5 Tips for Care Package Building

5 Tips for Care Package Building

1. Be sure to find out if your soldier has access to a microwave. If they do that is awesome, if not then you will have to get a little more creative. (e.g. Movie Night package; you either include multiple microwavable popcorn packages, or maybe just one bag of the already popped popcorn).
2. Find out the temperature where you soldier is deployed. Mine was in Afghanistan where temperatures easily reached 90-120 degrees. So… as delicious as chocolate is, sending it in a box that will be exposed to high temperatures may not be a good idea. 
3. Find out if there is anything they actually NEED as opposed to just snacks. Some guys didn't show up to Afghanistan with a life time supply of baby wipes like my husband did! I did end up sending socks, protein powder and protein bars. They have a lot of downtime so they tend to workout. I noticed personal health/hygiene products will most likely end up being requested (e.g. sleeping pills, baby wipes, headache medicine, etc. 
4. Make the package personal. I know my husband loved receiving my packages that were decorated with colored paper, pictures and hand written notes (no matter how bad your writing is, they know its yours). Plus, imagine being the guy who just gets the box full of stuff, and then seeing another soldier get some intricately decorated box. Not to make anyone feel bad, but I know I just wanted my soldier to feel special for at least that moment. They spend the rest of their days being equal.
5. Find things they love and make a theme out of that. It pretty much can be anything~ Shows, a type of food, favorite character, their favorite sport, their favorite team, a hobby, anything. Pick something and just go with it. Think of specific quotes, use specific colors, I often make puns out of whatever I can. I figure if it can get even a grin out of him then I did my job.