Care Packages - what’s good for 4th of July?
June 1st, 2008 by LAW
What’s good to send, now that the temps in the Sand are in the 100s? Well, in a previous post comment, we got a lot of great ideas from “Some Soldier’s Mom” , which I am unashamedly going to “copy and paste ” here. I will also mention, PRIORITY mail only for food - otherwise some things will not survive.
I sent pizza! I got that Boboli pre-made pizza dough; pouches of tomato sauce; HARD PACK cheese (the kind that doesn’t have to be refrigerated!) and a small cheese grater… packaged peperoni (vacuum sealed that does not need refrigeration!) Also a microwave pizza dish…
or
“A Day at the Beach!”- sunscreen; beach towel; beach snacks; flip flop sandals (shower shoes); aloe vera gel;
or
“American Classics”- Pez with dispensers; Cracker Jacks; Lifesavers; NeccoWafers; Pop Rocks; Nerds; Good & Plenty; Candy Necklaces; Candy cigarettes
throw in some “windmills” (the hand held spinners) and red/white/blue tinsel!!
When we sent stuff over for a party - we kinda went nuts. Water Balloons (they did get used, believe it or not and reports were that folks BEGGED to be “got”), beads, plastic or fabric leis, candy of all sorts (individually wrapped - the bag of lemon drops I sent - One BIIIIG Lemon Ball!) , tins of snacks, good BBQ sauce and even rubs (my DH was the Pit King of their area) They can get the meat etc from KBR at some bases, if they request it. One friend went to Chipotle and described how much her husband missed their food - hey presto, they gave some of their seasonings, the meat was cooked and vacuum sealed and off it went!
When temps got into the “too hot to breathe” category, we also started sending cookies that didn’t melt. Some guys told us that the choc chip ones were fusing together and kinda nasty. So I came up with Chocolate snickerdoodles, which went over well with the chocoholics, and ginger snaps were requested by some as well.
OK - so lets have YOUR ideas! We’ll also set up a page to keep these all together - called — Care Packages! (original, huh?) We can put recipes there as well, for those treats that became hot favorites.
LAW
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June 2nd, 2008 at 3:23 am
These ideas are great! Keep them coming!
I just remembered, I have 100 water balloons that I bought in the fall…in the Iraq shipping room. (Formerly known as “the guest room” :).
Thnaks again…good ideas all!
Hmmmm, maybe the beach party and the movie independence day?
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:24 am
Could you clarify further on the cheese? Like string cheese? Hmmmm?
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I have sent the kool-aid type popsickles ( the mulitflavored kind0 they are individually packaged.In the hot weather they just put in a freezer. Have been a great hit on sevaral deployments.
Do a Bithday Party in a box. I seed this to Husband and all my family that has been deployed. Get their favorite Little Debbie Cake
send candles, plates, napkins, party hats, balloons (what movie is popular at the time) include the party bags with little kid favor to pack. I have gotten more letter from all the guy/girls that got to party the the soldier. Also send instructions on had to set up a party they will love you for it.
They saallest things make the best package. They just need things to make them laugh for a little bit.
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:44 am
no… string cheese needs refrigeration. they make these solid (really hard) cheeses… packed in tightly vacuum sealed wrap… drop by the deli counter and ask them to recommend some sharp hard-packed cheese. I also vacuum sealed everything again before sending (well, except the dough!)
and recently, I went to a discount store and bought TONS of water pistols — and stuffed boxes of them for a Navy Medic attached to a Marine Air Unit… I didn’t send any of the blaster types… just small hand sized ones. they are a HUGE hit!
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:46 am
and if you’re looking for other Care Package ideas… try some of these (I was going to save this for another post… but what the heck!
http://somesoldiersmom.blogspot.com/2005/07/care-packages.html
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Most units have microwaves or access to a microwave. You can put together a week’s worth of microwavable feasts or a bunch of microwavable snacks or a whole box microwavable anythings. Care packages of any sort will be appreciated, what ever they are.
June 11th, 2008 at 2:12 am
I’d love to get the chocolate Snickerdoodles recipe. They sound so good that I’ll want to make some to send AND some to eat!
Thanks for all the great ideas.