Hello! This post is all about care packages and what you’ll need!
These were seriously so fun to make and I loved putting them together for Taylor. I would try to make them as great as I could and would put a personal touch on all of them to make them special for him!
Care packages can be anywhere from really basic to really extravagant. Because I was a full time student, whenever I had a chance to send a package I would always try to make it as extravagant as I could.
Care packages took exactly a week if not a day or two less to make it to Afghanistan from Reno, Nevada. The best thing to do to find out how long your packages will take is to go to your local post office and ask them!
Things you will need from the post office:
Care Package and the white forms.
All these items are absolutely free!
* You will need to get a large flat rate box. When I was sending care packages they were $16 and because I was sending it to an APO address (overseas military base, which could also be FPO or DPO) I was given $2 off—score! You can fit a lot in a large flat rate box so don’t be fooled by how small it may appear. The only thing you have to make sure of is that your box is not over 50 pounds. Once it bounces over 50 pounds they will ask you to take some stuff out of the box. Then you can decide whether you want to pack it in another box, or just wait to send it in the next care package. However, it is hard to reach that 50 mark. I think the heaviest one of mine was almost 20 pounds and that was because I packed a cake in a Kerr jar.
* The address label to stick on the box. The first time I sent a care package Taylor’s mom and I didn’t get this sticker and they just gave it to us when we brought the package to the post office, but the next couple times I sent a care package I asked if I could have the sticker. I liked getting it all done before getting to the post office to save time.
* You will also need to get the white customs forms. To make sure you get the right forms just ask them for the ones that are for sending care packages to your deployed significant other. I always had them give me a lot of these forms because you have to list every item that you are packing in the care package along with how much it weighs. These forms take a lot of time to fill out, so I would always do them before going to the post office.
The first time I tried to fill out this form with Taylor’s mom, she and I were reading the instructions that come with the form and we were completely confused on how to put in the address because it is different than a normal address. The link below will take you to the website that specifically shows you how to fill it out. This was a huge help for me and cleared up all the confusion I had!
http://www.skipcares.org/228/care-packages/customs-form/
When you take care packages to the post office they will weigh them and go through everything in your form to make sure you are not sending anything you are not supposed to like weapons and alcohol. So it takes some time. This is why I like to have all the forms and the sticker for the front of the care package filled out before even getting to the post office. There is also less room for error if you take the time to do them at home.
Taylor’s Care Packages
Valentine’s Day Care Package!
The first care package Taylor’s mom and I sent to him wasn’t until we knew he was in Afghanistan. We waited until he told us that he was there because we didn’t want the package to beat him there. Your significant other deploys on a certain date, but that does not mean they will be to the base they are going to overseas that day. It takes a few days for them to actually get there. So wait to send anything until you know for a fact they are there.
We really didn’t send much of anything in this first care package…because we really didn’t know what to send. So, we sent him his favorite candy, snacks, magazines and a roll of Copenhagen. Tobacco products are more expensive overseas and they are not good quality, so if your significant other smokes or chews you may want to consider sending them a couple packs, or a roll in every care package you send. I never really had to worry about this because his parents would send him care packages and his dad would always make sure to pack a roll of Copenhagen, so I would just send a can or two in mine.
The second care package I sent was a Valentines Day themed package. I did the 14 days of Valentines Day and had a present for every day leading up to February 14th. I wrote a letter explaining that he was allowed to open one present every day and I numbered each present so he knew what order to open them in. Then there was a letter to go with every gift, which explained why I got him the gift and then wrote something cute and cheesy about the gift and what it represented in our relationship. There were 14 presents and 14 letters. The first present I had him open was homemade Rice Krispies, which sent really well! I got a Ziplock tupperware from Walmart that I wouldn’t care if he just threw away in Afghanistan. I got one that was small enough to fit in the large flat rate box, but big enough to fit enough Rice Krispies in. I then put a sheet of wax paper between each layer of Rice Krispies and Taylor said they were still perfect and chewy by the time they got to him, which I was glad to hear because I was not sure how well they were going to send.
I also sent him a can of Copenhagen, gum, a hand warmer, Chapstick, a blender ball (which he wanted to mix his workout shakes), toothbrushes, peanut m&m’s, Kit Kats, an iPod charger, and his big Valentines present was a photo book I made on Shutterfly of every year leading up to the day he deployed. I combined all of our best pictures from each year into a book and wrote little blurbs about every year. It turned out really great and it was something I knew he would really enjoy. There were other presents too, but I just can’t remember them all!
The next and final care package I sent him was his birthday one. Taylor turned 21 in Afghanistan and I wanted to make sure it was as special as possible. He had about a month left there and so I wanted to send things that I knew he would like and be able to use or eat in that time. I sent him cashews, almonds, beef jerky, pop tarts, peanut m&m’s, Copenhagen, buffalo wing pretzels, birthday cake Oreos, and some other snacks. Then I also made him a cake in a jar, which is super easy and sends really well! I saw it on Pinterest and made one for a friend for her birthday and knew it could be something I could send Taylor in a care package.
