Question to veterans on care package contents for active military??

When we asked PJ what he wanted to do for his birthday party with his friends this year he decided that instead of getting gifts for himself he wanted to have a party where people brought stuff to put together a care package for an active duty soldier. We stopped at the Marine recruiter’s office here in Rochester and got the name of a local active duty Marine.

It was a huge success, we had a large laundry basket overflowing with goodies(snacks, magazines, batteries, games, decks of cards, nerf guns, warm compfy socks etc etc) to send to the Marine. He’s in Sweden doing cold weather training right now.

We already sent 2 boxes and we are about to send the 3rd, we thought it would be fun to space them out just a bit so he’d have something to look forward to.

So my question is this…..there is still some space left in the 3rd box….what kinds of things did you miss when you were deployed overseas?
Any specific snacks or whatever?
Even if it isn’t so much kid friendly, I can always stash it in there when PJ isn’t looking just before we close it up to send.

Never been a member of the military but just have to say you have an awesome kid your raising there! Great job!!!

And just to throw out an idea, maybe figure out what his hobbies are and send him a few small things pertaining to it?

The members of the unit become like family and when one gets a package the others get wide eyes. Think about something that is sharable with all his/her buddies.

Sunflower Seeds, I always loaded up on a big stash of seeds for a deployment.

I’m not a vet but in my mind it’s always hard to beat a comedy. That can be shared with all guys and used over and over. Think of maybe finding some of the old classic comedians. Lots of the guys may never have seen their stuff. Abbott & Costello, Marx Brothers, Laurel & Hardy. Little Rascals, Don Rickels, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor and so many more.

Just a thought. Thank you to you and your son, great thing you are doing!

find out how many are in his company,write each one of them a letter from home.
sure,they may have family of their own but that doesnt mean each one of them get a letter all of their own from family which is sad to say.

tell your boy I said thanks for what he is doing for our country.
and from my son to yours,semper fi

Unbelievably awesome of you folks to be doing this. It’s important to remember we still have people in various posts all over the world doing their part for our country.

The snack stuff is the best, beef jerky and different trail/nut mixes. Otherwise honestly, in my opinion and experience, nothing is too simple. When I was deployed I told my mom to send me Listerine as soon as possible lol. Having comfort items like that when you’re far away from home and may not have access to it is areal treat.

Mom always packed my stuff in popped pop corn for protection and everyone enjoyed eating it.

All the snacks were always great, but the best thing I remembered getting was home made breads and cookies!

Even broken homemade cookies are charming.

Just a quick follow up. We heard from the soldier that we sent the care packages to after he got the first one….apparently it takes a month for the stuff to get to him. He was very appreciative and said it was a wonderful surprise to get a box of goodies and notes from the kids.
It sounded like he was going to be in the field for a while and wouldn’t be able to communicate so the second box will likely be waiting for him when he gets back and the third is in route.

Baby wipes, Copenhagen (worth it’s weight in gold), hand warmers (warm up your bivvy sack), hunting/fishing magazines, smartwool/merino wool socks, Tabasco sauce…..

Airborne

Very cool thing your doing. Even the smallest gesture’s mean a lot.

My hats off to you and your son! It’s a wonderfull thing you are doing. Your son sounds like a fine young man.