VALUE ITEMS FOR MILITARY CARE PACKAGES

 

Each service member’s needs are different, but in this post,  you will find several lists with suggestions for general items you can send to them while overseas. Service members tend to look out for each other and share the contents of their packages. Keep this in mind and send extras if you can, especially food items. Small, frequent packages seem to be a good bet since Marines, soldiers and sailors often stay mobile. 

For additional ideas and recipes, read the companion post, OPERATION CHRISTMAS COOKIE .

PERSONAL NECESSITIES

• Phone cards filled with minutes to call home 
• Letters from home (when internet isn’t accessible)
• Axe Soap (Very popular/seal in zip type bags) 
• Gold Bond Medicated Foot Powder 
• Deodorant   
• Toothbrushes & toothpaste
• Disposable hand and feet warmers or ice packs
• Dental floss and picks
• Razor  
• Moisturizing eye drops (good for sandy desert areas)
• Ziploc bags for storage
• Sewing kit 
• Hand wipes/Wet Ones/sanitizing hand wipes
• Heat wraps for sore muscles 
• Vitamins
• Dust cloths for removing sand from EVERYTHING
• Boot Insoles (like Double Airfoam Insoles) 
• Puma Stone for feet
• Sunscreen
• Tums
• Chapstick® brand lip balm (seasonal kind that won’t melt in extremely hot weather or freeze in the winter like the squeeze tube kind.)
• Ear plugs 
• Electric razors
• Moustashe grooming kit
• Revive X Boot Cleaner
• Gel shoe inserts
• 3 ShaveMate® razors w/ shaving cream in the handle 
• 5 Single-dose Bayer® aspirin packages
• Band-aids  
• Antibiotic Ointment and wipes
• Nail Clippers
• Eyeglass kits

 

FOODS/SNACKS

• Sunflower seeds
• Nuts in tins
• Sugar-free gum
• Pringles
• Individual packs of oatmeal
• Cake baked in a jar (include a box of frosting from the market) 
• Altoids or mints  
• Trail mixes  
• Jelly Beans and gummy candies 
• Girl Scout cookies
• Chex cereal and Chex mix
• Beef Jerky (USDA approved) 
• Can of Starkist® Tuna
• Starkist® Tuna Lunch Kit
• Hunts Pudding Snack Pack®
• Del Monte® canned fruit
• Crystal Light® or Gatorade® drink mix
• Plastic utensils, paper plates, napkins (especially holiday kind) 
• Packages of dried raisins, cranberries, apricots, plums
• Ground coffee, (pack in a zip type bag)
• Individual powdered drink packets to add to bottled water
• Miniature Tabasco bottles
• Canned food items with pop-tops (sausages, soup, spaghetti)
• Spices, salt, pepper
• Cookies or cake in a tin/frosting in a can/plastic knife
• Smoked oysters and sardines in tins
• Microwave popcorn 
• Instant ramen noodles   
• Cereal bars/granola bars 
• Pasta packs (no refrigeration/for microwave)  
• Individual packets of hot cocoa mix 
• Avoid chocolate items in summer months; desert temperatures can exceed 100 degrees

 

ENTERTAINMENT

• Playing cards
• Dominoes
• Batteries  (Battery powered items sometimes get turned on during shipment. Remove and wrap the batteries separately.)
• Poker game
• Sports page of newspapers
• Music CD’s
• Inflatable seat cushions 
• Canned air to blow dust out of electronics 
• Board games 
• Newspapers 
• Magazines 
• Disposable camera
• Notepads of paper
• Word puzzles
• Ink pens/pencils
• Paperback books  
• Small flash light for reading at  night
• DVD movies 
• Cigars

 

 
 
Here are a few creative, useful, sometimes amusing items that other family members have sent to service members overseas.  

• Small container filled with personal notes; one for each day.
• Tape recorder with blank tapes to be recorded and sent to you via post office (postage is free coming from service members in war zones)
• Easy Bake oven with little mixes (yes, the little girl kind}
• Hand-held fishing games
• Personalized koozies (container to hold bottles, drinks)
• Tiny hand-held fans with batteries (like the kind used at beauty  salons to dry your nails.)  Check Walmart
• Car fresheners (to become tent fresheners)
• Fitted (twin) Bed Sheets -top request since they are hard to come by
• Matching blanket (dark or desert colors)
• Mosquito net 
• Bag of chocolate chips for serious chocoholics (cold weather)
•  Water pistol and water balloons
• Coloring books and crayons (just passing on ideas, folks) 
• Greeting cards to be sent back home
• Harmonica
• Photographs from home
• Back scrubber
• Holiday decorations
• Silly String (reported useful for detecting trip wires to explosives)  
•  

 

 

There are cultural restrictions in sending gifts to Muslim countries. No pork or pork by products, alcohol,  pornographic material, hand santizer, or aerosol cans (can explode). Avoid glass containers (can break if not well-wrapped) chocolate in summer months. All food and liquid items that could leak should be sealed in zip type bags.  The Department of Defense does not accept mail addressed to “any service member. A customs form from the Post Office will be necessary. Do not send anything of great value. 

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The Department of Defense (DoD) continues to emphasize that names and addresses of military service members must not be distributed by the media, Web sites, companies, non-profit organizations, schools and individuals for the purpose of collecting letters of support or donations for mailing to service members. 

 

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PACKING AND SHIPPING INFORMATION

 Flat rate boxes from the Post Office feature predetermined rates regardless of weight (domestically) or destination. A LARGE flat rate box is the best deal and costs $11.95 (includes a $2.00 discount).  

The medium flat rate box (inside dimensions 11-7/8 x3 3/8 x 13 5/8) is self sealing. Other box sizes need to be sealed; the Post Office will do it for you. Just add an address label and fill out a customs form. 

The Priority Mail APO/FPO Flat Rate Box features the “America Supports You” logo and APO/FPO addressing block. Boxes are free and can usually be picked up at the post office or ordered online. The U.S. Postal Service even offers free package pickup from your home or office at a time and place convenient for you. 

To order packing supplies call 1-800-610-8734 (option # 1).  Ask for the Military Care Package Kit. You will receive 6 assorted size boxes, custom forms and labels.  Packages take about 13 days to get to Afghanistan and Iraq, according to today’s information from the Post Office.

If not properly wrapped, packages can fall apart during shipping. It is a good idea to tuck a card inside with the recipient’s and sender’s names and addresses and a description of all contents. Sometimes I take a digital photo of the contents of  care packages. 

Insuring packages seems to be a waste of money since the insurance only covers loss between the time you mail it and the time FPO or APO receives it (usually the East or West coast). Then it is considered military mail and insurance isn’t applicable. The package can’t be traced at that point. Shipping costs on regular packages are determined by the U.S. destination. FPO-APO zip codes beginning with O are often shipped from the East Coast; beginning with 9, from the West Coast.

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Check back often; the list will be updated regularly.  Please share YOUR favorite items and tips for sending care packages to the troops.  

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