Care Packages – Fall

With a loved one in the service, our family has taken on the fun task of sending a monthly care package to my son. It is a family event for myself and his 6 younger siblings still at home. We love picking out little things for him throughout the month, but we really love coming up with themes and decorating his boxes. This is fun for everyone and we all get to input ideas and creativity. It’s also a nice way to remind him of the crazy, yet extremely loving and supportive, home that he comes from.

His first month as an Airman in the Air Force was October. So, we decided to do a Halloween theme and since my 13-year-old was doing a birthday party with a bloody murder theme (don’t ask), we went with zombies and blood.

The best shipping I have found is USPS and their Priority Mail, Large Flat Rate Box. They are nice because they are large enough for goodies but not too large that they don’t need half the stuff. Also, they are a flat rate fee (I pay $22 as of this post) so you can put heavy things like energy drinks, and not pay extra for the weight. They also say 1-3 days delivery and for us to ship from Sacramento, California to Texas, it takes about 2-3 days for him to get it. Pretty fast and pretty cheap for only $22.

These boxes are approx. 12 x 11.75 x 5.5. So, I cut 4 12×12 papers into 11.5×5.75, these would be used as the base or background on the inside of each flap when opened. Then one piece of 12×12 paper can be slightly trimmed and glued into the bottom. To glue the papers to the box we used a regular glue stick and it seemed to hold pretty well.

Next, I designed some simple, but fun, graphics that we could cut on our Cricut Maker and easily attach to our design in the box. Here is what I came up with for the Zombie theme:

You can download this .svg file for free and use it for your own personal care packages for your loved ones. This is not for commercial use. Download this Zombie Care Package .svg HERE.

Once all graphics were cut, we glued with to the flaps of our design. I found that 1-2 graphics on each flap and 1 -2 words or phrases on the entire box design are best. Not too much but just enough to grab their attention. We used glue sticks for this as well, although I will note that if you have kids helping, be sure to tell them to put the glue on the back of the graphics and then attach rather than putting the glue on the box background and sticking the graphic on. This will avoid a messy dried glue look around your graphics. My daughter did this on one box we sent and it didn’t look great.

After we got all 4 flaps decorated we decided to add a little note to the inside bottom of the box that he would find after taking everything out of the box…one more little surprise. Finally, we added some red “bloody” hand marks all around and we were done. Next, we loaded everything in it, and tada…

For some ideas of things you can put in your box…this is what we came up with:

I picked out some basic things he could need and we could help him save a little money by sending them ahead. Things such as Bandaids, Tums, Aspirin, Dental Floss, Tooth Paste, Soap, Chap Stick (they spend lots of time out in the sun), Halls (they get sore throats from yelling so much), Deoderant, Mints, Gum, a mini Nail Kit, Energy drops to add to Water, Coffee, and Energy Drinks…

Basically things you know your loved one uses and could help them out a little. I also included a little festive candy and tried to include some special snacks he was into before he left..such as his beef stick. Ok, so this was a not so well thought out mom move. haha! I guess they had a random inspection at 2 am one morning and he hears, “Who’s giant sausage is this?!” My poor son laughed and claimed it as his. So, I guess a big beef stick isn’t great, even if he loves them. lol. I told him next time I will send some giant pickles since he loves those too. Anyways, my point is to have fun with it.

After my son received his package it was nice to hear what he liked and didn’t really need. Found out he didn’t just want any energy drinks, he wanted Red Bull so he has been giving what I send..to his roommate. haha! So, now I will send the right thing. An important note here is to keep in touch with your loved one on what they want or need.

I also came up with a basic Halloween Care Package set but we didn’t use it since we did the Zombie this month. You can download the Halloween Care Package .svg. HERE

We hope this has helped or inspired you on your Care Packages. If you use any of our freebies, or even if you come up with your own, we would love to see your final product in the comments below. Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!