Half Way Home Decorated Care Package Idea for Your Military Service Member

If you have a loved one far from home, you've probably sent him or her a care package or two.  During my son's deployment, I learned that decorated care package boxes are a big thing.  The idea is to decorate the inside of the box before you pack in all the goodies.  Over the past several months, I've decorated a Valentine's Day box and a birthday box.  You can decorate boxes for all sorts of special occasions such as Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  You could decorate a Mother's Day or Father's Day box.  For college students far from home, you can use themes such as first aid or medical supplies theme for a medical student.  If your student enjoys puzzles, you could decorate a puzzle themed box.  Some people like to do a color theme.  The decorate the box in a color like yellow and then fill it with snacks which are all packaged in yellow wrappers.  You get the idea.  If you are like me and you have a loved one who is deployed, a Half Way Home Decorated Care Package is a good way to mark the half way point in your military service member's deployment.

My Half Way Home Decorated Care Package

I decorated the left side of my care package box in a desert camouflage pattern.  The left side of the box represents the months gone by.  I decorated the right side of the box in an American flag theme.  I printed out an image of a house with the word "Home" written inside.  The right side of the box obviously represents the months ahead, the home stretch.

Inside the box, I packed my son's favorite snacks and a few things he needed.  In his boxes, some of the things I have packed are:

Chili Cheese Fritos
Flavor Twist Fritos
A bag of Mixed Chocolate Candy Bars
Gum
Baby Wipes (They need a good quality fragrance free kind.)
Shampoo
Body Wash
Deodorant
Batteries
Small Hand Held Puzzle Games
Electrical Tape
Bed Sheets (Single)
A Blanket

Keep in mind that anything that might spill such as the shampoo and body wash needs to be placed inside a Zip Loc bag.  Those types of items often leak during shipping.

Not everything can be shipped.  If you have any questions about what you can and cannot send overseas in a care package box, ask your local post office clerk.  They have a list.  Most of them ship these packages all the time so they know what they're doing.  Be sure to ask your post office clerk about military care package flat rate boxes.  You can get them from the postal service for free.  They come with labels and packing tape.  You can order the military care package flat rate boxes online here.

Another way to send care packages is to order them and have them shipped by Amazon.  Shipping to APO addresses is free for Amazon Prime members.  Put the items in your cart, plug in the address, pay your bill, and Amazon does the rest. I enjoy decorating and packing care packages for my son, but we have used Amazon a few times for convenience. 

Whatever method you decide to use to ship your care package, your loved one will love it because it came from you. If you have children, get the children involved.  If mommy or daddy is far away, whether it be a military deployment or an extended business trip, allowing the children to decorate and pack a care package box will help them feel closer to the parent they miss so much.

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Read more posts about living through deployment here.