The link on how to make a cake in a jar is below:
http://www.babble.com/best-recipes/rainbow-cake-in-a-jar/
You don’t have to make it a rainbow cake you can use whatever kind of cake you want! Then I didn’t send frosting, but if you wanted to I would recommend buying the frosting in those small tubs at the store and packing one of those.
Decorating the Inside of Care Packages:
Taylor’s Birthday Care Package!
Taylor’s mom and I did not decorate the inside of his first box, but after seeing all the neat things people have done with care packages on Pinterest I knew that I wanted to do something more on the next ones I sent.
In his Valentines Day box, I wrapped all the presents in red wrapping paper and then bought stickers, tissue paper and construction paper to decorate the inside of the box. I also printed out some pictures, which I just scotch taped to the inside of the box because I knew that Taylor would want to keep them, but not the whole box.
I did the same thing for his birthday box and bought birthday decorations to decorate the box. I also bought a bag of confetti and pretty much confetti blasted the box, but he thought it was fun and I was glad because I wanted him to feel like it was his birthday. Then instead of wrapping everything in this box, I just put tissue paper in the little to no space that was left.
The best place to buy decorations for care packages is Dollar Tree or whatever dollar store you have in your area. These decorations do not have to be top notch. Your significant other is going to get the care package, take all the goodies out of it and then throw the box away, so don’t waste your money on the things you don’t have to. Buying cheap tissue paper, stickers and confetti allowed me to be able to buy him more goodies for his care packages.
Care Package Wrap Up
I really thought that I was going to go off of what I had seen on Pinterest, which by the way is an awesome place to start! However, I ended up really getting creative and making each box have a little personal touch of my own. You are sending these to your significant other, so use Pinterest to get some ideas and then put your own creative, personal spin on them!
As far as knowing what to pack you really need to ask your significant other what things they would like to have. Taylor’s mom would send him lots of candy, so he always asked me for more snack type foods, which is why I started sending him almonds, pop tarts, jerky and cashews. Then his dad sent him tuna packets, which he really liked just in case there was a day or night he didn’t feel like going to get food. Snacks like those are perfect to send!
You can also send things like shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and deodorant. It is really all up to your significant other’s preference. Taylor was fine with just running and getting that stuff on base, so I never really had to send anything like that….except toothbrushes because he complained about how terrible the ones were that they sold there, so I sent him some nice Oral-B ones.
Some other good ideas are things like iTunes and Amazon gift cards, or other cards they can use to buy things online while they are overseas. Because hey have Wi-Fi they are able to shop online and have things delivered to them. So, if you have family or friends who want to send them something, but don’t know what have them get them gift cards for iTunes, Amazon, or even regular Visa gift cards that they can use to purchase things online.
Care Packages from Tay
St. Patrick’s Day cake pops Taylor sent me!
You are not the only one who can send things. Your significant other can order things online, or buy you things at the base they are stationed at that they can send you. While Taylor was deployed I got a few packages from him. He bought me a pair of Dre Beat ear buds that he found on base and mailed to me. He sent me a quilted deployment heart wreath along with a bouquet of flowers for Valentines Day. Then for St. Patrick’s Day he sent me some cake pops. It was really neat to get things from him as well because it felt even more like we were really connected even though we were a whole world apart.
Kaitlin
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So obviously with me living in Nevada the first thing I had to figure out were my travel plans. I did not want to mess with being late on the day of his arrival, so I made my flight reservations for the 19th. This way I was there a day before he was supposed to be and would not have to worry about not being there to welcome him home. Because I was going be getting there before him I also needed to make sure I had a ride from the airport. So I got a hold of his best friend and roommate Travis, who was able to pick me up and take me back to their house.
Most significant others get all cute and dressed up for the return of their airman. There were significant others dressed in anything from skirts and high heels to others, like myself, in a nice pair of jeans and a cute shirt or blouse. There is really no specific way you have to dress. I chose jeans because I knew that I wanted to jump into Taylor’s arms the minute I saw him and that wouldn’t have been very easy to do in a dress! 🙂 Then there were little kids all dolled up in matching red, white and blue attire with signs welcoming their daddy’s and mommy’s home from Afghanistan. Many of the significant others had signs as well, but for me I was just keeping it simple. It was out first deployment and I was just so excited to jump in his arms that I didn’t want to have a sign to worry about. However, maybe next time I will make a sign.
Once your significant other is out of the United States their phone will not work unless they go to their service provider and pay for overseas service. Know that this is expensive and so NOT worth it with the other technology available to us today.
Here is where you will need to look at apps before your significant other leaves. The one that I heard is the best is called Viber. However, this app needs to be downloaded in the United States and Taylor and I didn’t find out about it until he was already in Afghanistan. So he downloaded an app called Magic Jack that gave him a new number while he was deployed, which allowed him to call me. I did not need the app for it to work. He would just call my regular phone number from a different number that the app gave him and we would be able to talk on the phone. Because it was a random number I saved it in my contacts as Taylor Desert. He would call me whenever he had a chance. I normally never called him, but that is because I was never sure if he was sleeping or working because of the time difference!
I did not send a lot of letters like I thought I was going to. I bought a notebook and pens with the intention of writing a letter every day, but they took so long to get there.
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