Tuesday, August 3, 2010

If You Were Away From Home for the First Time

What would you miss the most?

I keep getting promotions for a Care Package company that supplies goodie boxes for college students. They are nice - but terribly generic. I can do better - I think, but everytime I ask Squirrel what she would like in her Care Package she says "Just send love Mom."

Pssshhh. Okay. But how? And what constitutes love to my child? It's not like I can send a pot of Chicken and Dumplings [but if I could - you know I would :)] I would love to ship the dog - but that's not happening.

So far I have come up with the basics - Homemade cookies, spiced nuts, brownies, muffins, pictures, notes from all of us, ummm.....brick wall ahead! And here is where I am stuck. I know I can throw in toothpaste, shampoo, razors, etc. - and I don't want to send money because that is already in her account. [Yes, I know - nothing says "I love you" like a crisp $20 bill. :)]

I used to get the coolest packages from my big sis' my freshman year at college, but times were different then and what my sis' put in isn't what I think Squirrel would want. Still - I felt like the most popular kid in our 12:05 Linguistics class on Wednesdays. Those were some yummy care packages. :)

What did you get in your care packages that said home? What do you send your kids? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!!

6 comments:

Kathy's Klothesline said...

Didn't go to college, but someone sent me a a baby gift once and included a bath pillow and bathsalts, lotion and all the goodies associated with pampering oneself along with it for me. I felt loved!

Marni said...

Hair ties, body spray that smells like home, cards, pens, silly notes (like from the dogs), stickers, plastic nicknacks...

I always like to make folks laugh so silly things work.

What about gift certificates to go out to eat? Get away from the cafeteria?

colenic said...

the best things that we got were quarters- to do laundry, and the silly stuff...,my mom would send me silly string and playdo during mid terms and exams...snacks that you can only get at home..bubbles..that plastic bubble wrap stuff was always a hit....just fun silly stuff that made me think of my mom..I still have one of the stuffed animals that she sent to me my freshman year...i could give it a hug and feel like I was getting one from mom...

SkippyMom said...

THIS is exactly what I wanted tadpoles. GREAT ideas.

No baths at college kathy, but I can do something similar [body wash/loofah?] YES!

Notes from the dogs is an excellent idea Marni [I am so duh!] and the gift certificates for eating out? BONUS!

Silly string and playdoh are the awesomest of stuff she would get a kick out of colenic - and definitely going to be sending a stuffed animal dachshund [thinking a stuffed animal chessie would be a wee too big. lol]

Thanks you guys. This is helping a lot.

Diane Laney Fitzpatrick said...

Don't buy the Care Package care packages. It's a couple of bags of chips, some cookies, a stress ball and it costs $40. I sent one to my son for finals week and it arrived the night before his last final. He barely had time to eat it all before he came home for the summer and it wasn't that much food. Way overpriced and it's just not a well run company. For instance, you can't contact them to say, "Hey, where's my son's Finals Week Care Package?"

ellen abbott said...

When my son was in Iraq I sent him packages. Never sent foodstuffs like cookies (I'm just not a baker) but I sent paperbacks, dried mango or crystallized ginger and beef jerky (some of his favorite things), I would cut out his favorite comic strip and staple them together in sequence, I would scour the toy stores for fun stuff and stupid little toys, anything that I thought would amuse him for a while...like the chicken chucker (a slingshot device that threw small plastic chickens).