June 5, 2010 | tagged Care packages, Free Zip, zilch, nada, zero: Useful and fun care package items that won’t cost you a penny
Freedom may not be free, but the goodies you gather for your care packages can be. Get creative with these nine tips to fill a box without emptying your wallet.
#1. Popular magazines. Instead of tossing your magazines into a recycling bin, send them overseas. But don’t go digging in the basement to unearth your stack of Reader’s Digest magazines from the 1970s. If you’re not interested in reading it, chances are the troops aren’t either.
“General newsstand publications such as Maxim and Esquire, which regularly feature what the Greatest Generation might have called ‘pinups’ or ‘cheesecake,’ are ... highly sought after by troops in some areas,” commented Charlie Sherpa, a soldier who blogs at RedBullRising.com, after our “9 Most Wanted Care Package Items (and 3 items to skip)” post. “You can also send automotive, humor, hunting, military history, and other magazines — they also have a lot of trade-and-swap value, with both U.S. and Allied personnel.”
Our secret to cheerful care packages? Tie a pretty ribbon around even the most ordinary objects, including recycled magazines.
#2. Catalogs. Help a female servicemember look forward to the day she can trade her BDUs for something prettier by shipping her the mail-order catalogs that land in your mailbox. Think of it as remote window shopping from Iraq or Afghanistan. Send favorites like J. Crew, Lands’ End, and Sundance Catalog. For cooks and bakers, save up catalogs from Williams-Sonoma. For gardeners, dig up some seed catalogs, such as Burpee.
#3. Books. Here’s a good reason to declutter your bookshelves. There is always demand overseas for good detective novels, historical tomes, and laugh-out-loud comedic novels.
#4. DVD greetings. Say “hi!” in a short video you record and burn to a DVD. These digital files can be big, so sending them on a DVD — instead of by email — makes them easier for your servicemember to view. Remember, depending on where your loved one is stationed, internet connections can crawl at a snail’s pace or even be nonexistent.
#5. Crossword and sudoko puzzles from the newspaper. Save up a few weeks at a time. Be sure to include the answers.
#6. Giveaways. Runners in the Red Sox Run to Home Base 10K fund-raiser received a bag filled with free items that included sunscreen wipes, which is a good thing to toss into a care package. Going to a major league baseball game this summer? Pick up a free team schedule or magnet. Did you win a silly knick-knack at a local carnival? Ship it off with a picture of the gang on the Ferris wheel.
#8. Pictures from kids. You’ll hear us say this again and again: A drawing from a child is both free and priceless.
#9. Ribbons and wrapping paper. Every care package should feel festive, even if it’s filled with necessities like baby wipes and socks. Wrap at least one or two items in pretty papers or bright ribbons you recycle from gifts you have been given. Or use the color comics from a newspaper as packing material.
We’d like to hear from our care-package veterans. What “free” items do you send to your loved ones serving overseas? Share your tips in the comments below.
Reader Comments (7)
Thanks for all the great ideas Christine! You are awesome! I don't know where you find the time! I loved the idea of the magazines, catalogs and books. We have a ton of paperback books that my motherinlaw gave us that we have never read. Some good suspense novels. Thanks again for the post!
Something I just thought of the other day was free samples. If you go to walmart.com and search for free samples they have 5 or 6 free samples they give away every couple weeks. A lot are tampons, pads, lotion, soap, shampoo, etc. sometime food items. There is also a web site my sister goes to that lists free items or free samples. It's called freakyfreddies.com I think. Just avoid the ones where they just want and email address and nothing else. Those ones usually require you to fill a commitment and then send you a ton of emails or sell your email address.
Great ideas, as always. You should be on the Today Show for 4th of July and give tips on making and sending care packages!
Sister, you rock! Great ideas. Appreciate your hard work.
One thing I remember most people picked out of the care packages we received was a small bag filled with travel size toiletries. Reason being, everyone goes on R&R. Toiletries are the one we debate to pack. Most of us have a big bottle of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc. When you go on R&R, you will fly to BIAP or Kandahar. Then you wait for your flight out of the country to Ali Al Salem in Kuwait. Then you wait for another flight to either Germany or Ireland where you have 1-3 hour layover before you get to either Atlanta or Dallas airport. From there you get on your connecting flight to your destination. Length of time you spend in Baghdad/Kandahar and Kuwait depends on the availability of planes and weather. It took me 5 days before I landed in Dallas, but 1 1/2 days on my way back to the FOB. So packing my big bottles of toiletries was just ridiculous. But the ones that were thrown away or given to Iraqis were hotel/motel samples. Even empty bottles in a small bag so that Soldiers can fill them up with their own shampoos, conditioners and body wash would be a better idea than grabbing those cheap hotel/motel samples.
And as you mentioned, sudoku/cross words/word finder/any kind of puzzles are very popular simply cause we Soldiers are always on "hurry up and wait" mode. A pocket size puzzle can fit in our cargo pockets and it's fun.
Oh those pornographic magazines are available at PX but catalogs are not. Free magazines are always welcomed. You get the idea.
Bottom line is, at least in case of Iraq, we did have actual shower, PX that sells all the necessities including feminine items such as tampons and even douche, DFAC with ice cream, pies, other desserts, pop tarts and honey buns for grab for a mission, and even panini machines. It's not OIF 1 when they had to dig up to take care of #2. We had microwaves, fridges, coffee makers, etc. I've witnessed and scolded some Soldiers for not appreciating what they get from care packages simply cause the items were cheap, i.e. listerine vs. walmart brand. Most of us appreciate what we get, and most of us order our stuff from online stores since we get paid a lot when we are deployed. I spent about 700 dollars on average a month. And I still saved alot more than that every months. Food was given at the DFAC for free, so most of the money went to coffee (we have a starbucks equivalent called green beans), dvds, caffeine drinks from px, supplements, books that i ordered online, etc.
Thank you for what you are doing. You don't have to do this to Soldiers....after all, we are doing what we signed up and get paid for, just like your mailman delivering your mail or a cashier working at a store. But please know we do appreciate it.
Thanks for all the great tips. Just so others know, not all the troops have access to a px or anything close to it. My son has been in Afghanistan for just about a month without running water, electricity in only one of the buildings and felt great when they cleaned out an old grainery to use for additional sleeping quarters. He and his guys have requested everything from roach/ant motels to toothpaste, so anything from home is truly appreciated I know others have mentioned it before but humorous items help the moral tremendously. Thanks again I've gained a lot from the site even though I considered myself somewhat a care package pro.
I have requested travel guides from various state Travel and Tourism departments and send the accompanying maps to my adopt-a-soldier soldier as wall decoration that can remind someone of their home state! Free and easy to ship.