE.

Some of the things I put in the box for my nephew: Toothpaste, toothbrush, dental floss, chapstick, q-tips, hand sanitizer, baby wipes, insect repellant with DEET, Sunscreen, dark color socks and t-shirts.

For Fun: I put a yo-yo, a deck of cards, a sketchbook and charcol pencils, a word search book, waterballoons, a nerf ball, a slinky.

Food, always lots of food! Gummy Bears, flavor packs for bottled water, ramen noodles, Lipton cup o soup, tea bags, hot chocolate packs, Kraft Easy Mac, Gum, Lifesavers, Twizzlers, hard candies, marshmallow Peeps, pez dispenser, cookies, granola bars, raisins, trail mix, sunflower seeds, peanuts, beef jerky/slim jims (pork products are Forbidden, so be careful with meat things), peanut butter crackers, tuna fish in the foil packets.

My kids had a ball shopping and picking out things for him. Also be sure to enclose a letter or a card, have the kids draw a picture, include some photos and maybe some articles from the local paper.

 

[Sleepy]

I always sent holiday related items when my husband was out to sea. Of course, most of the holidays are gone for now, but anytime there were holiday candies, etc in the stores, I sent a bunch of them for him to share. I mean oodles. In addition, I sent small holiday decorations. One year I sent halloween and christmas decorations. He enjoyed them and so did everyone else.

 

[jsmith]

silly toys to pass time and break the tension-some of the most popular things i have sent-a nerf dart gun and darts-i guess teh whole company had a blast with that-nerf foot ball-silly putty.
Homemade goodies-chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies-anything home baked and sturdy-vaccum packed will make it just fine and are really appreciated-also if the soldier has a favority brand of coffee and access to a coffee maker packages of coffee are great.

 

[Sleepy]

silly toys to pass time and break the tension-some of the most popular things i have sent-a nerf dart gun and darts-i guess teh whole company had a blast with that-nerf foot ball-silly putty.

Oh, I forgot about the nerf basketball set I sent my husband once. It was convenient because they could suction it on anything metal and with the ball being sponge, it couldn't break anything if they got carried away.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Little bottles of hand lotion.

Baby wipes.

Lip balm.

Those Colgate (or is it Crest?) waterless "toothbrushes".

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Those Colgate (or is it Crest?) waterless "toothbrushes".

Colgate Wisps...great to keep in your car for going out to the club too...

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

Thanks for all the great ideas! I picked up a flat rate box at the post office yesterday...now I just need to do a little shopping!

 

[dzorn]

Not just stationary but I would make a trip to Hallmark and get some cards. Birthday, Miss you, upcomming holidays that way they have card to send to special someones at home.

Denise in MI

 

[AmericanItGirl]

Piggybacking onto this thread...

I'm putting together a "first deployment" package for my brother who's going over to Afghanistan in May (little things to help him with the transition, he's going over before his platoon [he's a commissioned second lieutenant] to set things up so there's a lot that he'll probably forget, like stationary). So far, I've got a pack of 3 small journals with detachable pages and I'm going to get a bag of those cheap Bic pens, a box of envelopes (so he can write to my mom), and some chapstick. Would a disposable camera be a good idea (I'm sending it to him in Hawaii before he's deployed so he can open it on the plane or whenever he has downtime while traveling)? Should I send pencils instead of pens? What about a small ice pack? I don't want to send a lot because I don't know how much room he'll have.

Also, what edible Disney treats travel well? Do the Mickey head lollipops get goopy in the Afghani heat?

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

Well I ended up sending a whole bunch of different stuff. So here is the list:
I vacuum sealed a stack of Oreo's and a stack of Chips Ahoy cookies
Beef Jerky
Beef Pepperoni Sticks
2 cans Pringles chips
disposable tooth brushes
chap stick
100 spf waterproof sunscreen
Uno playing cards
regular playing cards
about 15 each of 3 different individual drink packets
Our local Movie Gallery is going out of business so I bought 3 DVD's for $1.99 each.
6 packages of Easy Mac

It's amazing how much you can fit into one of those little boxes

Have to add - the day I was mailing his package I found out that he was coming home for 10 days. His Dad passed away during back surgery. I talked to his wife and she asked me to go ahead and mail the package out as it would take a while to get to him.

 

[Tarheel Tink]

Anyone have a guess as to how long it will take for a package to get to Baghdad? I mailed a flat-rate box 1 week ago. TIA!