Care Package #1: Halloween!

Friday, October 21, 2011

The best part of this deployment, by far, is the care packages! For whatever reason, I am ridiculously excited about this. Jen and I got together recently and assembled our first care packages of the deployment! With the pending holiday, we decided on a Halloween theme. =)

The first thing I did was cover the nasty inside of the box with scrapbook paper. My parents are adamant that he would never notice this detail, but I disagree! I think it's a nice touch that obviously means I put some time and thought into his gift (which I did)! I used rubber cement this time, but will probably use scrapbooking adhesive next time because the pages started coming unstuck as I filled the box =( Not horribly, but enough to annoy me.

For reference, I used 5 sheets of 12x12 paper, which fit the box almost perfectly (they only needed a smidge trimmed off the sides). 1 covered the bottom and the other 4 were cute in half for the sides and flaps.

In keeping with our Halloween theme, we purchased TONS of Halloween candy along with treat bags, spider rings, and some other halloween plastic things. We ended up with 3 boxes, 1 for each of our soldiers and 1 for their entire platoon. We assembled the candy into the treat bags and filled up the platoon box. We made larger bags for our boys and included some other goodies. Josh is getting ESPN mags, a few Sports Illustrated mags, Rockstars (the guys are addicted to these things!), silly string, baby wipes, football shaped brownies, some boxes of his favorite candy, and a few personal items (DVDs, a letter, etc). I also sprinkled the spider rings and plastic skeletons around in the box too. =) When all was said and done, Josh's box weighed in at 16 pounds! YOWZA!

The care packages ended up costing more than we planned on. For all three boxes (with shipping) it was $120! We figured it was the ridiculous price of Halloween Candy and the fact that we did a platoon box. We don't plan on doing this every time, so hopefully the next round will be cheaper. =)

5 Comments »

This entry was posted on Friday, October 21, 2011 and is filed under 35 in 365 - #18,35 in 365 - #5,Care Packages,Deployment,Sent to my Soldier. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response.

5 Responses to “Care Package #1: Halloween!”

krysOctober 21, 2011 at 12:14 PM
i love it! (i started following your blog randomly by the way, so hi!) i posted a few of the care packages i sent a few years ago on this message board - http://www.militarysos.com/forum/care-packages/371000-halloween-care-packages.html (i think there's a way to view all the posts i started..i loved care package making!)
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AshleyOctober 22, 2011 at 2:04 PM
Hi and thanks for the follow!! I will have to check your care packages out! Thanks for the link! =)
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TamiOctober 28, 2011 at 10:34 AM
I love the lined boxes! That is a cute idea.
I have a son in the military. Our church sent out care packages to 13 soldiers recently.
This is my post about care packages.
http://theladyinthestonehouse.blogspot.com/2011/09/care-packages-and-my-week.html

I appreciate your husband's sacrifice and that of his family. Take care.
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birdlettApril 12, 2012 at 4:50 PM
these Care package ideas go above and beyond! i am inspired to do boxes this heartfelt and considerate on his first and future deployments. I plan on doing this for family and friends as well. thanks for the inspiration!! you rock!
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BriMay 20, 2012 at 5:01 PM
I agree with the above comment! Way above and beyond and very inspirational! Love all the themed/lined boxes. We are only 2mths in and I have sent SEVERAL boxes already to my husband/his unit and our friend who has been gone a month. I plan on coming back for future inspiration and will most definitely be sending a "Scarlet & Grey" box in November ;)
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