Care Packages for Missionaries or College Students

Do you want to brighten the day of a college student or missionary?  I have 2 great ideas for Care Packages.

Being away from home is hard.  Having a child away from home is hard.  Right now I have 1 child serving a mission in Kentucky and 1 child in college at BYU.  It's hard on me and it's so hard on them.  One thing that has helped us both is care packages.  

I usually try to send a care package about once a month.  The packages don't contain anything big or fancy, just little things to remind my kids how much I love them.  

Sunshine Care Package

After a little bit of a rough patch, my missionary son was a little discouraged.  Broke my mama heart!  I wish I could spare him those feelings and take them on myself.  Unfortunately that's not possible and I know that trials will help him to be a stronger person.  But I don't like it.  So I sent him a box of sunshine.  

The box of Sunshine included:  DOTS candy, small bottles of Sunny D that I placed into baggies in case the bottle leaked, yellow glow sticks, yellow socks, hand sanitizer (also placed in a baggie), smiley face stickers, smiley face ball, carmex, and plastic jumping frogs.

I cut yellow wrapping paper to size and glued it to the inside of the box.  Then I wrote "A Box Full of Sunshine for my Fave Missionary,"  on the inside.  I closed the box and shipped it off to him.  BTW - I have a post about shipping here.  

My son was thrilled to receive this gift.  It cheered him up and reminded him that he is loved.  

Orange Care Package

My daughter is a freshman at BYU in Utah.  She has had a new state, roommates and taking care of herself to get used to, while going to college in a pandemic.  It's a lot.  And she has been overwhelmed by it all.  So what's a mom to do?  Send a care package of course. 

I grabbed as many orange things as I could find at the store and placed them in a flat rate box.  I found orange drink mix, an orange toothbrush, orange post its, orange box of candy, an orange stress ball, hand sanitizer and some socks.  

I cut orange paper to fit inside the box and wrote, "Orange you glad your mama loves you."  The day my daughter received the package, she'd been feeling a little down and this box reminded her how loved she was and improved her day.  

Ideas for what to put in care packages

None of the things I've sent my kids have been expensive.  Most of the time, they have plenty of treats at their apartments, so I try to send non candy items.  But normally, treats would be my go to because we all like to receive them!  

Some things my kids have enjoyed receiving:

• candy
• cookies
• hand sanitizer
• gum
• jerky
• nuts
• trail mix
• hand lotion
• Chapstick
• card games
• balls to toss around
• stress relievers like silly putty or squeeze balls
• small toys 

Of course Amazon has tons of ideas for treat boxes and you won't even have to pay for shipping.  I sent this one to my son last year when he was in college and this one for his birthday.   (affiliate links)

Sending Care Packages to Missionaries or College Students is a great way to send your love to your kids (or even nieces, nephews and friends).  

linking up to:  Craftastic Monday   Inspire Me Monday   Happiness is Homemade   You're the Star   Snickerdoodle  Wow Me Wednesday   Your Whims Wednesday   Wonderful Wednesday   Party in Your PJ's  Waste Not Wednesday   Creative Crafts   Artsy Fartsy   Creatively Crafty   Thursday Favorite Things